Windows 7 question (possibly stupid)

Now that windows 7 is out, i can get windows 7 pro for $40 since im a student, but before i buy it i wanted to know if windows 7 64 bit would upgrade right over my vista home premium 64 bit. It wouldnt format my hd would it? Will everything stay installed the way it is? (I have quite a few unfinished games which will be annoying as hell to reinstall).
Thx.

 

Unfortunately, you are going from a Vista Home to Windows 7 Professional. Moving up in versions requires a clean install.

The only way around that, AFAIK, is to use the Windows anytime upgrade to move to Vista Business and then use the in-place upgrade to Windows 7 .

 

Oh, darn.
Well what if i bought windows 7 home?

 

You could in-place upgrade just fine.

Windows Ultimate is another option. That allows an in-place upgrade over any edition of Vista.

 

I would just do a fresh install after wiping out the hard drive. No sense introducing problems to Windows 7. Did I mention I luvvvvvvv W7.

 

Hmm, well i have a ton of files from school and my savegames + other misc programs installed which would be a real hassle to reinstall. The only way i see a fresh install working is to buy an external or transfer everything over to my other laptop temporarily. What are the disadvantages of upgrading?

 

You bring over potential errors and bugs from the previous OS by upgrading. For the most part upgrades work well but you take the chance of things breaking over time that's why I always prefer to do a clean install.

 

Well it's that "ton" of files that's likely to clutter up your new OS upgrade--especially if you do anything that's not standard. Upgrades can be potentially complex enough without adding additional obstacles to overcome. That's why it's best to stick to the basics.

Decide which you want more: a more advanced OS (with the tedium of reinstalling your files) or ease of maintaining your precious games with a lateral move to the same grade OS. Either way, you're still moving up!

 

The main disavantage is that any left over trash on your system from unused registry entries, program remanants left over from uninstalls, junk you don't even know you have are also transfered over. A clean install is just like starting with a new PC without manufacturing trialware installed and no trash.

With that said, IMO, if your PC is working well for you now, just perform the upgrade. You will be happy and no hassels. You can always perform a clean install in the future if you are so inclined. For those with limited technical expertise, no external backup means (very bad by the way if you really need the data on your laptop) and want to be done with it in an hour or two with a working system, perform the upgrade.

Do at least take the time to backup your important data files to a CD/DVD(s) just in case of a problem. I hate crying

Edit: Yeesh, I have to type or think faster, two people responded while I was composing.

 

IMO, upgrades get a bad rap. I upgraded my laptop from Vista and it's ran just fine for four months. The upgrade from Vista to Win7 is particularly smoother than previous upgrades because Microsoft has had more bug reports to work with and the OSes share more components than in previous upgrades.