Personal files/settings after upgrading to Windows 8

[AaHaa]

Hi everyone,

Is there someone who has already upgraded to Windows 8 who can tell me how well it works with your existing settings and files?
I've got tons of games installed on Steam for example, and I don't want to lose all my Skyrim mods and saves, but I also don't feel like making tons of backups.

Is it smarter to prepare myself better and make backups and install a clean version of Windows 8 or can I just upgrade during lunch break and everything will be the same?

 

[anon(5335899)]

While the option is available I would _strongly_ suggest a clean install of any major update and this one especially. Create a backup of your files, make list of installed files and do not forget any registration keys. Then install fresh from DVD or USB stick.

 

[mase123987]

I did and my Steam games seem to be fine, though I haven't done much testing.

 

[ibbyj]

I did mine, and lost everything.

Make Back-Ups.

 

[aubreyq]

I did mine, and lost everything.

Make Back-Ups.

Wait, you did an upgrade (not clean install) and lost everything? Are you sure it wasn't put on a .old folder or something like that? Losing everything would defeat the purpose of an upgrade.

 

[ibbyj]

Yes, I did an upgrade via the upgrade assistant that was emailed to me from Microsoft.

I selected the option to keep my files.

When 8 booted, all programs and files...except for music was lost.

Thankfully, I made a back up of my photos.

 

[aubreyq]

Yes, I did an upgrade via the upgrade assistant that was emailed to me from Microsoft.

I selected the option to keep my files.

When 8 booted, all programs and files...except for music was lost.

Thankfully, I made a back up of my photos.

Wow, that's really not the way it's supposed to work. Good thing you made a backup.

 

[vp710]

I upgraded (from a pirated version of Win7 Ultimate of all things) and it kept all my files, settings and programs. Truly a painless upgrade. All my hardware and software works too.

Sent from my Lumia 710 using Board Express

 

[ibbyj]

As I side note, the upgrade also broke my wifi and touchscreen drivers...

 

[MoggSquad]

My upgrade would get stuck when I tried to transfer everything. I settled on only my personal files. I believe they were caused by the "Alienware" branded programs that came with my computer.

Those and Nike Connect are the only differentiating programs from my other computer that ran consumer preview.

 

[VagrantWade]

I never do upgrades. Ever. 9 times out of 10 you will have performance issues due to drivers/registry problems.

I always have a second drive or partition that I store personal files on.

 

[cluberti]

I did an upgrade on the wife's laptop, just because I didn't want to reinstall anything (some of her software discs are buried in boxes atm). While that went fine, I did a clean install on my own desktop as I've seen too many upgrades fail over the releases.

 

[anon(5335899)]

I never do upgrades. Ever. 9 times out of 10 you will have performance issues due to drivers/registry problems.

I always have a second drive or partition that I store personal files on.

THIS. I have a separate partition for just the OS and have anything else on another partition including a folder where I keep all product (activation) keys. I can always just clean install and remove the OS partition to start from scratch..

 

[Mes3]

Upgrading while keeping everything got stuck at 41%. Had to just keep personal files. No biggie in my case. Only had games I never played anyway installed.

 

[Sati Arthur]

I did an upgrade yesterday, my files were in another folder in drive C. I could not find them after the upgrade. I tried recovery but most of them were already corrupt.
They were not in the windows.old folder. The only files here were the windows user files and folders- windows, users, program files.:angry:
I even tried unhiding everything to confirm whether I still had them.
I have just downgraded back to windows 7 ultimate and trying to obtain copies from my workmates.
I thought it would be great programming from now, but nope.
My advice: Backup everything in a different drive.