WIll All My Data Be Erased If I Upgrade To Linux?

  • Thread starter Crispy
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Crispy

Crispy

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Allen, Texas
crispychicken49
crispychicken49
So right now In have Windows XP. Its good, but my friend tells me Linux is better. I love little XP, but sometimes, lets just say, its not to happy. So, I have a lot of files on my computer, and was wondering if I would lose all of these if I upgraded to Linux?
 
Make a partition, put Linux on said partition, keep data, XP and Linux.
 
Do you want to have Linux with Windows or install Linux over XP? If I were you I'd burn a Ubuntu Live CD and try it out before installing it(it loads from the CD without writing on your HDD).
 
Linux is not user friendly & only recommended for those that know what they're doing, at least it used to be that way.

XP may be nothing but problems sometimes, but still ok in my book! I just recently abandoned XP in favor of Win7 because I wanted to run a 64bit system.

Eeeh, what I'm trying to say is, if XP runs fine for you, keep it! If not check out a newer Windows, anything but Vista, Vista is soooooo bad!! (that only leaves Win7, I know)
 
ell470
Linux is not user friendly & only recommended for those that know what they're doing, at least it used to be that way.

XP may be nothing but problems sometimes, but still ok in my book! I just recently abandoned XP in favor of Win7 because I wanted to run a 64bit system.

Eeeh, what I'm trying to say is, if XP runs fine for you, keep it! If not check out a newer Windows, anything but Vista, Vista is soooooo bad!! (that only leaves Win7, I know)
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Okay, yeah so if I choose Windows 7, should I still back-up everything on a USB, or will it transfer over? I also have a bunch of 32bit programs on XP, so if I do go on to Windows 7 64bit, will it still run those programs?
 
If you have 32-bit XP and go to 64-bit 7, you have to do a full install which will wipe the drive or partition. If you go 32 to 32 or 64 to 64, you can do an upgrade and your data will stay. And yes, 32-bit programs will run on a 64-bit OS.
 
TB
If you have 32-bit XP and go to 64-bit 7, you have to do a full install which will wipe the drive or partition. If you go 32 to 32 or 64 to 64, you can do an upgrade and your data will stay. And yes, 32-bit programs will run on a 64-bit OS.
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Okay, so 32bit XP to 32bit 7 will just transfer all my files over?
 
crispychicken49
Okay, so 32bit XP to 32bit 7 will just transfer all my files over?
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Yeah, stick to 32bit, I run 64bit because of my hobby:)

Golden rule when messin' around with computers, ALWAYS back-up your personal files :)

External Harddrive, huge USB stick or 100 cd-r's doesn't matter, always keep back-ups of stuff you can't simply just download again :)

I make music on my computer & I keep back-ups of ALL my projects on 3 separate disks just in case ;)

Better safe than sorry, as the old saying goes :)

edit:
1 last tip, avoid having your personal files on the same disk as the OS, also just in case it crashes so bad that a re-install is your only option :)
 
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Umm, no. As far as I'm aware you cannot upgrade from XP to 7. Only from Vista. So it will have to be a full install.
 
DQuaN
Umm, no. As far as I'm aware you cannot upgrade from XP to 7. Only from Vista. So it will have to be a full install.
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It's usually better to back-up everything and do full installs to get rid of all nasties hiding in there anyways :)
 
I only use linux for work to get customer data off laptops that are under warrenty and have issues booting into windows.

Linux that i use has a S.M.A.R.T program call "Disk Ultility" which gives S.M.A.R.T information, very handy.
 
Linux is just a different way of doing things. Much like Apple software is a different way of doing things.

Same thing with Windows XP is slightly (and in some cases, vastly) different in how they work to do the same job.

Linux command line work is a lot easier than Windows I have to say.

Windows 7 OS is ok, just depends on your system whether it will work efficiently or not.
 
Submerged
Linux is just a different way of doing things. Much like Apple software is a different way of doing things.

Same thing with Windows XP is slightly (and in some cases, vastly) different in how they work to do the same job.

Linux command line work is a lot easier than Windows I have to say.

Windows 7 OS is ok, just depends on your system whether it will work efficiently or not.
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Linux is some sort of protection for your computer as well - simply let it boot to console and 99.9% of people don't know what to do...even IF they manage to guess your password. Which shouldn't be possible anyway.:P
 
Hello,
I recommend you to use a USB stick or a CD. run the live disk option to try it out. Remember, the Live disk does NOT show Ubuntu's full potential, but most of it. If you like it, install it. Ubuntu's installation is highly praised and is so good and easy to use that it can be considered a fact taht it is the best OS installation in the whole world of Technology. It will guide you step by step, in a gazillion number of languages to hep you achieve the perfect Ubuntu experience. As TB previously stated, chose the partition option, and it will have a graphic chart showing the partitioning.
 
He kinda needs to re-partition in Windows first, before doing the Linux partition in Ubuntu Live CD/DVD.

In my experience, it tends to make everything a bit easier that way when you are installing Ubuntu (simply point it to the empty space and install it there) rather than having to guess whether you have enough to re-partition everything in Linux first and hope that the Windows partition didn't get corrupted in the first place.
 
Ubuntu isn't the only linux version out there, although one could get that impression reading this thread. I like Slackware and Debian myself.
 
Fedora is also useful. Similar to Ubuntu, but you do need to research slightly more as Fedora don't follow the Ubuntu way of "We will let you have the option of having copyrighted stuff on it, but you know its not really allowed" and changes it to: "We do not have copyrighted stuff, go find it yourself!" (talking about codecs).

Apart from that Fedora can be fairly simple.

Linux Mint is another that is said to be similar to Windows. And some others.

If you require a really lightweight OS, there's DSL (Damn Small Linux) and Puppy Linux. For the size.... its impressive.
 

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