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Windows 8 upgrade question

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  • 22-09-2012 9:12pm
    #1
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭✭


    I am considering purchasing a new laptop that has a spare bay for a SSD. If I wait until Windows 8 is released to install the SSD can I put Windows 8 straight onto it then? Or will I need to migrate W7 to the SSD first in order to upgrade to Windows 8? Thanks for any help! :)


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    #2
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,011 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Moved to the windows forum. Windows 7-8 should be a possible upgrade alright, but I would always reccomend a fresh install of Windows (or any os for that matter) over upgrading. Generally with windows once your upgrading to the same version (ie 32-32, 64-64bit) it has been possible. The new laptop should have windows 7 installed already btw, so even if you wait you should be able to upgrade that version no problem.

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

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    #3
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    So you're saying I'd be best off buying a full version of Windows 8 and doing a fresh install to the SSD?


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    #4
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,011 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Deleted User wrote: »
    So you're saying I'd be best off buying a full version of Windows 8 and doing a fresh install to the SSD?

    Afaik with upgrade discs you can do a clean install, but it requires the previous os to be installed. If not then I wouldn't advise paying the hefty premium for the full version, but i'm fairly certain the upgrade can be done as a fresh install. I was under the impression the system you were buying was coming with a free Windows 8 upgrade :o . also the oem version of windows may be cheaper than the upgrade version, this will allow a fresh install if the upgrade one doesn't, may be worth getting :) .

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



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    #5
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    yoyo wrote: »
    Afaik with upgrade discs you can do a clean install, but it requires the previous os to be installed. If not then I wouldn't advise paying the hefty premium for the full version, but i'm fairly certain the upgrade can be done as a fresh install. I was under the impression the system you were buying was coming with a free Windows 8 upgrade :o . also the oem version of windows may be cheaper than the upgrade version, this will allow a fresh install if the upgrade one doesn't, may be worth getting :) .

    Nick

    You can do a clean install with upgrade media, provided the original OS is still on the hard disk. If you boot from the install disc with the previous OS present, you can then wipe the partition and clean install no problem.

    The usual caveats apply though: legally if you upgrade an OEM licence then the upgrade is tied to that OEM licence and can't be used on another machine.


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    #6
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I actually bought a laptop with a regular hard drive. I'm wondering will I lose all my files on the C drive when upgrading to Windows 8? The laptop I bought has a 1Tb HDD and there is only the C partition. I realise it would be good practice to have one partition with the OS (c drive) and say a D drive for all my files. Only problem is I've never done this before and am a little scared to mess up my new lappy! Thanks for any help guys! :)


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    #7
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,011 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Deleted User wrote: »
    I actually bought a laptop with a regular hard drive. I'm wondering will I lose all my files on the C drive when upgrading to Windows 8? The laptop I bought has a 1Tb HDD and there is only the C partition. I realise it would be good practice to have one partition with the OS (c drive) and say a D drive for all my files. Only problem is I've never done this before and am a little scared to mess up my new lappy! Thanks for any help guys! :)

    I wouldn't consider having 2 partitions "good practice" myself, something that does my head in especially when people store everything on drive c: and then the space starts running low as its split 50/50 :rolleyes: .
    Theres two ways to upgrade to Windows 8, the way I reccomend is buying an extenral hard drive to back up your files (hard disks are unrelyable so it's a good idea to do a regular a backup anyways) and then wipe Windows and install windows 8. This gives you a fresh start and any kind of glitches/incompatabilities not discovered during the upgrade process could cause issues down the road (rare but like with any os it can happen).
    You can also just pop the install media in and do an upgrade install. This install will keep all files and settings, and most software although some you may need to reinstall. I would also reccomend you back up your stuff before doing this as well regardless as things can go wrong with the upgrade procedure, again rare but can happen.
    You cannot upgrade a 32bit os to 64bit or vice versa. Both of these would require a wipe of all the data.

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



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    #8
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    yoyo wrote: »
    I wouldn't consider having 2 partitions "good practice" myself, something that does my head in especially when people store everything on drive c: and then the space starts running low as its split 50/50 :rolleyes: .
    I'd consider it good practice provided that the user understands it. Otherwise you end up with the inevitable "C drive full, D drive empty" scenario.


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    #9
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,011 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    Karsini wrote: »
    I'd consider it good practice provided that the user understands it. Otherwise you end up with the inevitable "C drive full, D drive empty" scenario.

    I meant overall due to people not understanding it. Software, Games etc. installs by default to drive C:, in fairness your average computer user hasn't a clue what's happening when their clicking Next->Next during the install routine. Same goes for it being the documents/music default location so people have all this extra space on a partition they don't use.
    Would be good if everyone understood it, but I don't think this will ever be the case :)

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



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    #10
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 65,013 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    yoyo wrote: »
    I would always reccomend a fresh install of Windows (or any os for that matter) over upgrading.

