The Vista upgrade offer (yes, I waited a while)

Hi guys
Way back in May 07' I signed up for (and received), the "Acer/Moduslink" Vista Home Premium "free upgrade offer".

(I have a 5102WLMi with 2GB of Ram and it came with WMCE 2005, which I'm still running).
I also have the latest BIOS.

Anyway, the DVDs have been sitting in my desk drawer ever since!
Now, I'm getting the urge to try it out. (Don't ask me why).

Guess I just need to see it for myself after reading so much about it (Both pros and cons).

Anyway, as I'm sure many of you know, I received two DVDs:

One that says "Windows Vista Home Premium Express Upgrade"
And another that says: "Acer Upgrade DVD".


Anything special I should know? (Namely, the best procedure).

Like, does it walk you through it?
Should I install over top of MCE or "clean"? (Does it give you both options?)
Did it break a lot of programs or utilities that drove you crazy?
Have any of you that did this back then regretted it?

Here was my plan:
I have two partitions (both NTFS), each 60GB.
My second partition I use strictly for Acronis True Image backups, and I'd like to leave that the way it is....un-touched.

I figured I could install Vista on my "C" partition, and if I don't like it (or things go terribly wrong), I could restore an Acronis backup image from my other partition and be back just the way I was with MCE. (I assume I can install Vista on my C partition and leave my backup partition alone).

Since these DVDs are around 7 months old now, will I have any unexpected problems? (I assume they're at least still valid).

Any help, suggestions, and/or experiences with this would be very much appreciated.

I'd like to at least try Vista this one time, but everything is running so well, I don't want to ruin that either. (Although, the day will probably come when I'll have to switch over...so I'm thinking maybe I should get used to it now).

I also notice some of you here actually like it, so naturally I'd like to hear from you as much as from the people who don't like it.

Thanks again!

 

Well im not sure about the installation of vista will go well or not, but i think it should work with the acer upgrade disc given all the drivers are already on the dvd. If you experience problems upgrading with the disc(validation) call up microsoft or acer to get it fixed.

 

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wow, acer actually did ship those disks, hours and hours of phone calls I never got the disks...

oh well, the computer went the way of the dodo anyway.

 

I just read something a little disturbing in my my travels around the net.


That if I do this "Express upgrade" to Vista, I basically give up my original OEM XP Key.

Is this true???

That is, if I decided Vista wasn't for me, and I restored a complete backup image of my XP Media Center Edition with Acronis True Image (something I've done successfully many times before), would my XP Install no longer be activated?

I never had a problem restoring an Acronis TI image before, but that's only been to 'go back in time' (so to speak), when a program install went bad or some other problem...I've never tried to restore an XP image after "upgrading" to Vista.

Has anyone done this successfully? (Restored a full Acronis Image of XP, after upgrading to Vista, without having to re-activate?).

 

I did not receive the disks either. I entered my info into the ModusLink web site, got a confirmation number and everything, months past and I miraculously dissapeared from their system. It seems to have happend to a lot of people, and for some, including myself it just didn't seem worth the hassle to pursue it. So far I'm quite satisfied with XP and you couldn't pay me to go to Vista.

 

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Thanks for the replies and the info Incursis.

So, does this mean If I did a restore of an Acronis image of my original "C" partition, that everything would be as it once was?

Not sure if you're familiar with Acronis, but I have full backup images of my C partition on a different (backup), partition. (I can generally just boot from the Acronis recovery CD, and restore what ever image I want back to the C partition).

I would hate to try that after installing Vista and run into problems. (I've even read that Vista changes the MBR of the drive, so if my Acronis boot CD didn't work I'd really be freaking out).

I'd love to try playing around with Vista and see what kind of trouble I can get myself into, but only if I can be assured that I can restore my complete XP Media Center Edition (which includes all my programs and settings), back to the way it was in a matter of minutes like I always have.

Not back to the factory default like it was when I bought it, but rather back to the way it was a few hours before I installed Vista!

Again, thanks for the replies guys.

 

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Ok...thank you Incursis.

Just wanted to be sure before I go about seeing if I can make a machine that's running great start running lousy, while at the same time trying to break a lot of my programs.

