Upgrade from 32bit to 64bit help ^_^

[Akubane]

Hey, just aquired a 64bit copy of vista ultimate so the 4gb pack or ram I ordered last night wouldn't go to waste.

Right now im running windows vista 32bit.

Q1) Is there any way to install the new 64bit version Without reformatting my HD?
I REALLY don't want to back up 500gb of crap, and then spend hours re-installign the 10 - 15 games i have on here.

Q2) If so, How would I go about doing that? ^^ Is it as simple as booting with the disc and 'remove old install new'?
That would make me happy, but my luck is never that good so thats why I'm asking before I screw something up and lose my HD.

Thanks guys

 

[KSoD]

Nop. You can not just upgrade from 32 Bit to 64 Bit. You HAVE to format and re-install.

 

[Akubane]

lovely >.> guess i'll be running 3 gigs of ram for a while XD

 

[dark strike1]

lovely >.> guess i'll be running 3 gigs of ram for a while XD

Well, just backup everything, format and install Vista x64, I would do the install overnight so it is done when you wake up. Doesnt take alot of time, you have the resources so why not do it.

 

[Black Falcon 921]

Well, just backup everything, format and install Vista x64, I would do the install overnight so it is done when you wake up. Doesnt take alot of time, you have the resources so why not do it.

If you do put 64 on make sure you back up your game saves I forgot about that last time and boy was I ****ed when I figured it out I was almost at the end of bioshock, lost everything.

 

[veg1992]

you could use Norton Ghost or Acronis or something to make an image to retain your settings, format, and reapply the image to your Vista 64bit

 

[bla!!]

This is why you generally wan't to have a dedicated partition for the operating system. So you don't have to back up all your extra files.

Think about doing this if you decide to re-format completely.

 

[KSoD]

you could use Norton Ghost or Acronis or something to make an image to retain your settings, format, and reapply the image to your Vista 64bit

If you re-applied the image you would put Vista 32 Bit back on.

 

[EricB]

I just upgraded my machine and ram with amd 64 fx processor and 4 gigs of corsair ram (I had only had 2 gig of buffalo ram because 32 bit is slower with 4 gigs ). I don't know about vista, but my xp 64 bit OS is blazing super fast now. I'm thinking about adding 8 gigs now. I'm going to bother MS into making more stuff compatible with 64 bit

 

[MetalOwns]

Well, just backup everything, format and install Vista x64, I would do the install overnight so it is done when you wake up. Doesnt take alot of time, you have the resources so why not do it.

Overnight? It took me like 10 minutes max to install Vista the first time.