PSO 20,
There is a way to back up the entire system drive if you have a large hard drive. You can always use an external [ USB ]drive for backup but it’s a lot slower than an internal drive. This is the reason why I’m referencing one drive. Or just get another internal drive.
A scenario:
· Existing windows on a single drive [ one partition ] Let’s say 500 Gig drive.
· Using the Storage Disk Management, you can shrink the system drive to a reasonable size without affecting the OS. The Disk Management tool will tell you how much it will allows shrinking the drive.
· After shrinking the drive, using the same tool, you can create another primary or logical partition for that matter.
· Format the new partition [ Must be NTFS ] but do not compress it because the backup utility will not do system back to a compressed drive.
· From the Control Panel à Backup and Restore Center , do a full system backup to the new partitioned drive.
· Reboot you system and go through the 64bit install screen until you get the new install type, choose new install. Here you need to go through the advanced setting to delete the system partition which is Disk 0, partition 0 [ This where the OS sits on ] à recreate it new and then proceed with the new 64 bit install on that partition.
· If you decide to go back to the 32bit system, then you could always use the DVD to do system restore from that image that you created earlier.
· To be sure, always backup your data files to a CD or a DVD before you try any of this.
Sorry for not giving you the exact steps because this all from memory.