 

Hi, You are thinking the same as I did when I upgraded with the ACER upgrade kit. This is what I did on my ACER9300 (my 1st p.c. & I am no expert, Untill 12 months ago I had not even sent an E_MAIL ! Make a "to do" list.
Before running the upgrade I did a factory restore using ACER E-RECOVERY, something you will lose in the upgrade.
The only other program I loaded after this was WORKS 8.
I then ran the ACER upgrade kit as instucted in the leaflet, it walks you through the process.I chose "upgrade" rather than a clean install as at the time there was a lot of confusion about wether a clean install would run into problems with activation down the line, & since I believe VISTA does a clean install anyway and then transfers settings and programs over this was as good as it gets.
Only problem I seem to remember was the system hanging on it's first proper shutdown requiring a "forced shutdown" but that was the only issue.Use manufacturers support desks, EPSON were incredibly helpful giving me links to all the VISTA programs & drivers and the order they recommended they be installed.I uninstalled all the ACER "bloatware" and let VISTA manage all network connections.Like ou I use ACRONIS TI10 and have had no problems.After the upgrade I seemed to lose a lot of disk space but eventually found VISTA created a lot of "temporary folders" (maybe on the D partition can,t remember now) and after deleting all lost space came back.Do I like VISTA ? Definately Yes, I have had no crashes, no blue screens etc.
Regards Karl

 

Thanks for the reply and for sharing your experience with the upgrade Karl.

I still haven't taken the plunge yet.

It always bothers me to do an upgrade install instead of installing 'clean' (many people run into problems), but it also bugs me to have to re-install a lot of my programs.

One of my all time favorites is Acronis True Image (has NEVER failed me).

Only problem is, I'm still using Version 8 which is not compatible with Vista, so that's just one of several programs I'll probably have to upgrade. (I've been using XP Pro for a looong time).

I'm pretty sure if things go bad, I can still boot from my Acronis v8 CD to restore one of the Media Center 2005 .tib's I have on my other partition though.

This Vista kit is supposedly strictly an 'upgrade' disk, but in searching the web, I see there is still a way to do a clean install with it. (Basically, installing Vista twice...once without the key when prompted, and then again with the Key).

Or course, then even though I'd have a much 'leaner' system than doing an 'upgrade', I'd also have to start from scratch with my programs. (I've already got a list of several of my programs that aren't 'Vista compatible' anyway...sort of a bummer).

I really want to give Vista a shot (and probably will), but the thing is running so well right now, and it took me so long to set it up just the way I want it that the thought of getting it all set up again with a new OS isn't thrilling me.

Oh well, I'll see what happens when and if the time comes.

The other thing just occurred to me is that the Acer Driver DVD that came with the Vista Express Upgrade 'kit' is 7 months old now, and there have probably been a lot of new drivers released since then....who knows how that would go.

Oh well, thanks again for the reply....still thinking.

Oh, and sorry for the long posts guys.

 

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vista is not worth your time imho.... not till SP1 comes out. But even then SP3 for XP is apparently 2x faster than vista SP1 (go figure).

Save your time, ditch the disk, and use xp.

 

I hear you as far as using the recovery CD.
In fact, I *always* boot from the Acronis recovery CD to restore an Image. (Actually, even if you attempt to do a recovery within windows it won't let you.
I believe it prompts you to reboot anyway, so you're essentially restoring before windows loads either way...just easier to boot from the CD to begin with).

However, I've *created* dozens (if not more), of Images within Windows and never ever had a problem restoring one using the boot CD...I trust it completely.


Oh, and hello SSX4life!

Heheh....believe me, it may still come to that the more I think about it.
Still, even we Vista procrastinators may have to go with it some day down the road. (That, or what ever the next Microsoft OS will be).

Of course, there is always Linux, or a Mac.

And you never know...it may come to that for me too.

Heh...if I can ever make a decision about anything, I may shock myself.

 

Yea nut, I've been away for awhile... trolling the forums but not really replying

Currently I'm dual booting XP Pro and Ubuntu 7.10 on my 5672. As far as VISTA goes it's just a total mess if you ask me, not only does it modify your MBR on the install, but it also screws with everything else in a negative way.

My suggestion would be to keep XP and wait for SP3, we know it will be better than SP2 or even 1B. XP is also supported to 2012, and by then it will look like Windows 98SE or something similar (trust me).

Vista is what I like to consider a blonde when it comes to Windows operating systems. Windows ME was it's mom and like mother like daughter it's 2 dimensional, an airhead, and a total pain in the @ss.