I ushered in the new year installing Windows 7 on my daughter’s and my laptops. Yes, I’m a glutton for punishment.
My daughter’s laptop qualified for a free upgrade because we bought it in September 2009. Windows 7 was released two months later. Not wanting to risk losing any critical data, or the vast music library she owns, I followed best practices and performed a backup to CDs. This is a pretty straightforward process, or so I thought. I started the backup at 2:23 p.m. on Saturday, January 2. Nine hours later, as I was watching The Hangover, backup disc #23 in hand, the backup fails.
No way! What the heck happened? An IO failure is what happened. Now what? Do I start over? I don’t think so. I finish watching The Hangover (very funny!) and go to bed.
First thing Sunday morning, I pour a cup of coffee and get back to business. I insert the Windows 7 DVD, select Upgrade, and pray. Surely this will be a simple, intuitive and flawless procedure with no unrecoverable errors, correct?
How could I ask that question after the backup fiasco? Well, what can I say, I’m an optimist.
In just under 3 hours, the installation completed with virtually no intervention required. The system booted, files and programs were present, and only Norton Internet Security wouldn’t function. Success? Apparently yes, because my daughter has used the computer every day since and she has found no problems.
Buoyed by that experience, I decided to tackle my three-year-old laptop that Sunday afternoon. Since my laptop was running XP, I had to do a custom install of Windows 7, which means all applications are wiped out. Microsoft strongly recommends backing up all data or risk losing it forever. Uh-oh, not again!
On the Windows 7 install DVD is Windows Easy Transfer, a program created to facilitate data backup. The application provides you the option of doing a full system backup to a network device or DVDs. I choose the latter. The backup starts and I walk away. The application writes the file to a temporary folder on the laptop hard drive first. Two hours later, I have a 37 GB file I expect will start writing to the DVDs. I’ve labeled discs 1, 2 and 3 and I’m ready to feed the drive after each disc becomes full.
I wait. Nothing.
I search the menus of the application. There is no “Write Windows Easy Transfer Files to DVD” command.
I wait some more. Nothing.
I figure I did something wrong, so I delete the 37 GB file and start over. I pay very careful attention to each instruction step. When the backup process launches, I leave the room. Two hours later I return and discover I have a 37 GB file on my hard drive that will never by written to DVDs.
I give up. Important files are copied to thumb drives. Everything else I put at risk. Let the Windows 7 custom install begin! More prayers.
Just like the Upgrade install, once the process starts, I can walk away (and I do). I check periodically and see the install is progressing. Three hours later, it’s complete.
My initial system test made it crystal clear a custom Windows 7 install from XP requires several more steps to get the laptop functional again. No Bluetooth! I need drivers! I had to establish an ethernet connection to perform a Windows Update. Once the drivers and other updates were installed, I had my wireless connection and a functional laptop running Windows 7. Pretty cool.
Next, I had to re-install the applications (remember: custom install deletes all programs). While that was time-consuming, it all came off without a hitch.
Three days later the laptop is performing beautifully. I’m still in awe that I suffered no data loss. All-in-all, I’d have to say the Windows 7 install for both laptops was not a bad experience.
