Upgrading to 7 x64 from vista x64

[aeschylus]

I'm planning to upgrade from the initial Vista installation on my t400 to Windows 7 tonight. What I'm not sure about, however, is whether or not I should install all of the drivers which are popping up in system update intended for windows 7 before or after upgrading to Windows 7. Has anyone experienced any adverse effects by installing updates pre or post upgrade? Thanks for any help!

[ZaZ]

I would expect the Vista disk would already have most of the drivers for your machine. In my experience it doesn't make much of a difference, though I don't have any experience with the T400. I usually install the OS, then the service packs, which are not applicable to W7, and finally the drivers. I personally don't use system update. I only install a few of the ThinkVantage Tools myself. They all have their place, but no body uses them all and if you're not using why install it?

[chickendumpling]

I just made a jump to a T500 with Vista 64 with the W7 free upgrade. I'm wondering about how this will pan out... What happens with the Lenovo recovery partition with the VS 64?

I would assume the blue button would be useless if the recovery partion was used for the OS instead?

[aeschylus]

Well I have had an interested experience upgrading to windows 7 from vista on my T400 to say the least. It was not a smooth process. Firstly, I would advise anyone who does decide to upgrade from a vista installation to install all of the latest drivers offered by System Update 3. Doing so should save one from the headaches I experienced having to uninstall and reinstall multiple drivers. Secondly, my battery life (if the thinkpad battery gauge is accurate) has plummeted by about an hour after upgrading to Windows 7 (running on the energy start setting the gauge reads an estimated 2:50 battery life as opposed to 3:50 in Vista) This may be an issue with my computer specifically or an issue with the Lenovo drivers. I will have to do some more research. Overall, I am not very happy with the upgrade process and I would recommend to others to do a clean install or stick with vista until the lenovo power management drivers are more mature.

[chickendumpling]

I just ordered to 'free' upgrade to windows 7. Nice chunk of change they want for shipping/tax. I must of missed the fine print ...

I did get all the updates from MS and Lenovo. So, I hope for a nice upgrade. What is the deal with the recovery partition? Does that stay Vista and we are just out of luck with the free upgrade? Or does this boil down to getting some Win7 recovery disks for 64 by Lenovo?

[reforminded]

I just ordered to 'free' upgrade to windows 7. Nice chunk of change they want for shipping/tax. I must of missed the fine print ...

I did get all the updates from MS and Lenovo. So, I hope for a nice upgrade. What is the deal with the recovery partition? Does that stay Vista and we are just out of luck with the free upgrade? Or does this boil down to getting some Win7 recovery disks for 64 by Lenovo?

If you do an in place upgrade the recovery partition will remain exactly as is, allowing you to use it to reinstall the factory vista setup.

I would recommend doing a clean install of Win 7 instead of an upgrade - you get better performance with no driver issues, no program compatibility issues, and can partition your hard drive the way you want.

I did a seamless clean install on my machine and have been blown away by the results. Here is the process I would reccomend.

BEFORE INSTALL:
1) Create recovery media in vista. This will allow you to reinstall the factory vista image from bootable disks in the future, should you ever need to., It takes a while to burn the disks, but when done you end up with bootable recovery discs (just like what lenovo would charge you $45 for) and you no longer have to worry about losing the recovery partition.

2) Backup all your files. (Duh!) Anything you want keep you should backup on an external drive. ALL you docs, pics, music, etc (also a good idea to backup your bookmarks and contacts). Make sure it is backed up. Check it twice. Heck, do it on 3 separate drives just to be safe.

INSTALL:
1) Start the install process of windows 7 by inserting the CD while in VISTA. Choose custom install - this will reboot and do a brand new install of windows 7. It will retain the old vista setup in a file called windows.old (more on that later). Install is fairly quick, and will get rid of the partitions on the hard drive. After install, give Win 7 the info it wants, and initial setup is complete.

2) Install antivirus software. AVG is free and fully windows 7 compatable. The microsoft security essentials is resource heavy and almost impossible to remove from the machine at a later date. I would avoid it. Update your antivirus definitions after install.

3) UPDATE: Run windows update. This will fill in missing drivers, as well as anything microsoft thinks you need. Run it several times in a row, as new updates will pop up as you install previous ones. When there are no more updates, go to next step.

4) THINKVANTAGE SYSTEM UPDATE: Download thinkvantage system update 4 from lenovo's website and install it. Run it, but be careful about what you elect to install. You DO NOT need the majority of thinkvantage stuff anymore, as windows 7 handles most of the same tasks more efficiently. You DON'T need access connections, you DON'T need the power manager, you DON'T need the bluetooth software. Win 7 takes care of all these things for you - installing the lenovo stuff will just slow your boot time and use more resources while running. You should install any driver updates, bios updates. etc...that are specific to your machine.

5) INSTALL SOFTWARE: reinstall any software you use on a daily basis (office, adobe, etc). Run updates after install.

6) REMOVE OLD INSTALLATION: Your old vista install takes up a ton of room on the hard drive. Run the disk cleanup utility, and after it scans the C: drive, click the button at the bottom that says "Clean up system files." It will scan again and include the old vista files. Scroll down the list to make sure the previous installation is selected, then "clean up" the files.

CREATE A RECOVERY IMAGE:
Windows 7 will allow you to make a recovery image of this nice, fast, fresh install. First you will need to create a partition on the hard drive to accept it.
1) Create Partition: run the disk management utility (type it into the search on the start menu) to create a new recovery partition. You will have to first shrink your C: drive, then you can create a new partition in the free space. I recommend freeing up 40-50gigs for your recovery partition. Once you shrink C:, create a new partition in the free space and choose whatever label you want (I choose R: for recovery).

2) Open the control panel, go to system and security, then back-up and restore. On the left menu pane, you will see a link to "Create a system image." Do it. Tell it to store the image on your new partition, and then burn the boot disk when prompted.

Now you have a clean install of windows, perfectly updated, with no crap ware slowing you down. You system will be at peak performance, and you have a recovery image so should there ever be a problem, you can just boot from the disc you made and reinstall this perfect image.

Now you should transfer your docs and stuff back over, and enjoy the fast, stable, awesomeness that is windows 7!!!

[Colonel O'Neill]

Isn't Power Manager necessary for Switchable Graphics?

[reforminded]

Isn't Power Manager necessary for Switchable Graphics?

To be honest, I am not sure. I disabled switchable graphics on my machine (in the bios) and run exclusively off of the ATI card. I am rarely in a situation where I need an extra 15% battery life, so the switchable feature is nothing but a resource hog for me. I was under the impression that the ATI driver is what enabled the switchable, not the power manager, but I could be incorrect.

[chickendumpling]

reforminded...

Thanks for the info, I've copied your suggestions and tucked away for future use. I just did the upgrade. After running the Lenovo cd and getting latest updates... Presentation Director and EasyEject Utility did not upgrade.

I noticed reduced CPU and Memory usage immediately with Win7 Pro 64. Beyond this, I have to see what Win 7 & 64 bit is all about...its all new to me.

Cheers,

Norm