Windows 7 Confused on the pricing of Windows 7 for XP users

[AkoCham]

I plan on upgrading to Windows 7 64 from XP 64 this October but I am a little confused as to how the pricing for this works.

I understand that XP users are eligible for the upgrade price for Windows 7 but a few things about this does not make sense to me.

The first thing is where to purchase Windows 7 for the upgrade price. I looked on Amazon and they have a SKU for Windows 7 Upgrade (Link Removed) but does this apply to XP users or just Vista users? As in, if I buy that SKU, then come October, I can use that CD Amazon ships to me to do a clean install of Windows 7 on my XP machine? Also, would I have to prove to Amazon in some form that I currently own XP as opposed to Vista at the time of purchase?

The second thing that confuses me is that Amazon also has regular Windows 7 SKUs for full price (Amazon.com: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional: Software). Now assuming that you can purchase the Windows 7 Upgrade SKU and do a clean install on your XP machine, what is the point in buying the OS at full price?

Could someone please break down the XP upgrade path to me?

 

[Tepid]

I apologize for all the re-edits I did on my previous post. I urge you to go back and re-read it on page 2.

Just keep in mind. Hard Drive Space is cheap and getting cheaper. There should be no reason to skimp on it.
Same with RAM.

 

[AkoCham]

I apologize for all the re-edits I did on my previous post. I urge you to go back and re-read it on page 2.

Just keep in mind. Hard Drive Space is cheap and getting cheaper. There should be no reason to skimp on it.
Same with RAM.

Just re-read it and while it is very informative could you please elaborate on the whole calculation of the RAM and how it relates to free space? I don't consider myself computer-illiterate but that's my first time hearing and and I would appreciate it explained in more detail seeing as it seems very foreign to me.

And while you are right when you say that HDD space and RAM are really cheap now a days, I am still a poor college student who still has to pay bills so any kind of investment in additional hardware is out of the question for now Thus leaving me with my 4 gigs of RAM and my single 500GB HDD. The reason I want to partition so bad is that it makes me sleep at night knowing my data is separate from my OS if something drastic were to ever happen and I would need a reinstall.

 

[stueycaster]

Man I wish I had a 500 Gb hard drive and 4Gb ram. Mine is 200 Gb and I have 2Gb ram. My problem is younger relatives without jobs who never have enough money to support themselves. I have to supply them transportation and school clothes and other stuff. The boyfriend finally found a job after being unemployed over a year so maybe I'll get to have a little of my money. But now my wife is talking about moving. It never ends.

My h/d has had 4 partitions since I installed it. I've reinstalled operating systems a lot. I used to dual boot and there are a lot of problems that come along with that crap. I swear I'll never dual boot again. I have data that's been on this drive for 5 years now and have never lost a single item.

My System Partition is only 35 Gb. I know you guys are right about the need for free space. But if I do the math on the figures you mentioned it's just enough. I reclaimed 1 1/2 Gb space so my O/s is using 21.5 Gb now. That leaves me 13 1/2 Gb free space. The Page File system is figured into that so it's not a factor at all. I only allow 3% to System Restore. I don't need a lot of Restore Points since my computer stays in such good shape. At 20% Defrag is using 7Gb. Besides, considering what my computer has for hardware it runs great. It's fast enough for me.

I never store pictures and other stuff in my system drive. I have 15 Gb of music and 12 Gb of pictures stored in other partitions. Back when I used XP and I needed to defrag manually my system drive almost never needed it.

I could expand my system partition but I don't want to move the data in the others.

The way I see it having a large Hard drive and only using a very small percent of it is a waste. Partitioning my drive has never given me a single problem.

 

[Tepid]

Ok,,, RAM doesn't have anything to do with Free Space in general.

But, the page file size will take up free space as it grows.
The system can initially start out with a page file that is the initial size set under (don't know if this is exact path at the moment) Computer / Properties / Advanced Computer settings / Advanced / Performance / Advanced / Virtual Memory

If it starts off at the initial size, as it needs more it will grow to the max size, if you don't allow for space, you will have problems.

If you don't allow for expansion if you ever do add ram,, you will have problems.

You could set the Page File Static (Initial and Max being the same as the Max size), this could be debated as well, if it is a good idea or not. I personally don't see much issue with it and is supposed to prevent fragmentation which can also be debated.
It is a good idea to set the RegKey to delete and rebuild the page file every so often on reboot. Set the reg key, reboot and then unset the key. Search Bing for the key "delete page file on boot". This will cause the system to take a bit longer to shutdown and reboot, but it creates a fresh page file. Essentially defraging it. which is needed and a good thing.

