Help with back-up & Swapping to 64 - bit

[ccyberzone]

Dear Tech forum people

Ive got a quick and urgent question, recently ive wanted to swap from a 32-bit operating system to a 64-bit operating system, now I was told to back up my files and just get the 64 bit version of the windows version ive got, did all this but then i stumbled upon a problem.

So I backed up my files using the back up system from Windows followed the steps to upgrade from 32 to 64 bit but once I pressed upgrade it gave me an error, now my question is instead of doing the "upgrade" option in the windows setup can I just select the Custom(advanced) option or will it delete all my files including the backup ive got stored on my PC.
Help is appreciated !

Greets cyberzone

 

[ccyberzone]

Now my thought was do I need the 32 bit disc to upgrade it or was i not mistaken to get the 64 bit disc?

 

[carnageX]

You can't do an Upgrade when going from 32bit -> 64bit. You have to install fresh, which means using the "Custom (Advanced)" option.

If you reformat the drive during the install, yes it will delete all files that are on that drive. That's why you're supposed to backup to another drive (hard drive, flash drive, external hard drive, CDs/DVDs, etc.).

There is a workaround, however. If you go through the Custom-Advanced section, and on the screen where you select your HDD partition you want to install to, if you select the SAME partition where your previous install of Windows is located and WITHOUT formatting, just click next. You'll get a warning message about "There was a previous install of Windows found in this location, we will move the files to Windows.old and continue the install". That means it will move EVERYTHING to C:\Windows.old, and then install the OS as new.

After you do that and you're booted into your fresh install, you can find your personal files and copy them over. Note that you CANNOT transfer programs - you will have to reinstall those.

Once you are sure you have all of your personal files transferred over (documents, pics, music, etc.), you can run through Disk Cleanup (right click your HDD under Computer -> Properties -> Disk Cleanup). Let it run, and then when it finishes it's first run, then click the "Clean up system files" button and let it scan again. Then once complete, in the list select the "old Windows install" one and put a checkmark next to it, then click OK and it will run through and delete all the old install files for you. MAKE SURE BEFORE YOU DO THIS THAT YOU HAVE ALL YOUR FILES MOVED OVER TO YOUR NEW INSTALL!

 

[SubliminalX7]

You can't do an Upgrade when going from 32bit -> 64bit. You have to install fresh, which means using the "Custom (Advanced)" option.

If you reformat the drive during the install, yes it will delete all files that are on that drive. That's why you're supposed to backup to another drive (hard drive, flash drive, external hard drive, CDs/DVDs, etc.).

There is a workaround, however. If you go through the Custom-Advanced section, and on the screen where you select your HDD partition you want to install to, if you select the SAME partition where your previous install of Windows is located and WITHOUT formatting, just click next. You'll get a warning message about "There was a previous install of Windows found in this location, we will move the files to Windows.old and continue the install". That means it will move EVERYTHING to C:\Windows.old, and then install the OS as new.

After you do that and you're booted into your fresh install, you can find your personal files and copy them over. Note that you CANNOT transfer programs - you will have to reinstall those.

Once you are sure you have all of your personal files transferred over (documents, pics, music, etc.), you can run through Disk Cleanup (right click your HDD under Computer -> Properties -> Disk Cleanup). Let it run, and then when it finishes it's first run, then click the "Clean up system files" button and let it scan again. Then once complete, in the list select the "old Windows install" one and put a checkmark next to it, then click OK and it will run through and delete all the old install files for you. MAKE SURE BEFORE YOU DO THIS THAT YOU HAVE ALL YOUR FILES MOVED OVER TO YOUR NEW INSTALL!

I swear I had to reinstall Windows 7 because of a SLIC error and I did the whole Windows.old transfer and stuff. But I was able to get everything from programs, personal data, to user profiles back by copying Windows .old to Windows carefully. Then by editing some registry entries. The registry entry editing was to get all my icons back.

But I was not going from 32->64-bit.

Is that why he can't do what I did because of the fact that it did not write any "Program Files" to the 32-bit version of Windows? Meaning since he had no "Program Files (x86)" Folder on 32-bit because I assume it's just "Program Files"? Or simply because that installation did not copy 64-bit drivers to that Windows.old?

 

[carnageX]

Copying programs can be finicky...and I generally don't recommend it because it takes just as much work to get them working usually (because of registry entries/other dependencies) - if not more - than to just simply reinstall the software.

Plus is a good way to only reinstall the stuff you actually use . If you're like me...stuff tends to get cluttered.

 

[SubliminalX7]

Copying programs can be finicky...and I generally don't recommend it because it takes just as much work to get them working usually (because of registry entries/other dependencies) - if not more - than to just simply reinstall the software.

Plus is a good way to only reinstall the stuff you actually use . If you're like me...stuff tends to get cluttered.

That is a really good point because I use literally 50% of the stuff I have lol