Need Win 7 upgrade advice

[toddmboyer]

I have a desktop computer that I just upgraded with a new motherboard (ASRock 990FX Killer) and video card (ASUS R7 250X Series), and added a second SSD (250 GB). The primary SSD (500 GB) currently has everything on it -- Win 7 OS, applications, and data -- which total about 280 GB. I also have a 500 GB external drive, and a 320 GB external drive that are both currently empty.

Ever since changing the motherboard, I get regular blue screen crashes, so I figure I need to do a clean install of Win 7 so that the apparent conflicts with the new hardware are eliminated. I am currently running Win 7 32-bit, but have a 64-bit ready processor (3.55 gigahertz AMD FX-6100 Six-Core) and the disk for Win 7 64-bit that came with the Win 7 32-bit disk, and figure this is a good time to upgrade the OS to use the full capacity of the hardware I have. I would like to avoid wiping my primary SSD and do a clean install of the 64-bit Win 7, and then have to reinstall every application currently on my machine.

With the storage hardware that I have noted here, and the Acronis software on my current system, does anyone have any advice about a thoughtful way to approach this process that could keep me from having to spend an entire weekend inserting DVDs and downloading endless install and upgrade files?

 

[ss202sl]

You would have to re-install anyway to go to 64 bit. All you applications would also have to be re-installed.

 

[boosted1g]

Even eliminating the 32/64 bit you will not be able to transfer over all programs from one install to the next. Some simple ones only have the files in the program folder, most have them spread throughout the program folder, windows registry, system folders, and users app data folder. It would take more time to move over each item then to reinstall it.

Now many programs allow you to backup the settings or your profile osomething so that once you install the program you can restore all of your setings.