Movin' on up (finally) from XP to Windows 7...need advice.

[SpikeBrown]

I am primarily a Mac user, but I have Windows XP Pro installed on a partition that is almost only used for gaming. I've put off upgrading to Windows 7 until now so that I can get Windows 10 for free later this year.

 

My external HD will back up all save files, but not the programs that they are for (at this point, only Fallout 3 and New Vegas), and none of my applications either. I'm thinking that I will have to do a new install from the game discs, and redownload the Nexus Mod Manager. I'm not sure what to do about my mods. I think I will have to download those again, and hope that everything works the way it should.

 

Can anyone tell me if I'm correct in thinking I'll have to do new installs? Any other suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Spike

[Purr4me]

how much space do you have available ?

[SpikeBrown]

On my external HD (the one dedicated to Windows...I have a separate ext. HD for the Mac side) I have 1TB available. If you mean my partition for Windows, it is currently at 80GB, but I will repartition it to 100GB. Remember, I use the Windows side of my computer for almost nothing but games, so 100GB is more than I will need.

 

So... 1TB external HD space for Windows. 100GB HD partition for Windows. I am currently using about 60GB of the current 80GB on my Windows partition.

 

I'm not sure where you're going with your question, Purr4me, but now I'm curious. Thanks for your reply.

 

P.S. I should have said in my first post that I've considered trying to upload some stuff to DropBox, but I'm not sure that will work for applications. I'll have to look into that.

Edited July 25, 2015 by SpikeBrown

[Purr4me]

your position will be unique "MAC" and win 7...

The fat...deal will be different than XP is as it is now.

once you have installed and successfully ran windows 7. all your current mods can be "Moved" just prior to the setup to the 100 gig drive.

The thing about the mods as they are now, are they installed into the games folders? "Steams..etc..etc.." ?

Steam operates with which system?

 

choices, what are the choices....well, depends on how much game data you have here. you can image the games data Steam and all into an iso as a backup and move that to an open drive out of the way.

 

what you need is a lot of space to do all these operations.

From what I gather here, 20 gig's is not enough space to do this because windows xp uses a swap file as ram, that extra space is really not there.

In my view, you say this " ( I am currently using about 60GB of the current 80GB on my Windows partition.) ", windows is not using any data from the drive for Mac's software. So, what can be done prior to diving in is plan out how you go about all of this. Windows, you can redirect even with xp where and what is used for swap file "usage", you need more than 20 gig's of free space to do a complete backup of the games folders if you have a lot of games. I have no idea how much space is being used. Note: you need 3 time the used space for this kind of back ups and operations you intend to do.

 

If you own a USB book? advising you to move all your games data there or at least make a clean copy of it. Get it out of the way.

Dual booting systems is a very nasty business. Windows seven does not work as well as XP did. It's boot "BCD" may not allow what you want to do too. I have no idea...because I have not data about the hardware you have.

 

it all seems complicated. but it's not ,what becomes a complication is the unknown things that may take place, your dealing with a MAC Too.

so...the safe thing to do is remove what you want not to loose off of that system completely. you don't need to redo every thing if imaged in some way.

 

you can use (http://www.imgburn.com/) to create the Entire backup of all you want saved clean and then move that off, out of the way, saved.

windows 10...that's a whole new ball game, Don't even go there.

[SpikeBrown]

Oy. I'm gonna have to reread your post tomorrow when I'm not so tired. My brain is frazzled just now. That said, I'm not going to worry about the erasing/repartitioning and installation of Windows 7...my BootCamp assistant will take care of all that for me. It's just figuring out how to avoid losing and/or having to reinstall old applications that might not run in Windows 7. Plus, keeping all my games data will be the highest priority since gaming is pretty much all I do on the Windows side of things. I'll also increase my RAM by 50% just before I start the whole switch-over process. Not that that makes any difference to the whole "moving" hassle, but still, just one more thing to be done. MUST MAKE SURE I CAN PLAY FALLOUT 4 WHEN IT ARRIVES!!!!! :D Because, of course, I can't afford a new computer right now. :sad:

 

Thanks, Purr4me...I'll let this percolate until tomorrow.

 

Spike

Edited July 25, 2015 by SpikeBrown

[Purr4me]

coffee pot starts up at 7:am

I start up at 6am

The kids ? oh man, it never ends !

Plan with clear motives.

 

kitty

[SpikeBrown]

I don't envy you. My kids are grown and gone. I don't get up early on my days off. I can sleep until noon if I want to, although I usually don't, because eventhough I'm a night owl, I don't like missing any more of summer than I have to. "Night.

 

Spike

Edited July 25, 2015 by SpikeBrown