Free Space is used by Defrag, and I think other system specific things as scratch space. It is not taken away, but used as a temp scratch space. This is not a wholly accurate description (other than the defrag statement), but something to that effect. It is the best way I can describe that free space is critical to a properly working Windows OS. and here it comes, (Linux and Mac don't have this problem). I said it for all those who read this so you don't have to. Then go use those, go away, have a nice day.

The page file size calculations could be explained by others better than I can. More technically anyway.
It's not an arbitrary number. I just know it is 1.5 x installed ram Initial and 3 x for Max. And rounding to the actual size of memory sticks installed, not what is reported by windows. 1024 for 1G etc.

I would recommend getting an external 1TB HDD and backup to it. If something happens (and it will) to the one hdd, it won't matter that it has multiple partitions, it will all be gone, period.


In the olden XP days,,, carving up a drive, was a good idea, and advocated it all the time.
In these Modern Times of large cheap drives and Windows Vista/7 and how data is handled differently.
I don't advocate carving up drives as a normal process. Yes, it can be done. But it is more for specific reasons other than what is being discussed here.... Mainly Dual/Triple booting OS's.

Otherwise, get an exteranl drive larger than your internal system drive and run regular backups. and don't carve up the drive. You really aren't gaining much.

However,,,,,,,, yes, you can keep data on one partition and OS on the other and if something happens to the OS (which my experience is rare for Vista/7) , you can just backup a few things and reload windows. Yes, this is possible. but again, It's not really doing much more than that

 

[stueycaster]

You're probably right about not partitioning. I just really don't like the idea of storing a lot of data in my system drive and I didn't have much to work with.

I will be able to upgrade my system someday. I don't know when but it will happen. I plan to get a 60 or 80 Gb SSD Drive just for my O/s plus a large SATA drive for storage.

My system is about 6 years old and I've had to make do with it since I have always had to spend my money on everybody but me. Considering what it is it has been a jewel and W7 runs great on it. Wish me luck on getting the upgrade sooner rather than later.

 

[john3347]

The reason I want to partition so bad is that it makes me sleep at night knowing my data is separate from my OS if something drastic were to ever happen and I would need a reinstall.

AkoCham, just a morsel to think about when you have a few spare bucks or when you spec your next computer. If you are concerned about sleeping at night feeling your info is safe, consider that the biggest cause of harddrive failure is mechanical failure that affects the entire physical harddrive equally, - no matter how many partitions. Also, I would ask if you really have 450 GB or so total of OS, applications and saved files? Many small businesses do and many home and student users do if they download and save lots and lots of full length HD movies etc., but the majority of home users could do very well with a harddrive 1/2 the size of yours. Unless you do have 300 or 400 GB saved files, your money probably could have been better spent and and offer a better "sleep comfort factor" if you had bought a 250 GB harddrive ("C" drive) and a 250 GB external USB harddrive for backup. Maybe you could drop a hint to spouse, parent or somebody for an external harddrive for Christmas Good Luck in your schooling.

p.s. I remember several years ago when my 540 MB (MB, not GB) was a big harddrive, I partitioned the harddrive and compressed "D" drive in order to cram more "stuff" into the limited space, but such techniques are no longer practical considering the price and available sizes of current harddrives.

 

[AkoCham]

Thanks alot Tepid I learned alot from your post!

AkoCham, just a morsel to think about when you have a few spare bucks or when you spec your next computer. If you are concerned about sleeping at night feeling your info is safe, consider that the biggest cause of harddrive failure is mechanical failure that affects the entire physical harddrive equally, - no matter how many partitions. Also, I would ask if you really have 450 GB or so total of OS, applications and saved files? Many small businesses do and many home and student users do if they download and save lots and lots of full length HD movies etc., but the majority of home users could do very well with a harddrive 1/2 the size of yours. Unless you do have 300 or 400 GB saved files, your money probably could have been better spent and and offer a better "sleep comfort factor" if you had bought a 250 GB harddrive ("C" drive) and a 250 GB external USB harddrive for backup. Maybe you could drop a hint to spouse, parent or somebody for an external harddrive for Christmas Good Luck in your schooling.

p.s. I remember several years ago when my 540 MB (MB, not GB) was a big harddrive, I partitioned the harddrive and compressed "D" drive in order to cram more "stuff" into the limited space, but such techniques are no longer practical considering the price and available sizes of current harddrives.

Haha I actually have about 100GB left of my drive and it decreases at a pretty steady rate so it won't be long till I run it dry But I regretfully admit that I built this computer a few years back when I didn't know nearly as much about hardware as I do now. Next time I have money to build my computer I am definitely not holding back. My OS is going on one drive and I will most definitely have a seperate physical drive.

And I would ask for a HDD for Christmas but the Zune HD just looks way too good