Windows 7 Update

So I managed to get a legitimate copy of Windows 7 Professional, but it's the Student's Upgrade Version. Things I have considered so far:

1) Windows 7 Installation
i) The digital download from digitalriver only has the Upgrade Version, which means that it will need to detect an existing version of Windows before allowing the installation. If you want to install Windows 7 on a new clean hard drive, it's going to be a problem.

ii) The 2.3gb digital download is NOT an iso file that you can just burn on a DVD and run. This has been reflected in many tech blogs like engadget where students who purchased win 7 via this method have been registering their malcontent.

iii) 32-bit versus 64-bit. The digital download only allows you to choose either the 32-bit or the 64-bit version of Win7, unlike the retail version where both DVDs are enclosed and you can choose. Based on several forums and my current PC capabilities, I am going with 32-bit, which only allows the computer to address 4 GB of ram, but enables most of my current applications and hardware to work. 64-bit is more future-proof, but is more likely to be more useful 2 years from now.

Solution:
Torrent the retail version of Win7 Professional, and get both 32-bit and 64-bit. Likely the license key I have should be valid for both versions, since it's the same situation for retail buyers. Digitalriver should have provided the .iso file upfront, instead of making users go through a whole host of methods just to get Win7. Probably the largest fail of Win7 so far, imo.

2) Reinstalling my applications
Running the Win7 Compatibility software helps me understand which applications I would need to look at after upgrading to Win7. Likely my Nero 7 application will not be supported, and some of my other minor applications. There's a web application called NiNite that basically installs up to 59 of the most popular applications (iTunes, Google Chrome, Firefox, Picasa, Flash Player, Dropbox, .Net, Skype, Google Earth) without you having to go and search, download, and wait for each installation to complete.

Next as I'm doing a XP to Windows 7 "clean" or "custom" installation (Marketing jargon), I need to be able to transfer my current iTunes settings, with all my iPhone applications, podcasts, and my Picasa facial recognition information over. I would need to perform a backup of everything, and then copy the Application Data information over to the new directory after setting it up. Should hopefully be pain-free. Same thing goes for all saved games.

Picasa Solution
http://picasa.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164962

Also, since I've been playing with the Remote Desktop Connection on XP, I have to manually enable the feature on Win7 Professional. Home Premium doesn't have that feature...

More importantly, I'm making doubly sure all my documents and photos are well-backup. I suffered a catastrophic failure the other time when I reinstalled Windows XP on my C:, and it destroyed my C: / D: partition, resulting in ALL my stuff on D: (my documents and photos) to be eradicated. Lost a huge chunk of history there, and only managed to recover some of them through friends, old back-ups et al. Going to backup to 2 different hard drives now, and make sure that both are not on the same partition as where I'm going to install my Win7. Will likely keep my Win XP drive up for a few months before I remove it.

3) Upgrading of hardware
Perhaps it's finally time to upgrade some of my hardware. My current PC is 3 years old, and has been serving me very faithfully with minimum issues. I think I would probably purchase a 2GB DRAM DDR880 Dual Channel, from FuWell International at Sim Lim Square. Hardwarezone forum stated the cost at about $59. This upgrade will pump up my PC to 4GB, the maximum allowed under Win7 Professional.

Hopefully the extensive planning will result in a seamless installation. Think I will get all my stuff by this Sunday, and me up and running Win7 Pro by Sunday afternoon. Wish me luck!