upgrading from xp pro 32-bit to xp pro 64 bit

all

i am wondering how easy it is to upgrade from windows xp 32 bit to windows
xp 64 bit? i have a lot of data on my workstation (computational) and would
like to have a hassle free upgrade. my FEA software will probably run faster
on 64 bit workstation than a 32 bit. hence thinking of the upgrade. please
advice if there are any online websites/blogs that talk about 32 to 64
upgrade.

thanks,
mahesh

There is no upgrade path, you have to format and fresh install.

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"mahesh" <mahesh@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E4B73CF7-E63D-4528-AAAF-6E0E72133D82@microsoft.com...
> all
>
> i am wondering how easy it is to upgrade from windows xp 32 bit to windows
> xp 64 bit? i have a lot of data on my workstation (computational) and
> would
> like to have a hassle free upgrade. my FEA software will probably run
> faster
> on 64 bit workstation than a 32 bit. hence thinking of the upgrade. please
> advice if there are any online websites/blogs that talk about 32 to 64
> upgrade.
>
> thanks,
> mahesh

A lot of data? obviously backed up?

"mahesh" <mahesh@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E4B73CF7-E63D-4528-AAAF-6E0E72133D82@microsoft.com...
> all
>
> i am wondering how easy it is to upgrade from windows xp 32 bit to windows
> xp 64 bit? i have a lot of data on my workstation (computational) and
would
> like to have a hassle free upgrade. my FEA software will probably run
faster
> on 64 bit workstation than a 32 bit. hence thinking of the upgrade. please
> advice if there are any online websites/blogs that talk about 32 to 64
> upgrade.
>
> thanks,
> mahesh

mahesh wrote:

> i am wondering how easy it is to upgrade from windows xp 32 bit to
> windows xp 64 bit?


Not easy at all. In fact it's impossible. Only a clean installation is
supported.


> i have a lot of data on my workstation
> (computational) and would like to have a hassle free upgrade. my FEA
> software will probably run faster on 64 bit workstation than a 32
> bit.


I don't know what FEA software is, but are you sure? Is there a 64-bit
version of it? If you run 32-bit software on a 64-bit version of Windows,
there is normally *no* improvement in speed.

Also note that there are often issues getting appropriate drivers for all
your hardware for 64-bit Windows. Don't do this unless you are sure the
drivers are available.


--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

I backup the data about every 3 weeks. Will do it again in a week or so -
then try to do a fresh install then. Good thing is I have OS/Programs hard
disk, and then have 2 individual SATA disks for data. So in any case I can go
a fresh install right now with a format and not worry about my data. But if
scheduled backup is coming soon, then it makes sense to do it then.

Am on a dual processor (each 2 cores) opteron workstation, and running
version 10 Ansys on it. I think this setup will benefit from 64 bit over 32
bit. Along with this upgrade I plan to increase the system memory from 4GB to
16 GB too.

Thanks for all the help.

Mahesh

"Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:

> mahesh wrote:
>
> > i am wondering how easy it is to upgrade from windows xp 32 bit to
> > windows xp 64 bit?
>
>
> Not easy at all. In fact it's impossible. Only a clean installation is
> supported.
>
>
> > i have a lot of data on my workstation
> > (computational) and would like to have a hassle free upgrade. my FEA
> > software will probably run faster on 64 bit workstation than a 32
> > bit.
>
>
> I don't know what FEA software is, but are you sure? Is there a 64-bit
> version of it? If you run 32-bit software on a 64-bit version of Windows,
> there is normally *no* improvement in speed.
>
> Also note that there are often issues getting appropriate drivers for all
> your hardware for 64-bit Windows. Don't do this unless you are sure the
> drivers are available.
>
>
> --
> Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
> Please reply to the newsgroup
>
>
>

=?Utf-8?B?bWFoZXNo?= <mahesh@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
news:B0246428-5332-46AA-A2DF-B2C88F4EBBD3@microsoft.com:

> Am on a dual processor (each 2 cores) opteron workstation, and running
> version 10 Ansys on it. I think this setup will benefit from 64 bit
> over 32 bit. Along with this upgrade I plan to increase the system
> memory from 4GB to 16 GB too.
>
> Thanks for all the help.
>
> Mahesh

Typically, there will be no speed benefit using a 32 bit program on a 64
bit O/S. The application must be a 64-bit build to see any speed benefit.

On the other hand, adding the memory also may give it a boost.

Have you contacted Ansys and see if 1) they have a 64 bit version,
although the web page says v11 runs a lot faster than v10 in some
modules, or 2) adding the RAM will speed up execution ?

While the price of RAM isn't $80/meg like it was 15 years ago, buying 16G
isn't cheap.

I'd look at the cost/benefit ratio with all the pertinent questions
answered before I made the final decision.

It's not unthinkable that this upgrade would only benefit by a < 5% speed
increase.







>
> "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote:
>
>> mahesh wrote:
>>
>> > i am wondering how easy it is to upgrade from windows xp 32 bit to
>> > windows xp 64 bit?
>>
>>
>> Not easy at all. In fact it's impossible. Only a clean installation
>> is supported.
>>
>>
>> > i have a lot of data on my workstation
>> > (computational) and would like to have a hassle free upgrade. my
>> > FEA software will probably run faster on 64 bit workstation than a
>> > 32 bit.
>>
>>
>> I don't know what FEA software is, but are you sure? Is there a
>> 64-bit version of it? If you run 32-bit software on a 64-bit version
>> of Windows, there is normally *no* improvement in speed.
>>
>> Also note that there are often issues getting appropriate drivers for
>> all your hardware for 64-bit Windows. Don't do this unless you are
>> sure the drivers are available.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
>> Please reply to the newsgroup
>>
>>
>>
>

"mahesh" <mahesh@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> all
>
> i am wondering how easy it is to upgrade from windows xp 32 bit to windows
> xp 64 bit? i have a lot of data on my workstation (computational) and
> would
> like to have a hassle free upgrade. my FEA software will probably run
> faster
> on 64 bit workstation than a 32 bit. hence thinking of the upgrade. please
> advice if there are any online websites/blogs that talk about 32 to 64
> upgrade.

To add to the others' posts, there is an x64 newsgroup.
microsoft.public.windows.64bit.general

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]