04-06-2010, 02:29 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 518
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Moving to Windows 7; Or, The Importance of A Reliable Backup
Managed to trash my Vista install late last week. It had been flaky for a while & originally decided problem was some conflict between ZoneAlarm Security Suite and EITHER Firefox OR Opera. Removing ZA did seem to help, but system became increasingly prone to freezing up, &/or BSOD, &/or random reboots... 
XP still seemed OK, so decided problem lay with Vista (as opposed to hardware), and - as also running out of HD space - decided this was a good time to install a new drive (replacing one of the current ones) and move from Vista to Windows 7.
Initial plan was 32Bit Vista to 32Bit Win 7 - solely in hopes of avoiding having to reinstall apps with the busy Easter weekend coming up. Long story shortened: that failed - a couple of times - (perhaps due to dual boot?), & so finally ended up with 64bit Win7 anyway....
Things learned along the way:
1) It is difficult to move data amongst 3 SATA drives when system only has 2 (TWO!) SATA connectors. (Pulled a Promise card from a mule system...);
2) 64Bit Win 7 will gladly load itself PART WAY from your DVD Drive - and then smugly inform you that said DVD Drive is NOT SUPPORTED by 64bit Win 7, and thus the install cannot be continued;  (Internet reveals as many "solutions" as there are systems that experience the problem; eventually find one that actually works....)
3) There is some 64bit Win7 driver incompatibility between the Wireless adapter and the motherboard-based ethernet card. This prevents connecting to the internet - say, in hopes of finding a solution - UNTIL you discover that the solution is to DISABLE the ethernet card;
4) Updating BOTH drivers, as recommended by Windows Update, does NOT fix this incompatibility;
5) Naturally, disabling the ethernet card also disconnects the fancy network multifunction printer that is attached to it: you can surf the www, OR you can print - but you cannot do both simultaneously...
6) Done JUST RIGHT, you can install Win7 AND maintain the dual boot option. However, this is largely academic, as the process somehow trashes the XP installation;
7) It is NOT a good idea to play around with Partitioning Software when a) you are moving around partitions that contain data you wish to retain, AND b) you are in a RUSH, AND c) you have a houseful of people who are constantly interrupting your train of thought; 
8) Maxtor (that is, Seagate), for reasons known only to themselves, has chosen NOT to release a 64Bit Compatible version of the software that drives the Maxtor Touch Four Plus External Backup Drive, rendering the contents unreadable by 64bit Win7. This is, of course, particularly unfortunate due to the results of Item #7 above.... 
9) Fortunately, they HAVE released a version for 32bit Win7, which my Ever Patient wife happens to run, & which she kindly suggested I try prior to tossing the entire system into the street... 
10) The drives in my wife's system now have virtually no free space remaining.... guess it is time to either add another, or replace one with a drive with greater capacity. With Great Care, of course....
Wonder how many SATA ports her system has???? 
...................
Documents, Email, Profiles & Bookmarks all recovered to my system.
Pictures, videos, & music all recovered to wife's system.
(The HD removed from my system does contain an "extra" backup - but only of the most important data files.)
64Bit Win7 is VERY Snappy... at least with only Firefox and Thunderbird loaded... - Now must get busy with the other couple dozen apps that went away with Vista.
Sigh.
............
Maybe web-based backups are indeed an idea worthy of consideration...
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