    I'd normally agree. But I've upgraded two W7 systems to W8 and the upgrades were very smooth, with all installed programs (and drivers!) still working after the upgrade

    I guess Microsoft finally got it right after 37 years :p


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    #11
    Fysh
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 11,019 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    unkel wrote: »
    I'd normally agree. But I've upgraded two W7 systems to W8 and the upgrades were very smooth, with all installed programs (and drivers!) still working after the upgrade

    I guess Microsoft finally got it right after 37 years :p

    How about we wait for it to be officially released to all comers and laden down with 6-12 months worth of patches and updates, or for SP1 to hit if you're properly cautious, before we start talking certainties about how well the upgrade installs are now working?

    Certainly MS have gotten better with the in-place upgrade functionality compared to eg the Win98SE>Win2K era, but in the last 5 years I've done at least half a dozen each of XP-Vista in-place upgrades and Vista-7 upgrades and in all cases, within about 6 months the users have been moaning about performance issues and unusual behaviour with some of their software that led to a clean install.

    Don't get me wrong, it may well be that finally it is in fact possible to do an in-place upgrade from Windows $CURRENTVERSION-1 to Windows $CURRENT and not have any problems, but for me at least past experience says we're not yet at a point where we can usefully draw conclusions.


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    #12
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Fysh wrote: »
    Don't get me wrong, it may well be that finally it is in fact possible to do an in-place upgrade from Windows $CURRENTVERSION-1 to Windows $CURRENT and not have any problems, but for me at least past experience says we're not yet at a point where we can usefully draw conclusions.
    I don't even like doing an in-place upgrade to the same version (ala a repair install). I've experienced similar performance issues there.


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    #13
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,858 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    An upgrade is designed to inherit settings. But this means it can also inherit problems.

    As a general rule a clean install is recommended. And not just for windows, it's the same in the Linux world.


    Total aside
    The Dutch police had a VAX cluster with 15 years uptime - not all the Vaxen were upgraded at the same time.


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    #14
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 65,013 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    Fysh wrote: »
    How about we wait for it to be officially released to all comers and laden down with 6-12 months worth of patches and updates, or for SP1 to hit if you're properly cautious, before we start talking certainties about how well the upgrade installs are now working?

    You mean sit back lazily cautiously until a few million people like me have reported it actually works before trying it yourself? :p
    Fysh wrote: »
    in the last 5 years I've done at least half a dozen each of XP-Vista in-place upgrades and Vista-7 upgrades

    In fairness, I have NEVER done a fully satisfactory in-place upgrade from xp to vista or vista to W7

    Try it for yourselves folks, don't take my word for it that W7 to W8 works better than any previous MS upgrade (that said, I still prefer clean install - in fact I do a same OS clean wipe & reinstall on my own system usually every 6 months or so...)


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    #15
    Fysh
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 11,019 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    unkel wrote: »
    You mean sit back lazily cautiously until a few million people like me have reported it actually works before trying it yourself? :p

    I mean waiting until a statistically useful sample of someone elses considered brave/impatient/daft enough to do an in-place upgrade have used their upgraded systems through a meaningful number of OS patches and updates and driver updates before leaping to conclusions about how much better the new upgrade mechanism is :P
    unkel wrote: »
    In fairness, I have NEVER done a fully satisfactory in-place upgrade from xp to vista or vista to W7

    Try it for yourselves folks, don't take my word for it that W7 to W8 works better than any previous MS upgrade (that said, I still prefer clean install - in fact I do a same OS clean wipe & reinstall on my own system usually every 6 months or so...)

    My experience with in place upgrades is that they seem alright at first, then it all goes to hell over the course of six months or so. I expect this to continue to be the case with Win 8, but since I refuse to even consider allowing mass deployment within my department until at least 12 months after release/SP1 arrives, I don't imagine I'll be asked to do it for anyone any time soon. If I had the resources to run a test for my own curiosity I'd do so, but barring trying it out on my desktop at home (which is more likely to be used for tinkering with Server 2012) I dont think I'll have the time.

    Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the contributions of early adopters. I just think it's suicidally silly to try and take that kind of approach in any medium or large business/enterprise environment :)


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    #16
    unkel
    Registered Users Posts: 65,013 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    Who said anything about rolling it out through the entire enterprise? ;)

    Have you no aching curiosity to try it out for yourself? I can never wait to give it a good go myself, but I suppose that much is obvious from my posts :)


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    #17
    Fysh
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 11,019 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    unkel wrote: »
    Who said anything about rolling it out through the entire enterprise? ;)

    Have you no aching curiosity to try it out for yourself? I can never wait to give it a good go myself, but I suppose that much is obvious from my posts :)

    Oh, I've got plenty of curiosity. Also a good bit of paranoia and desire to be able to switch back to my original config. My home Win8 Enterprise Eval install lives on a separate disk (with its own bootloader) to my Win 7 install and the various disks that have backups of the media centre.

    (I'll be dualbooting 7 and Win 8 on my workstation at work in a few weeks, on the basis that I won't inflict it on anyone else without inflicting it on myself first. Sadly, I probably can't let people use ClassicShell on Win8, so I imagine I'll be getting a lot of NotRo arguments once it rolls out...)


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