I'm thinking about upgrading from XP to W7, but as the machine is a few years old i have loads of photos and mp3s dotted around all over the place and i suspect many of these are duplicates.
I believe I need to backup all of these up so that they are not lost when upgrading the OS. I am just wondering if there are any tools which might make this process easier, perhaps excluding duplicates.
Otherwise I guess it is just a case of searching using the *.jpg and *.mp3.
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There may be better ways of doing this, but you could:
For pictures, install Google Picassa, get it to scan your whole computer for pictures. The program has a 'find duplicates' faclility under Tools>Experimental. Not sure how good this is, but its a start I suppose.
For music, install Itunes, get it so scan your whole computer for music files. Itunes has a tool called 'consolidate library'. What this will do is MOVE all your mp3's which are dotted all over your PC into a single folder, and file them under Artist>Album (if your music is correctly tagged, or it can find the information online). This will make it much easier to backup. The location of this folder can be chosen by you under 'Preferences' in iTunes. Then you can get Itunes to list duplicate files in your library, which makes it easier to delete duplicates.
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whatever way you choose, make sure you do a full clean install of 7 to a freshly formatted disk.
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Nice, VR6, good suggestions...
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Don't want to state the obvious but have you checked your system has enough RAM etc?
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www.easyduplicatefinder.com/duplicate-photo-finder.html
I find this free programme invaluable and they do one for MP3's as well.
Pat
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www.easyduplicatefinder.com/duplicate-photo-finder.html
That looks useful Pat. Has it been any trouble... I assumes it's a free program?
Last edited by: Fenlander on Mon 10 May 10 at 13:18
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Given the relatively low price of external drives it's worthwhile backing-up photos, music, etc. to one whether you are upgrading the OS or not
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Many thanks all some really useful suggestions here. I'll have a play with iTunes and DPF. I also have an old hd lying around which I'll bung into a caddy and then hopefully move everything across.
@ Rattle, yes thanks it should be ok, I might upgrade the RAM but will wait an see how it copes
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If you download from here it is
www.qweas.com/downloads/system/file-disk-management/overview-easy-duplicate-file-finder.html
I've had no problems at all with it and have used it a lot to lighten the load a bit.
Pat
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I don't think there is an upgrade path from XP to Windows 7 (only Vista to 7) - it will just reformat your hard drive and do a fresh install of Windows 7 once it's established you have a copy of XP on the PC to allow you to use an upgrade version rather than a full version.
Unless you have at least 2GB RAM you will find it copes quite poorly. You will need a decent graphics card as well.
Last edited by: Victorbox on Mon 10 May 10 at 14:03
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Windows 7 basic works reasonably well on a Netbook, which has poor graphics card and 1 gb of memory and a low power cpu. Certainly as good as XP.
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>> Windows 7 basic works reasonably well on a Netbook, which has poor graphics card and
>> 1 gb of memory and a low power cpu. Certainly as good as XP.
>>
Not really relevant as Windows 7 Starter Edition is not available to the public except on netbooks or low powered laptops through OEM's and is specifically cut down & stripped out so it will run OK on a netbook with only 1GB RAM. You won't get Starter Edition from a retailer.
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if you buy a cheap bit of hardware you can find it. Its sold to system builders in multipacks.
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Suggestions prior to upgrading to Windows7 - VR6
