Would Win7 install refresh old laptop?

[ryangarfield]

I have a laptop thats over 3 years old now, its actually a Compaq Presario V6000, with RAM upgraded to 2GB and running Vista. Its gotten pretty cluttered over the years as my computers usually do and was thinking about giving it some new life with Windows 7, but wasn't sure it could handle it, or if it would just make it worse. Any thoughts?

[jagabo]

Win7's hardware requirements are less than Vista's. I think you'd be better off with Win7. Download a Win7 DVD and try it out. It will run for a month without activation. You can purchase a license key if you decide to keep it.

[ryangarfield]

Should I backup all my files and do like a clean install or can I just update it?

[dinobud]

You don't necessarily have to backup your data if you have a prior copy of Windows already installed. Basically, if your drive is formatted with NTFS, you are fine. After booting from the Win7 boot disk, select custom install and then select the partition with the prior copy of Windows. After it's done, you will find the prior install archives in Windows.old directory.

Basically cut and paste your files from your documents, etc. folders in the old directory over to your C:\Users folder once in Windows 7. Once you are sure you have all of your files out of the old directory, you should run the Disk Cleanup utility as an administrator and then select the Previous Windows installations for removal. You CANNOT just delete the old directory as it contains many files that are "protected."

[dinobud]

BTW, I do NOT recommend an upgrade (only possible with Vista anyway). You should boot from install disk and do custom install and then follow what I wrote previously...I have a lot of experience with this stuff as I have a side biz.

[johns0]

I would do a back up onto a usb drive and nuke the partition doing a fresh install with win 7.Much easier to copy any back up files after.

[INFRATOM]

It is not much matter of handling, you need to do some homework and check if your model has drivers for Win7 or not. In some cases if they don't certain things may not work like webcam, audio etc. If you want to take a chance get a backup image of your HD. Better if you could get another HD and do a clean install if everything worked with a $6 enclosure you can turn your old HD into a nice storage.

[edDV]

In most cases HP/Compaq doesn't recommend or supply drivers for Vista->Win7 laptop upgrades. Check your model in HP support.

Mine wasn't supported. Recently I replaced the hard drive with a larger one and restored original Vista32. Much snappier after the restore.