Upgrading Win 7 to Win 8

[pzkpfw]

Anyone gone through the process of upgrading a PC from 7 to 8?

(An in-place upgrade, not a wipe the HDD clean and start from scratch move.)

Just wondering if you found many caveats; I'm wondering how "careful" I ought to be about backing up stuff like my PST file.

[SMOKEU]

Fuck doing that, if you're going to do that then do it properly by formatting the HD first and doing a fresh install.

AFAIK it is possible to do an "upgrade" from Windows 7 to 8 with a clean install. I think you just need the old Windows 7 key.

[tigertim20]

windows 8 sucks.
my new laptop has it, im thinking about putting 7 on it

[iYRe]

my boss has done several of them.
It usually works ok, but ALWAYS.. ALWAYS.. ALWAYS back you stuff up first..

it is microsoft after all.

[Gremlin]

Just wondering if you found many caveats; I'm wondering how "careful" I ought to be about backing up stuff like my PST file.

Uh... even if the install process is smooth, it doesn't mean your particular one will go smoothly. ALWAYS back up your data.

9/10 Windows installs go smoothly ... but there is always that one where something goes wrong, and it doesn't perform how it should, so you wipe and do it again.

[pzkpfw]

Thanks folk.

Yeah, I will backup, it's more about levels of completeness; and assuaging my own nervousness.

(I already have the supplied-with-my-Dell on-line backup (of certain libraries) going to the Internet somewhere.

And I run 2 x 1TB drives, and one is dedicated to being a backup of the other (yes, I know there are other ways to do all that) receiving the results of Windows' own backup system plus one-off file/folder copies.

Plus I also copy all my client and own-business files to multiple external hard drives.)

Mostly just looking at how "smooth" the install is (usually); real experience from real people.

Sounds like it's a go.

(And yeah, only going the 8 way now because clients are starting to want 8ish things done. They pay, I do.)

[SMOKEU]

And I run 2 x 1TB drives, and one is dedicated to being a backup of the other (yes, I know there are other ways to do all that) receiving the results of Windows' own backup system plus one-off file/folder copies.

Robocopy...

[pzkpfw]

Robocopy...

Avocado...

[SMOKEU]

Avocado...

Big floppy donkey dick...

[Akzle]

upgrade to linux!

[Bald Eagle]

it's Windows, upgrade to an Operating system not a virus delivery application ;-) Linux ;-)

[pzkpfw]

I get that jokes are jokes, but will quote myself:

... (And yeah, only going the 8 way now because clients are starting to want 8ish things done. They pay, I do.)

If I could suddenly start doing Linuxy stuff and get paid more than what I do now, sure I'd switch.

(Having said that, one of my current projects will require an app made first in mumble mumble and later converted to Android. So will be needing to "expand"... just not yet...)

[Mental Trousers]

Since WinXP they're all downgrades.

[James Deuce]

Don't do it. Install Virtualbox and run up a VM first and see if you can cope with it.

It really is shit.

Server 2012 would be a better idea for a work machine.

[pzkpfw]

Don't do it. Install Virtualbox and run up a VM first and see if you can cope with it.

It really is shit.

Server 2012 would be a better idea for a work machine.

Doing Win 8 stuff in a virtual machine would be a good idea, but I generally can't be arsed with that approach unless it's specifically required (i.e. stuff that just isn't compatible both ways so multiple OS's are needed).

I've got an XP VM on my current PC; only ever used it once, and that wasn't for work (it was to play an old game).

In this case, I need to start doing some things that are specifically Win 8 based (i.e. with Visual Studio 2012, certain things (whatever they call Metro now) can't be done unless 8 is the OS). Otherwise I'd just be sticking with 7 for a while longer. Heck, maybe Metro skills will be rare and worth something! I hear IRD will pay big $$$ for Cobol programmers right now...