I want to upgrade from my Windows 32-bit OS to a Windows 7 64-bit OS so I can have access to the full amount of RAM I currently have (6GB) instead of the 3GB which 32-bit limits your use to. But it's not just for the RAM usage it's also just because people have said it's much better than 32-bit.
My question is; Is there a way to save all my files on my hard-drive without having to format everything to install the 64-bit version?
I don't necessarily need all the files saved, but it would be more convenient than installing and setting up steam again, to download all of my games again, any help is appreciated, thankyou!
The easiest thing I can think of is using an external hard drive, or if you have (or feel like getting instead) an extra internal, move them all to that, then install Windows on the old hard drive. Or install it on the new one, and don't bother copying files. Partitioning may allow you to do what you want to, because it essentially creates a virtual hard drive, and as far as I know, Windows doesn't force you to format the whole hard drive, just the partition you want to install to.
I think it'll still just drop everything into windows.old folder if you install without format.
Although you're probably best off moving stuff to a external harddrive or another computer while you're reinstalling.
[QUOTE=bassie12;28464101]I think it'll still just drop everything into windows.old folder if you install without format.
Although you're probably best off moving stuff to a external harddrive or another computer while you're reinstalling.[/QUOTE]
Yeah you can just install right over it without formating it and it will move everything to a windows.old folder. I do it whenever I don't have access to an external hdd or I'm just lazy.
When I upgraded from 32bit to 64bit it just put the Windows, Program Files and Users folders into a windows.old folder and proceeded to install without touching the rest of the hard drive. And if you don't have enough space it will just delete those 3 folders.
[QUOTE=DeadKiller987;28578904]When I upgraded from 32bit to 64bit it just put the Windows, Program Files and Users folders into a windows.old folder and proceeded to install without touching the rest of the hard drive. And if you don't have enough space it will just delete those 3 folders.[/QUOTE]
And ProgramData
I just flashed my hard drive and everything in My documents was actually saved.
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