Switching to Windows 64-bit

[frau kaleun]

Hey all,

I am thinking about switching to the 64-bit OS provided I don't have to completely rebuild my 1 year old machine. Trying to figure out how much of what I have already would be compatible with the switch.

My processor is an AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core, the specs for it say "yes" for simultaneous 32- & 64-bit computing, I am assuming that means it will support a 64-bit OS?

If so, what else do I need to verify before I consider making the change? I know I'll need 64-bit drivers for "all devices" which I can check on easily when it comes to printers and external stuff and drives I guess but what other stuff in the innards of the beast do I need to check on?

Thanks for any help/advice!

[stoppro]

You will have to make sure the mother board can handle 8 or more gigs of ram and that it is two channel[I think} i'm sure the brainworms will be along to exspand on this

[frau kaleun]

The motherboard specs on memory say:

• 4 x DIMM, Max.8 GB, DDR2 1066/800/667/ ECC,NonECC,Un-buffered Memory
• Dual Channel memory architecture
• *DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU only

[stoppro]

so far das goot you should be able to change over with out any problems except reformating the drive which when I did it I had someone else do it.I wasn't confident then to try it.

[onelifecrisis]

Frau, is your hard drive partitioned? If so, you could install W64 on a different partition... if you're tech-savvy enough for that.

[frau kaleun]

I downloaded and ran the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and the 64-bit report looks good.

There are a couple programs that aren't compatible but they are MS stuff that would probably not be reinstalled anyway after the upgrade.

The only other notices are about updating drivers on printers and stuff.

I know I'll have to update stuff for the BIOS (?) and chipset and that's the kind of stuff that worries me - hardware that I installed or added, I know about and can tick off on a list as I go. The innards that came with the rig are a different matter.

Anyway, looking at Win7 it appears that if you buy it you get both 32 and 64 bit versions so if I upgraded the OS at all, I'd still have either option to fall back on.

Yikes, though - I've got a 1TB external drive that all my music and backups and program setup files are on. Will that have to be reformatted if it's not a bootable drive in order to access the files again? I'd have to back up 200+ gigs of data somewhere.

[longam]

64bit refers to your OS and its CPU processing. Your external drive is formatted with NTFS because windows XP can read it, so its good to go.

[stoppro]

no you can keep your back-ups gee frau your losing your touch. It took almost an hour to get anyone over here!

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

Frau, is your hard drive partitioned? If so, you could install W64 on a different partition... if you're tech-savvy enough for that.

It's partitioned into a C drive (that boots with XP) and a small D drive for the "Image Backup" that was done when the system was built. There's a little over 49 GB free on the C drive.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by longam

64bit refers to your OS and its CPU processing. Your external drive is formatted with NTFS because windows XP can read it, so its good to go.

WHEW!

*wipes sweat from forehead*

So I could install W64 on the bootable drive and then plug in the external drive as per usual and still access all the data on it? That would cut, oh, about a zillion hours out of the process.

[stoppro]

yes

[JSLTIGER]

Switching from a 32-bit OS to a 64-bit OS is usually not a big deal, because all of the 32-bit programs will run normally. Unless you're using ~20 year old software that is 16-bit (b/c 16-bit is no longer supported by Windows x64), you ought to be fine. That being said, generally the only reason not to use a 64-bit OS these days is because you have an older computer with less than 4GB of RAM. If you have less than that, there is no point to using 64-bit software, but a 64-bit OS will let you use all of your RAM if you have 4GB or more.

As to your above question, you should not notice any difference in the functioning of your external HDD between 32-bit and 64-bit. Accessing your files should be as normal. Just remember that programs that you might have installed will not work because the registry will be written over. You also do not need to install Win x64 to the external HDD unless you want to boot from it, which I wouldn't recommend, because USB 2.0 is slow.

I just finished an install of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit on the new donor system.

VERY few drivers needed updated.
And this is an older system.
I'd suggest moveing important stuff to an external HD.
(You do have one of those don't you? They are cheap and save you MUCH pain!)

Then do a clean 'Go for it' install.
You will be amazed at the improvement in your system.

[frau kaleun]

Well, I have 6 GB of RAM on hand that I can use on this rig, but of course 1/3 of that is wasted with 32-bit. One reason why I want to make the change, especially if it doesn't mean replacing the CPU and motherboard.

[JSLTIGER]

Nope, no replacements necessary on your CPU or motherboard. All AMD Athlons since the 64 back in 2003 have supported 64-bit OSes. You should be good to go.