Can I bridge with Windows 7RC until October Launch...?

kenej2005

kenej2005

kenej2005

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Joined
4 Sep 2008
Posts
36
Hi folks,

New to self building and have only ever done basic software installations. Me = noob :rolleyes:

I'm doing my first self-build next weekend and the plan is to install 64 bit Windows 7 RC and use that as my sole OS until I can buy the final release at launch in October (I'm going from XP and want to just skip Vista).

The OS will be on a separate HDD, along with other software I routinely use (Office, Sony Vegas, Photoshop etc.).

When Windows 7 is officially launched do I just upgrade to the final version and install without issues or will I have all kinds of dramas? Not quite sure if what I'm planning is workable...?

BTW - I know that Microsoft are planning to allow anyone who buys Vista now a free upgrade when Windows 7 comes out. However, the details of how that may work aren't yet released...so I'd rather play safe and just jump straight to Windows 7 if that's possible?

Thanks for your help folks.

Cheers

Jon.
 
i'd just use the RC until 7 final comes out, then I'd do a format and fresh install (to iron out any underlying bugs)
 
Thanks mate. Good to know it's a viable option.

When the full version of Windows 7 launches do I reformat the whole drive (so I need to re-install Office, Vegas, Photoshop etc. aswell) or do I partition the drive and have a separate sector for Windows 7 so that I only have to reinstall that?

I'm guessing you can only reformat the whole drive, not just a sector?

Will reformatting and freshly installing full Windows 7 cause any problems with work I've done in any programs while using the Release Candidate as my OS?

As you can tell I know nothing about drive partitioning - it's just a term I've heard used and I need to have a good read up on...so apologies if my question is nonsense!

Cheers

Jon.
 
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If you've never built a PC before, you could install the Win7 RC now, and use the time between now and October to familiarise yourself with how things work and how to set your system up optimally (not that it's exactly rocket science, but everyone pooches things up now and again, particularly at first).

Then when the full Win7 release comes along, you can format and do a completely "clean" install armed with your newfound wisdom and experience, and it should run as sweet as a nut right from day one. :)

You can create more than one partition on your Win7 boot drive, and format them (or not) individually - formatting the system partition will leave the others untouched, but mistakes can and do happen and I'd highly recommend keeping any valuable data on a physically separate drive in this scenario (unplug it when you're reformatting/installing Windows, reattach it after).

Do make sure that any user data is either backed up or on a different drive/partition from the OS before you reformat - anything that's on the Windows (normally C) volume will be nuked along with the OS, so things like your outlook.pst file will disappear unless you've changed the default location...
 
Thanks for the info mate. I appreciate it.

Looks like I have some reading to do. I'll be sure and post back with some more dumb questions as my build proceeds :-)

Cheers

Jon.
 
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