Does upgrading your operating system clear your hard drive?

If I have Windows XP and I want to upgrade to Windows 7, will it clear out everything on my computer as though it was reformatting, or does it just leave everything intact and simply upgrade the OS?

Answer #1

Doing a upgrade on your OS will not clear your hard drive, if you select clean install then yes, but not a upgrade.

Answer #2

Thanks Chris :)

Answer #3

Welcome.

Answer #4

What Chris said is true. However, you should always have a recent backup just in case something goes wrong.

I prefer to backup my data, do a clean install, then reinstall my applications and restore my data. When you do an upgrade there is the danger of migrating any existing problems to your new OS.

As a further measure when upgrading the OS on my PC I like to just buy an upgrade hard drive that is larger and faster than my old one. Replace the old drive and do the install and restore on the new drive. That way if worst comes to worst you can get to your old setup by putting your old hard drive back in your computer.

Answer #5

Great advice - thank you :)

Answer #6

Yes I myself like a clean install, but it takes more time, and sometimes people do not have the skill set to do this.

Answer #7

Tell you what…you just come over and do it for me, ok? lol..I’m liable to cause a nuclear implosion

Answer #8

Well if you had like a riloe device in your PC, this could be done across the WAN, but I do think my schedule would alot the time for me to come over and do the upgrade.

Answer #9

lol…that’s too bad :)

Answer #10

Kirkland Lake looks beautiful but alas too long a drive for me. It would have been more reasonable when I lived in Michigan but from Texas it would be a long haul.

Answer #11

youll prob find its just as cheap to buy win7 oem..

1: insert disk

  1. follow simple instructions.
  2. done.

when the part that comes up showing you your hdds and their partitions all you do is delete the partition with your current os on and the rest will be done for you.

takes me around 5 mins to install win7 ultimate 64 bit.

Answer #12

infact ive just checked amazon and teh upgrade is 5 pound more than the oem..

so you can have the full version for less ;)

i only went with the home premium but it was cheaper and for what you use your pc for colleen is all youll need.

Answer #13

Very true, I do not drive that far.

Answer #14

Thanks Matty :)

Answer #15

Okay My father is a computer technician and I often help him out…I have done this process numerous amounts of times…

You insert the disk you want to install (Windows 7 Setup) When it asks you if you want to delete your other partition from your older version of Windows just put no….It will tell you that it would upgrade and put all your files on a folder called Windows.old (on your hard drive)… formating your system completely can and may erase all your files.. (I usually do this and save the files on to a disk or maybe a mass storage USB drive)…formating is very useful and is recommended and I do this to get rid of all viruses and also to start off new (The software would be just like brand new) Then I upgrade to a newer version…in this case Windows 7….

When upgrading you have to be conscious that it is best to clear off all data so your computer can be running fast….so If you haven’t already, I suggest getting rid of junk downloads and files and save the important files somewhere where you know that your newer version will read (some CDs are not read by computers and if you put info there….you might think its there but later the CD won’t be read and you can’t recover your files) for example a mass storage USB. In conclusion, I just do it to start off new when I upgrade a version (including a couple of my dad’s customers)

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