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Upgrading your operating system using the “in-place” approach has always come at the cost of some performance and stability, but never would we have imagined that it could take up to 20 hours to complete!
According to a new study released by Microsoft software engineer Chris Hernadez, upgrade times can range wildly depending upon your hardware configuration, and the amount of data it needs to migrate during the install. The worst time recorded during their testing was a whopping 20 hours and 20 minutes for a “Super User” that had roughly 650Gb of data, and about 40 applications installed prior to the upgrade. This might sound like a pretty niche scenario to some of you, but I imagine at least a few of our readers (myself included) fall into this category.
A quick look at the chart reveals that even “Medium Users” are facing upgrade times that are about 3-4x longer than a clean install. If we haven’t talked you out of “in-place” upgrades by now, we probably won’t be able to, but at least the chart shown above can help you figure out how much time you need to set aside.
(Image Credit: ArsTechnica)
Comments are closed on this article
Cache
September 13, 2009 at 11:07am
Remember when Microsoft used to promise that updates would be done in-place without needing a restart? Petridge Farm remembers....
Wareagle
September 13, 2009 at 9:04am
I dual boot XP and 7 RC 64-bit. My XP Program Files folder has 150 items. I haven't reinstalled since January 2006.
While I'd like to be able to do an in-place upgrade from the 7 RC to the final version (the option wasn't available when I tried doing it with the RTM release), I am probably going to have to clean install it again.
It would sure take me a long ass time if I ever have to reinstall XP though. At least I don't have to do that!
BTW, if I buy the upgrade version of Windows 7, will it let me do a clean install on another partition and dual boot?
alanmc76
September 13, 2009 at 8:29am
Seems like a no brainer to me. Spend 30 minutes installing on a new drive, then copy the data during down time. Why would an IT pro even attempt to do an in-place upgrade with 650GB of data and hundreds of apps anyway? That seems like a recipe for disaster to me.
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-- "What am I, MacGyver? Fix it with what?"--
zstadt
September 13, 2009 at 5:52am
I was planning a clean install anyway; it's not really that bad. Since I've had my rig, I've reinstalled XP about 6 times (by choice, not out of necessity), and have been dual-booting with the 7 RC (which I've reinstalled twice).
What can I say? I just love that fresh feeling after a clean install ^_^
fry
September 14, 2009 at 11:04am
Maintain regular backups of important files on a separate drive and do a clean install.
Yeah, reinstalling programs is required. BFD.
n0ctis
September 13, 2009 at 5:16am
These look like worst-case scenario numbers. I did the in place upgrade for the Release Candidate and it took maybe an hour on my Core 2 Duo notebook with ~280GB of data and 135 applications. Perhaps you should have done some of your own experiments first, rather than doing a little book report of the Ars Technica piece. I deem this article filler.
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.: vires et honos :.
Justin.Kerr
September 13, 2009 at 9:01am
The numbers came from the personal blog of Chris Hernadez, a Microsoft Software Engineer. I gave image credit to ARS because they did a good job summerizing the results in the picture I used.
strykyr
September 12, 2009 at 11:24pm
I've never run into a scenario where the in place upgrade actually worked in the first place. Go figure.
Lord Omega
September 12, 2009 at 9:35pm
Whenever I upgrade to a new OS, I NEVER UPGRADE! I always do a fresh install. Sure it is a pain, but meh. After I do a clean install, it takes about 3-4 hours for me to get everything up and running again.
y
September 12, 2009 at 7:06pm
A TRUE "Super-user" (assuming it means someone that knows about computers) would never consider "upgrading" their machine to have little bits of old code scattered throughout the new OS. Reformat is the only way to go for a clean system...it'll probably save you more time than waiting 20 hours.
ceator3571
September 12, 2009 at 6:43pm
Well it looks like I will be doing my upgrade on Saturday and not Thursday now. And I paid extera on shipping to get it by Thursday. ;-)
Nuxes
September 12, 2009 at 5:52pm
Yeah, this is why you should just reformat. I've tried upgrading before and something always goes wrong.
