Win7>Win10 - Upgrade or fresh install?

[Thrust Augmentation]

Any sage words regarding upgrading from 7 Pro to 10 Pro - Do "in place" upgrades work acceptably between 7& 10 or is a fresh install advisable?

I've generally gone fresh in the past for obvious reasons as in-place hasn't always worked so well & it's a good opportunity to clear the system of junk / nonsense, but I've got an eye watering amount of software to migrate this time around & would really like if possible not to have to re-install & re-configure the whole lot.


Any advice appreciated.

[Repos]

Apparently, when you upgrade, your Windows 7 system is saved so you can revert if there are any problems.

However I would ask, how old is your hardware? If it is nearrly as old as Windows 7 then you may well upgrade the OS but then need a new computer at some stage anyway.
It may be as well to get a new computer with Windows 10 loaded and start anew.
I'm not an expert, but in my experience you get this problem of keeping you hardware/BIOS/Operating systems/Browsers/Programs all up to date, but also in sync with each other.
I know it's easy for me to say when it's your money but I just went through this pain about 18 months ago.
As I mentioned in another thread I still run Windows Vista on a 10 year old laptop and it works well enough for a backup l but it would drive me nuts using it everyday.

[Thrust Augmentation]

Originally Posted by Repos

However I would ask, how old is your hardware?

It's about 3 years old & will have no issue running Win10 spec wise. The laptop was supplied with Win 10, with the option of Win 7 via downgrade rights - this was done at the time as some specific software wasn't up to Win 10 at the time.

Originally Posted by Repos

It may be as well to get a new computer with Windows 10 loaded and start anew.

It's due to the hassle of starting anew that I'm hoping not to have to have to do this & that an in place upgrade may work.

[Saab Dastard]

If you can afford to buy an additional hard disk (same size or larger than existing) rather than a new PC, then you have the option of cloning the existing disk to the new, then putting the new one in the PC / laptop and doing an upgrade, safe in the knowledge that if it turns out to be a mistake you can revert to your existing disk by simply putting it back. Alternatively, with your existing disk safely tucked away, you can also try a clean install on the new disk, and keep the existing as a backup - put it in an external USB caddy to make it really easy to transfer data (an external caddy also simplifies cloning).

SD

[Repos]

Agree with SD as well - good advice, it just depends how much you are willing spend.
Given that the PC is reasonably up to date there is no reason why it shouldn't be OK however computers are unpredictable beasts so one thing to remember is keep creating restore points.
Going back about 3 years ago I had an older spare PC with windows 7 which I successfully upgraded to W8 then W10 and everything was just fine until it got an update at some stage, then it went a bit wonky.
It wouldn't allow Chrome or Firefox (my preferred browsers) to connect to the internet so I had to use Edge (which I hate) and had Cortana (annoying digital assistant ) interrupting me every 5 minutes.

OK Rant over! Going back to my point, create regular Restore Points just in case. - I didn't!

[Thrust Augmentation]

Thank for the replies.

After a bit more reading I've decided to go down the fresh install route, but I'm a bit confused by licencing;

I've got two M2 bays, one currently occupied by the main drive & the other empty. The plan was to backup as required, install a new SDD into bay 2 & then install Win 10 onto this, retaining the original SDD via dual boot for a while before repurposing it. Win 7 was OEM installed via Win 10 downgrade rights, so I have Win 10 recovery media which I can use to install Win 10.

I'm no doubt overthinking this, but as Win 7 & Win 10 will be running on the same licence will there be any issue with doing as I plan - I'm thinking that 2 almost concurrent copies of Windows, running on the same licence on the same PC may be an issue?


Thanks.

[le Pingouin]

As you won't be running then both at the same time there isn't a problem.

[Thrust Augmentation]

Overthinking then - Thanks.

[Capn Bloggs]

If you can afford to buy an additional hard disk (same size or larger than existing) rather than a new PC, then you have the option of cloning the existing disk to the new, then putting the new one in the PC / laptop and doing an upgrade, safe in the knowledge that if it turns out to be a mistake you can revert to your existing disk by simply putting it back. Alternatively, with your existing disk safely tucked away, you can also try a clean install on the new disk, and keep the existing as a backup - put it in an external USB caddy to make it really easy to transfer data (an external caddy also simplifies cloning).

Get your backup program to make as many images as you want. I use Acronis True Image. Simply do a complete disk backup to your backup drive (ends up being a large single file), then do whatever you want to do to the system drive. Works really well; I made various images as I progressively installed Win 7 and can roll back to any point along the way if I have a catastrophe or mess something up or just want to go back a year or so to get rid of the crud I tried but didn't like.

I'm going to try the upgrade route first. I'm getting too old to try new installs straight up! If it doesn't work "out of the box", I'll wipe and start afresh.