Re aprtition and move OS

[chas638]

Re partition and move OS

Hello,

I'm thinking about upgrading to Win7 32bit. I have a 1gb C:drive my Vista Ultimate 32bit OS is on but don't want to mess it up. I also don't want to switch to 64bits because some of my programs won't work.
I have a 250gb external drive I'm thinking about cloning my OS drive ( Windows, Users, Programs, Program & Data 182gGBs not including other files) to. Do I have to repartition ( shrink) the drive first because of the difference in drive sizes?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
chas638
PS:
Below are my specs:
OS Version: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Ultimate , Service Pack 2, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz, x64 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 11
Processor Count: 4
RAM: 3325 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT , 1024 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 931GB, Free - 461; D: Total - 931GB, Free - 75GB;
Motherboard: Dell Inc., 0FM586, ÿÿÿ, ..CN7360483D02ZS.
Antivirus: Norton 360, Updated: Yes, On-Demand Scanner: Enabled

 

[whs]

You can image your C drive. Since the image uses compression your 182GBs will end up as a 100GB (appr.) file. Here is one program you can use:

1. a brief tutorial: http://www.vistax64.com/software/261727-image-your-system-free-macrium.html

2. a more detailed video tutorial of the same thing: Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Forums

 

[chas638]

You can image your C drive. Since the image uses compression your 182GBs will end up as a 100GB (appr.) file. Here is one program you can use:

1. a brief tutorial: http://www.vistax64.com/software/261727-image-your-system-free-macrium.html

2. a more detailed video tutorial of the same thing: Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Forums

I have Acronis True Image Home 2011 that I was going to use to clone the C: drive to my external 250gb drive. Will this be an exact working hard drive copy of OS with all my working programs without having to do a clean installation? I have a lot of programs and really don't want to reload. I'm looking to replace the C drive with cloned drive and upgrade it to Win 7 32bit. This way if my programs are not compatable or I don't like Win 7 I can pop in my old drive and be back to where I am now with Vista.
Thanks for your help,
chas638

 

[whs]

An image reflects exactly the state of your system as it is at the time you take the image - the OS, programs, all settings , all files, etc. When you restore the image, it is like a tiime machine going back to the time when you took the image.

If you have Acronis and are familiar with it, you can use that. if you are not familiar with Acronis, you may be better off to use the free Macrium - it is easier to use.

PS: I am sure you will like Windows7 - it is great. But give it a few days to get used to it. And if you have any questions, visit us on the Windows7 forum.