If you bought a program as a physical package, you’ll need the disc. You need to gather up installable versions of all of the programs on your hard drive that you want to keep. But if you’re planning a clean (aka custom) install, you’ve got more preparation to do. If you’re doing a simple upgrade, you’re done with prep work and can skip down to the “Run the Upgrade” section below. Run the backup overnight, with plans to do the upgrade the following morning. Also, be sure to create the bootable Rescue CD (this option is on Macrium Reflect’s Other Tasks menu) before you start the upgrade.Īn image backup of a really big hard drive can take hours. Plug in the external hard drive before you create the image, and select that drive as the Backup destination. I recommend the free version of Macrium Reflect for image backup, although others will do. To create one, you’ll need an external hard drive, and an image backup program. Whatever the reason, you need a way to go back to where you were before.Īn image backup of your hard drive offers an easy, dependable way to do just that, since it restores everything on the hard drive: Windows, applications, data, and even the Master Boot Record.

Maybe you just don’t like the new interface. Some important program or device won’t work in the new environment. No matter how good your precautions, operating system upgrades can go horribly wrong.

Win 7 upgrade