Windows 8 Help Switching from 32-bit to 64-bit W8.1

[WindowsGeek101]

Okay, I am getting Watch Dogs, Which is a 64-bit only game. My hardware is 64-bit capable, its just that my hard drive fried, and i am back onto my old HDD which had 32-bit Windows 8 installed.I upgraded to Windows 8.1 but now i want to go back to 64-bit.Is there a way to get my windows to 64-bit without anything else changing?I want everything EXACTLY the way it was, if possible.

 

[ussnorway]

No… There is no magic way to make a 32 bit system into a 64 bit.

However there is always a work around but first things first;
1. Laptop or desktop? (make and model)
2. How old is the other gear i.e. printers, graphics card etc
3. What’s your budget?

A dual boot will solve most problems and is generally the cheapest solution.
In the case of a laptop;
I’d put a 1T sshd ($80-100) into it and use Acronis to clone the old system over onto it… lets say that takes up 100 g for the c drive, efi and a system recovery (20g) drive. Now make another 100 g partition and install windows 8 64bit into it. Then make a 10 g swap for the two page* files and that gives you about 750g for a data or games drives.

A desktop is simpler because you can jump between drives using [F12] without needing to remove the old hdd but the old hdd should still be considered a {shit hits the fan backup} and removed ime.

* Windows file system is such that two or more systems can share the same page file without causing issues as long as you unhook them before trying to clone the drives… it just takes a lot longer if you forget is all.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I can't say that I've done this myself, but here are detailed instructions complete with links on how to get and install the 64 bit software.

https://sites.google.com/site/simpledoubts/home/technology/computers/windows-8

Good luck.

Mike