Old to New ?

[gunner424]

Hi all,
New to the forums yet I know there is a lot of helpful posters here. So my question is.. I would like to build a new comp, different MB, CPU, etc and run win 7. Now running vista home premium yet have only @7 GB left on hard drive. Can I ghost vista to a brand new HD and MB and load (Upgrade)win 7 to that? Just don't want to lose all my previous programs on the old drive.
Thanks. If you need more info let me know...

 

[john3850]

Suggest you clean the old junk files and or remove any extra restore hibernation files to gain more space so you can do a good defrag first.
Many people here use Acronis True Image instead of ghost.
If your using or buy a Western Digital drive you can download Acronis True Image from the Western Digital site.
But there most be one WD drive in your system for Acronis to work.

 

[gunner424]

Sounds good, thanks for the reply. I'll clear up the space on the old drive and do the upgrade to 7. Once complete, will windows 7 accept the image to a new HD and mobo once I transfer it? Thanks

 

[Steltek]

CCleaner is a good tool to use to clean up your old temporary files and browser caches - make sure to remember to empty your recycle bin.

If you are insistent on trying the upgrade route without a clean install (I wouldn't do it on my own machine, but to each his own), I'd first clone the Vista install over to the new hard drive and install the new drive into the machine. Then, you have a choice: you can either install the new motherboard while running Vista followed by a Win7 upgrade, or upgrade Vista to Win7 and then upgrade the motherboard. If it doesn't work one way, you can try the other. Since the upgrade and new motherboard install are using the new hard drive, you are preserving your old one in case of a problem.

I generally tend to go with the latter method as I feel Win7 handles massive hardware changes a little better than Vista.

 

[SimMike2]

If you want to "upgrade" an in place install of Vista, keeping all your programs and settings, Windows 7 might need to start Vista to do the upgrade. So you might not be able to just move the Vista install to a bigger hard drive in another computer, at least not without getting Vista going again first. Keep in mind that if your Vista install is 32 bit and you want to go to Win7 64 bit, you can't do an in place upgrade anyway. If you have 4GB or more of RAM, you will for sure want to go with 64 bit. I recommend you do a number of things. First run the Windows 7 transfer wizard on your Vista computer, maybe putting the files on your new bigger hard drive. Now make an image of your Vista install and also put this on your new bigger hard drive. Put together you new computer and do a clean install of Windows 7, using the double install trick.

 

[gunner424]

Thank You..

 

[gunner424]

Current Stats:

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
Speed : 3.35GHz

Mainboard : EVGA 132-BL-E758
BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 11/19/2008

Total Memory : 12GB DIMM DDR3
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 480MHz (960MHz)

Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 (240 SM4.0 1.3GHz, 1GB DDR3 2x1.19GHz, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Storage Devices
ST3250823AS (250GB, SATA150, 3.5", NCQ, 8MB Cache) : 233GB (O (V
WDC WD3000GLFS-01F8U0 (300GB, SATA300, 3.5", 10000rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 279GB (C (L
WDC WD6400AAKS-00A7B2 (640.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 596GB (D
WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1 (999.5GB, USB/SATA300, 3.5", NCQ) : 931GB (T

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows Vista Home 6.00.6002 (Service Pack 2)
Platform Compliance : x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.9

Thanks all !!

 

[gunner424]

If you want to "upgrade" an in place install of Vista, keeping all your programs and settings, Windows 7 might need to start Vista to do the upgrade. So you might not be able to just move the Vista install to a bigger hard drive in another computer, at least not without getting Vista going again first. Keep in mind that if your Vista install is 32 bit and you want to go to Win7 64 bit, you can't do an in place upgrade anyway. If you have 4GB or more of RAM, you will for sure want to go with 64 bit. I recommend you do a number of things. First run the Windows 7 transfer wizard on your Vista computer, maybe putting the files on your new bigger hard drive. Now make an image of your Vista install and also put this on your new bigger hard drive. Put together you new computer and do a clean install of Windows 7, using the double install trick.

Where may I find the double install trick? (What is it ?) Thanks..

 

[ViRGE]

The double install trick is basically this: install Windows once as a full install without entering a key, and then install it again as an upgrade for itself.

 

[gunner424]

The double install trick is basically this: install Windows once as a full install without entering a key, and then install it again as an upgrade for itself.

Thanks, I appreciate your advice...