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Do an Upgrade Install or a Clean Install?

When you are upgrading to a newer operating system, there is two different ways you can do the install. Here is the differences

• Upgrade Install - This is where you have an older operating system on the computer such as Windows Me and you want to install a newer operating system. On this procedure, you install the newer operating system from within windows and let the CD upgrade the previous windows to the newer operating system. It maintains your settings and doesn't erase the drive.
• Clean Install - This is still an upgrade from an older operating system such as Windows Me but instead of installing the newer operating system  from within the older OS, you are deleting the older OS first and making the drive blank first. You do this by shutting the computer off and boot to the Windows CD. You then delete the older windows and install this windows on the drive. (During the install, the install will ask you to put the CD in of your older operating system to verify that you qualify for the upgrade. Once that is done, it will tell you to put the new operating system CD back in and continue the install)

Click here for instructions on installing an operating system  If you are installing an older operating system (such as replacing Vista with XP), you cannot use the upgrade feature. You will have to wipe the drive clean.

When your upgrading your operating system, you can do either of the two options. Below is the advantages and disadvantages of both. Some of the advantages and disadvantages doesn't always apply to every scenario. Click on the one you want information on.

• Advantages of the Upgrade Install
• Disadvantages of the Upgrade Install
• Advantages of the Clean Install
• Disadvantages of the Clean Install
• Difference between the upgrade version of Windows CD and the Full version CD

 

Advantages of the Upgrade Install

• Your data may or may not be intact. It shouldn't touch your data (It is not designed to harm your files but there is a possibility that it could harm your data so you should have it backed up in case)
• You might not have to load drivers. The upgrade might be able to use the existing drivers (if they are compatible with the newer windows)
• You might be able to uninstall the newer windows if you decide you don't want it after all. (Again, depends on the situation on whether this will work or not)

 

Disadvantages of an Upgrade Install

• The install can crash if there is an incompatible driver or program on the system.
• The file system may not change You can keep the file system as Fat instead of NTFS but I wouldn't recommend it.
• The operating system is not stable. It may work fine at first but give errors down the road (This is something I have noticed on my own and not from documentation, so I can be wrong on this one)
• A driver may need to be updated but the device manager may show the driver loaded fine. You may not be aware of it on this procedure but on the clean you might.
• There might be a corruption that is not bad enough to crash the system but may be bad enough to slow the system or give errors. The corruption may not be part of windows so the install will not touch it.
• A program may not register with the upgrade correctly and cause issues with the system. You may not notice the issue at first until you use the program.
• There can be a virus on the system that can cause the upgrade to either fail or have issues. Just because you scan with an updated anti-virus program does not mean it finds all the viruses or gets rid of the virus entirely. It can still be infected after the anti-virus cleans the system
• The upgrade procedure is faster than the clean install as long as you do not run into problems. If you run into problems, it can take longer than the clean install.

 

Advantages of a Clean Install

• The entire drive is wiped out, so there is no chance of a corruption (unless the install has problems)
• Better chance of a good install.
• Less chances of problems down the road.
• Less chances of an incompatible driver.
• I believe it runs better.

 

Disadvantages of a Clean Install

• Takes longer and more involved
• Have to load more drivers (if the drivers are not native to Windows XP)
• Have to save your data or the data will be lost during the procedure.

Note: You need to do a backup of your data on the upgrade and you have to backup the data on the clean. You also need your program CDs for the upgrade in the event that you have issues during the upgrade. You need the program CDs for the clean install because the programs will definitely not be there after the clean install.

Since you have to do a backup for either one, it would be better to do a clean install.

Difference between the upgrade version of Windows CD and the Full version CD

There is no difference between the upgrade version of windows CD and the full version as far as what is installed. They both install the same items. The only difference between the two is as follows (this could change on windows CDs that came out after this page has been published)

• The full version of the operating system does not require a previous version of the operating system to install
• The upgrade version of the operating system requires you to prove you have an older version of windows.
  • For example, in order to install the upgrade CD for Windows XP, you would have to prove that you have a legal copy of Windows ME, Windows98, or Windows 2000. To prove that you have a legal copy, you do one of two procedures
    • Install Windows XP from the desktop inside of Windows (not recommended)
    • Boot to the Windows XP upgrade CD. Erase the partition and start the install of windows. During the install it will ask you to insert the previous version of the operating system (Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows 2000 CD). Once it verifies you have the CD, you can put the upgrade CD in and finish the install.

 

My personal preference is to never do the upgrade install but the Clean. I have seen so many problems with the upgrade method.

The procedure for a Clean Install is exactly the same as doing a regular re-install of the operating system except there is one added step. During the install, it will ask you to insert the previous version of Windows. This is to verify that you qualify for the upgrade. Insert the CD for the verification. As soon as the verification is over, insert the newer CD back in the drive.

Click here for instructions on installing an operating system