XP in death throes. Outlook RIP. Need Windows 7. Help!

[julia]

Can anyone talk me throuh a Windows 7 (upgrade) install on my computer? And can you tell me where to buy it -- or sell me a version? Outlook 2007's little legs are in the air after it died on me yesterday. XP is limping along. I think some virus got in through Outlook from one of those cute 10MB emails of animal families I downloaded, from an anthropologist friend who should know better.

I'd like to do an upgrade but maybe I need to do a clean install. I'd greatly appreciate advice and any technical help. I will pay for help. I knew the upgrade to 7 was only a matter of time. I have a Lenovo X220, an Intel Pentium III Xeon processor, 2.43GHz, 971MHz, 341 GB of RAM (with 225 GB available), and MW XP Professional; the OS version is 5.1.2600. I don't know if it's a 32 or a 64 bit system. System Restore is shot so that's out.

Any and all advice appreciated. Many thanks!

Hi Bill,
Julia

[Brad]

A clean Windows 7 install is in your future. Windows 7 will not upgrade a Windows XP environment. You could upgrade your Windows XP to Windows Vista and then upgrade the resulting Windows Vista to Windows 7. A lot of work in my opinion.

If you could I would get a different hard drive to install Windows 7 cleanly. Then move your data from your Windows XP drive to where you need it.

Brad

[julia]

Thanks, Brad. Why a different hard drive? Are they expensive? What do you recommend? Thanks. I think I see having someone else do this in my future, too.

[ZaZ]

I think what Brad is saying is putting a new drive in and taking the old drive out would allow you to install Win 7 on the new drive without the possibly damaging any data on the old drive. After the install is complete, you could transfer the data from the old drive to the new one.

What machine exactly are you attempting to upgrade?

If you want a speed bump a SSD is always a good choice and they're fairly inexpensive, though can't match the cost to space ratio of a platter drive.

[julia]

I'm upgrading an X220. I'll probably put the money into paying someone to upgrade for me. My webroot is working overtime right now. Does anyone know if XP is being targeted? I saw 8.1 the other day, a strange animal microsoft is pushing...

Please let me know if you know anyone is in the Boston area. Thanks.

[ZaZ]

If you're not using WWAN, putting a mSATA SSD into the miniPCI slot under palm rest would be an option. That would allow to install Windows 7 without messing with the hard drive/data. There's a good video here on YouTube showing how to do it. I think I paid $70 for my 128GB Crucial mSATA SSD.

[Brad]

Is there a Microsoft OS COA on the bottom of your X220?

Brad

[exTPfan]

If it is in fact a Thinkpad X220, it should already have Win 7 on it, or at least a Win 7 COA under the battery.

[julia]

The COA under the battery is for XP Professional, not Windows 7. I had XP installed when I bought it. Does this entitle me to an upgrade to Win 7?

[Blueglide]

I’m with Brad. I just finished a similar project getting a R61 ready for transfer to my daughter by doing a clean install of Win 7 Home Premium on a new Western Digital 500 GB hard drive purchased new for around $50 from Amazon. This is definitely the low-stress way to go as short of dropping it on the floor, the original drive can be safely set aside and can always be re-installed if necessary.

If you are handy with small screwdrivers and tiny screws, the mechanical portion of the swap out work is a straight-forward.

I also bought the Win 7 Home Premium OEM installation disc from Amazon.