Upgrading from windows 7 to windows 10

[sypher]

I know it's about time. I'm not planning on a clean install as I would like to make this as effortless as possible. To that end, I'm using Macrium for the first time, before I upgrade it to windows 10. Before I do everything I wanted to make sure that I'm not missing anything, and make sure I understand what I'm doing.

I have:
- Created a windows install thumb drive
- Installed Macrium
- Created a Rescue Media for Macrium on a thumb drive
- A hard drive to store the images (I do have other files on the hard drive, will that be an issue?)

My understanding of the process is to launch Macrium and click on the "Create an image of the partition (s) required to backup and restore windows"

Select the Destination Folder and let it run

Or can I just select "Image selected disks on this computer" and get the same results, but with both hard drives being imaged (C for programs F for all other files)?

Then once I've done the Windows upgrade, if things have gone sideways and I need to revert back, plug in the rescue media and pull up the saved images to revert to the previous images of the hard drive

 

[JeeperDon]

If you have a windows 7 system that has never been fresh installed in years, I'd absolutely do a clean 10 install from scratch. Since the 7 system is functional, it's easy to plan it out, save your data, get install files as needed to set things up again.

 

[JLH]

I held out upgrading to Win 10 in my older computers for a long time. I did a Win 7 to Win 10 "free" upgrade on one of my old "beater" computers when it was first available just to test it out. I wasn't happy with it at first. Now that Win 10 has matured I have upgraded three of my Win 7 computers to Win 10. I hope you know the Win 10 upgrade is still offered at no charge by Microsoft if you look for it. I did the upgrade two different ways, just to be safe.
First upgrade experience: I had two Dell laptops that I took the extra safe path on. I wanted to upgrade the laptops to SSD's anyway so to be safe I first transfered the Win 7 operating systems to the new SSD's. This way if anything failed I could easily put my original Win 7 drives back in. Once the new SSD's were in and I knew they were working fine I just went to Microsoft and did the free Win 10 upgrade directly to the new hard drive. I did not bother with putting the new OS on a thumb drive or whatever. It took me all of a couple of minutes using Microsoft's upgrade page to start the process. I had nothing to lose! It went perfect on both laptops. Note: Its quick and easy to start it, the actual upgrade takes some time however.
After doing two of the laptops without a hitch I got brave. I did the next two systems using their original hard drives and just let the Microsoft upgrade site handle them again. As with the first two the next pair upgraded without a hitch. (With Dell you can always log onto Dell's support and get the OS should you have a system failure. They are great about support, even after warranty has expired as long as you have the original service tag information.)
The WIndows 10 free upgrade is still very much available and super easy to do. The current version of Win 10 seems to be much better (after many updates) the one I installed when it was first offered.

 

[Growltiger]

What you describe sounds fine to me.
Check out the backup image you make by double clicking on it. You should see your folders and files.

 

[sypher]

If you have a windows 7 system that has never been fresh installed in years, I'd absolutely do a clean 10 install from scratch. Since the 7 system is functional, it's easy to plan it out, save your data, get install files as needed to set things up again.

I have a couple programs that I use that aren't available anymore. I'm sure they could be replaced with something else, potentially even better, but between shelling out more money and time to learn how to use them...I'll see where the upgrade gets me. A clean install may end up happening anyways, I'll find out tomorrow.

 

[sypher]

The WIndows 10 free upgrade is still very much available and super easy to do. The current version of Win 10 seems to be much better (after many updates) the one I installed when it was first offered.

Thanks for the enthusiasm . I've done several upgrades in the past, and they are easy. This was just a machine I kept on windows 7 initially due to legacy programs and not sure how they would play with windows 10. Then it was things are working just fine, and I only used it for photography anyways, so no big need to rush to upgrade.

 

[sypher]

What you describe sounds fine to me.
Check out the backup image you make by double clicking on it. You should see your folders and files.

Thanks Richard. I've upgraded devices before, and when you don't have copies/backups, there's always a little anxiety. I am excited to try out Macrium and add it to my "tool chest."

 

[Replytoken]

FWIW - we had this discussion in this thread if it helps.
https://www.nikoncafe.com/threads/question-on-win7-to-win-10-update.319628/

--Ken

 

[JLH]

I still have a couple of computers with Win 8.1 as I am very use to it and more importantly I have some software I like and use that will just not work on Win 10 without me buying a newer version at full price. Due to the work I use to do I am top heavy on computers having more than most people would ever need so I keep different systems on different computers depending on what they are used for.