Upgrading to Windows 7

busenbust

http://www.crucial.com/uk/

^^^

Kimberley

I had a look at the Back Up thread by Supercaper and it looks so complicated I don't know how to install an internal hard drive that Crucial.com/uk does.

busenbust

Kimberley wrote: »

I had a look at the Back Up thread by Supercaper and it looks so complicated I don't know how to install an internal hard drive that Crucial.com/uk does.

u are installing memory (ram ).

Kimberley

busenbust wrote: »

u are installing memory (ram ).

Thats what I mean, I don't know how to install the internal Ram.

Knarf44

Kimberly

An external hard drive simply plugs into one of the USB connectors using a standard USB cable. There is no installation as such. Once it's plugged in Vista will recognise it and go through a short process that will make it usable. When you open Windows Explorer you'll see the new drive listed with maybe the letter F: it could be any another letter but usually F:

This means you can now drag and drop files to it.

The RAM will require installation although it's not difficult. You just need to ensure it is fitted and seated correctly in its slot, which by the way is inside the laptop or base unit of a desktop. If you are not confident doing this then maybe you have a techie friend who'd be willing to do it for you.

Edit: I don't think you've stated the make/model of your laptop. If you do a quick check can be made on how easy/difficult it is to install RAM. BTW Youtube has some good videos about installing RAM, you'll see it's not too difficult.

Kimberley

I don't have any important files of my own that needs saving, just photos which I can just upload to an online photo album. It's the temp files or important computer files i'm worried about losing because once years ago on an old computer I deleted important files and lost my entire computer and had to re boot it all up.

Kimberley

Knarf44 wrote: »

Edit: I don't think you've stated the make/model of your laptop. If you do a quick check can be made on how easy/difficult it is to install RAM. BTW Youtube has some good videos about installing RAM, you'll see it's not too difficult.

It's a Dell Vostro200 Mini tower desktop computer. Thanks for all your help.

Knarf44

Ok, so you've probably got 2 x 512Mb modules installed. Your PC can have a maximum of 4GB of RAM but if I was you I'd either buy another 1GB kit (2 x 512mb modules) or a 2GB kit (2 x 1GB modules).

Either would simply be installed in the 2 vacant RAM slots.

Further details here:http://www.crucial.com/uk/upgrade/compatible-memory-for/Dell/Vostro+200+Mini+Tower/list.html

Russel245

Ok, firstly, I'm guessing you're using a laptop? or not


Secondly, I know this was mentioned but I'm still sensing some confusion:

RAM is random access memory, it is used to store data that is currently being used and acts as a kind of medium for data to be processed. This is referred to as memory, this doesn't relate to how much data you can store on your computer.

The Hard drive stores all of the data on your computer and is generally called storage to differentiate it from RAM.

Obviously, you initially asked about testing windows 7, somebody then mentioned backing up files because when installing a new OS (operating system) over the top of the old one, there is the chance to lose all of your data.



Myself and several other suggested that instead of looking at a new OS, you simply upgrade your memory:

Since this acts as a kind of "pool" of data for your computer to be able to process, if that pool fills up, some of the data not being used then needs to be moved back onto the hard drive. All of the data being moved, then needs to be processed several times over.

If you increase the size of the pool to be able to cope with the amount of data, you will only need to process data once and everything gets much faster. This is still what I would recommend.

To get a new RAM installation I would recommend taking it to a computer shop. Don't let anybody fool you into thinking it's a long job, RAM installation takes about 5 minutes flat. Though they may have to order the parts for your machine. PC World will be able to do this, but they will charge you through the nose for doing it.


I hope that helped make some sense of things.

Kimberley

Thank you. I know I must be going over things but I need to be sure I understand what to do.

I'll get new Ram installed. I will also get an external hard drive. What I don't understand is what data I need to back up. If it's my own work, like documents and photos then I only need to back up photos. If it's important computer files then that is what I have trouble understanding. When I deleted files on my old computer by mistake the whole computer crashed and I ended up just with a blank computer with only the boot up info such as safe mode etc. If I back up only MY stuff then is that all I need to do to install Windows 7 in custom mode? I do want this software because it has more stuff then Vista such as Microsoft Office.