Win-7 Upgrade questions

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Jim Miller

Jim Miller

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Background for the Q:
The computer we use for Quick Books Pro, word processing, and some image creation has an Intel Core 2 processor, 2 GB RAM, and an 80 GB hard drive that is nearly full. Because it is a primary computer in our business, I would prefer to upgrade it as quickly and risk-free as possible. If I'm going to unplug this thing, I want to fix it up for at least another couple of years. So, I want to add a new hard drive, boost it to 4 GB Ram, upgrade it to Windows 7, and reload all the programs and data back into it. The existing hard drive would remain in that computer for backups of critical data such.

Normally I would take it back to the company that built it for us, about a block away from the store, and pay them to do the work. However, they are busy now, saying it would take several days to do the work.

The Main Q:
I have a good 250 GB hard drive in an enclosure for external use, which I have used a few times for backups (now replaced by a 2 TB ext. drive). Could I plug this USB hard drive into my laptop (my newest, fastest, most powerful computer), load Windows 7 and the necessary programs & drivers into it, and then install it in the primary computer? Then the existing hard drive could be cleaned for its backup purpose.

The Secondary Q:
If I could do the work described above, what would be involved to switch out the hard drives and set up the old drive as a secondary in the same computer? Wouldn't it need to be partitioned or something?

One more Q:
Would I be in over my head, trying this project on my own?
 
That's a complex and time consuming project :)

When they said they probably need a day or two for all of the above (between helping other customers), they were being realistic in my opinion.

The equipment, windows 7 software, and labor would exceed the cost of a new primary machine several times over. (plus downtime)

You probably won't want to hear this, but I would probably consider a "plan C": :)

-Replace the primary machine with something new and faster, which has a new on-site warrantee. It would come with a larger hd, faster cpu, more ram, and Win7 pre-installed with all the correct drivers.
examples:
Dell Inspiron 580 Desktop 20in LED LCD / Intel Core i3-550 3.2GHz / 6GB / 1TB / Win7 $579
Dell Vostro 460 Mini Tower Desktop Dell 22in LCD / Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge Quad-Core 3.1GHz / 2GB / 320GB / Win7 Pro $759
Dell Vostro 230 Mini Tower Desktop Viewsonic 24in LCD / Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93GHz / 3GB / 320GB / Win7 $449
Dell Inspiron One 2305 All-in-One Desktop 23in Touchscreen LED LCD / AMD Athlon II x2 250U / 4GB / 500GB / 802.11n / Win7 / ATI Radeon HD4270 / 2yr warranty / $50 Dell Gift Card $699
Dell Studio XPS 8300 Desktop Intel Core i5-2400 Quad-Core Sandy Bridge / 8GB / 1.5TB / Blu-Ray / Win7 / ATI Radeon HD5670 / 2yr Warranty / $100 Dell Gift Card $899

-Install your programs and printers casually on the new machine and move the data over, before the "cutover night" when you go live the next morning with the new pc.

-Retire the current primary machine as a "workstation" pc, cmc pc, print on demand, customer use, or home pc. (keeping the 80gb drive but removing programs no longer needed, once they are installed and tested on the new machine. This will free much space) It can also serve as a backup, if the new one fails.

As far as the questions:
Many software programs "marry" to a specific chipset, cpu serial #, and hard drive serial #. They also do an initial load of drivers specific to the chipset of the computer. Installing windows 7 on one machine and them moving it to another could be very troublesome experience. The licensing system would detect this, and would probably deny it if it is an OEM license.

The usb external drives are considerably slower than one built in, and in most cases are not a practical primary boot device.

The "upgrade" version will upgrade from Vista, but not from an XP machine. It will check to make sure there is a valid license on there first, too.

It may sound wasteful, but I would probably go with the least expensive and least disruptive path (PLAN C). That's what we do at GTP, always keeping the newest and fastest pc (with warrantee) as our "server". The old servers get retired to either be workstations, or for the CMC.

Mike
 
What Mike said..

Many times it is less money and headache to buy a new machine and install any needed software on it.

The old 'primary machine' now becomes a backup or secondary workstation.

Remember if you are using PhotoShop or Corel X5 you need as robust of a machine as you can afford. A really good video card helps with PhotoShop also.
 
We just replaced 2 computers. One was running XP Pro and the other Win 2000 with one running windows 7. We bought a lenovo from Best Buy for 399.
We had most of the same programs Jim is running plus the computer running 2000 was set up as a server for our photolab POS.
We had our computer guy come and do it for us. Took him less that 2 hours. He put everything on a portable hard drive and went from there.
The new computer has 1TB harddrive, 4GB ram and 3.2 processor speed.
We had a few network problems at first but now all is well. We have 11 computers on the network and that is the only one not running XP. We also upgraded to Windows 7 professional, our tech told us that would eliminate a lot of the compatibilty issues.
 
Thanks for your recommendations.

My plan (above) would probably cost less than $300, but Plan C would require me to save up some more lunch money. Your sage advice is well taken, so I will transfer most of the photos and large data files out of this computer, clean it up, and probably use it for a few more months.
 
The windows 7 license and hard drive are probably about $300.

If you're paying someone for 2 days of labor, at what computer people get ($80-$250 per hour?), it will probably cost a lot more than a $350-$800 new pc that comes with peace of mind and a new warrantee.

It may also be good to see which of the programs can (legally and physically) be reinstalled on a different PC or hard drive. The POS can, but most programs are not transferable to a different computer and the license is only valid for the original PC. Microsoft Office OEM version, FileMaker Pro are probably some that fall into this category. I could be wrong about this, too.

In any case, good luck with the upgrade

Mike
 
Mike, I appreciate you describing the issues of trying to set up Win-7 on a hard drive not installed in its resident computer. Obviously that was a lame idea, so I certainly would not attempt it. I already have the hard drive, and the labor to do the work is pretty economical, because this company charges less to their steady customers. They have built all of my PCs, except the one that came with my CMC.

According to the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, everything about this computer should be compatible -- except, of course, that the existing hard drive's capacity is lacking. The programs I have would be reinstalled on a larger, new hard drive in this same computer, after the Win-7 install. That's the way Microsoft recommends proceeding, so it would be a legal and acceptable use of the software, wouldn't it?

In any case, I will probably just hold off until I can get a new computer. I can't afford any serious problems with the machine we depend on so heavily.
 
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