Replacing Windows C drive

I'm getting my copy of Windows 10 today, hopefully, and I'll be replacing my 128GB ssd C drive with a 500GB ssd drive.

I have CS6 and LR6 stand alones but may subscribe once I get my new operating system going.

I've deactivated CS6.

All I have to do is sign out of LR6?

All my photos are on other drives.

Lightroom catalog likewise is on the E drive.

Lightroom backups are on another drive.

Do I have it covered?

I'm getting ready to jump in the water and I'm not sure how deep it is!

Make sure you have the product key for the windows version you are currently running - unless your version of windows 10 comes with its own product key: How to: Perform a Clean Install or Reinstall of Windows 10

 

My upgrade process from 7 to 10 (about a year ago) was a bit convoluted in that I also upgraded to a new motherboard and an SSD at the same time. I did it in stages and IIRC actually installed windows 10 twice - once on the old drive with the new motherboard and then on the new SSD drive again. Worked without a hitch in the end and the two stage process might actually not have been necessary at all - I just didn't want to deal with possible issues from a new drive and a new MB at the same time.

I would recommend disconnecting all hard drives other than the one you are installing windows on, it reduces chances of error.

Thank you very much, Dieter.

I too am upgrading from 7 to 10. I'm doing a clean install and my DVD of 10 has its activation code. I checked that to make sure.

I'll disconnect the old drive, plug in the new drive and install 10.

Hopefully I'll be back on this forum next week sometime to announce my success!

I do have a laptop in case I need to get information on the 'net. Plus a phone.

I would recommend disconnecting all hard drives other than the one you are installing windows on, it reduces chances of error.

Thank you Gerald. I was wondering about that.

"I'm getting my copy of Windows 10 today..."

 

- Condolences.

"I'm getting my copy of Windows 10 today..."

 

- Condolences.

Gee thanks, Rodeo_Joe. Hopefully I won't need your condolences.

For your Adobe products, be sure you have your Product Keys.

 

For Lightroom 6 go to Help > Sign Out and sign our of Lightroom (as you wrote in your original post).

 

For Photoshop CS 6 go to Help > Deactivate and deactivate your version.

 

Since you have external drives, before you start, I suggest you take a System Image of your current operating system to and external drive and generate a Stand Alone Restore CD/DVD. That way, should something go awry, you can restore a working operating system quickly. There is an old engineering saying, "Never go no where you can't get back from no how." I have found it good advice when working with computers. If you have good backups you cannot break anything even with a hammer. But just try to slip one "little" update in without a backup, and the forces of Darkness are unleashed. <grin>

 

As for Windows 10, we have been running it on my wife's computer since she built the computer in December 2016. It has proved a very stable operating system. You do not have as much control over things like updates as you do in Windows 7, and Microsoft's heavy handed methods trying to get people to upgrade left a very bad taste in many people's mouths and a healthy distrust of Microsoft, but the operating system itself, especially when generated as a local system, has proved very stable and responsive - at least for us.

For your Adobe products, be sure you have your Product Keys.

 

For Lightroom 6 go to Help > Sign Out and sign our of Lightroom (as you wrote in your original post).

 

For Photoshop CS 6 go to Help > Deactivate and deactivate your version.

 

Since you have external drives, before you start, I suggest you take a System Image of your current operating system to and external drive and generate a Stand Alone Restore CD/DVD. That way, should something go awry, you can restore a working operating system quickly. There is an old engineering saying, "Never go no where you can't get back from no how." I have found it good advice when working with computers. If you have good backups you cannot break anything even with a hammer. But just try to slip one "little" update in without a backup, and the forces of Darkness are unleashed. <grin>

 

As for Windows 10, we have been running it on my wife's computer since she built the computer in December 2016. It has proved a very stable operating system. You do not have as much control over things like updates as you do in Windows 7, and Microsoft's heavy handed methods trying to get people to upgrade left a very bad taste in many people's mouths and a healthy distrust of Microsoft, but the operating system itself, especially when generated as a local system, has proved very stable and responsive - at least for us.

 

Thank you very much, Bgelfand. I did deactivate/sign out of Lightroom and Photoshop. I got antsy Friday night and decided to jump in. I replaced the C drive, checked BIOS, and installed Windows. It went without a hitch.

The only other thing I've done so far is getting Google Chrome and synced that to get my bookmarks and favorites.

I'm just exploring 10 right now but I am planning on getting the monthly subscription for Photoshop and Lightroom. I'm in no rush now. At least my C drive has a bunch of breathing room now and I have the latest offering from Microsoft.

Check if you have all your LR settings and preferences. Adobe/LR may have placed them on the C drive. These don't necessarily go onto the same drive as your catalog.

Check if you have all your LR settings and preferences. Adobe/LR may have placed them on the C drive. These don't necessarily go onto the same drive as your catalog.

Thanks. I didn't look for those but I took pictures of the settings with my phone.

I still haven't installed LR/CS but plan on doing the subscription.

You are very welcome, akocurek. I am glad everything went smoothly.

 

Like you were, I am running LR6 and PS CS5. What made you decide to go with the subscription model? Do you have a camera not supported by LR6? Or is there another reason?

You are very welcome, akocurek. I am glad everything went smoothly.

 

Like you were, I am running LR6 and PS CS5. What made you decide to go with the subscription model? Do you have a camera not supported by LR6? Or is there another reason?

I do have a camera that's not supported by CS6 and I'm always considering a new point-and-shoot.

Thank you for the reply.

Update as of today, Lightroom Classic CC and Photoshop CC are still in trial mode and they look good so far. I could not get Lightroom Classic to open the backup catalog file and spent some time with Adobe Support. They had me install my standalone Lightroom 6 and the backup file worked with that. He said I'd have to redo all the keywords manually if I wanted to use Lightroom Classic. I thought, no, this cannot be! He did have to put me on hold several times to check his resources so I think he was tired (1:00 AM local time for him) or he wasn't that familiar with the problem.

One thing he did, as he had control of my computer, was to change the default program used to unzip the compressed lrcat file. As I said, he did get those catalog files to work in my Lightroom version.

So I tried again this morning, and now Lightroom Classic CC is using my catalog files! I don't know why he couldn't do it yesterday; I couldn't follow him quickly enough to remember what he tried.

Too much computer stuff for me for now! Thanks again, everyone, for your assistance. Next time I try this, I'll remember to save preferences and other settings.

I NEVER let any of those so called techs remote into any of my computers.

One bad experience was too much.

 

Some/many of them are going off a script, and if you have something different, they start "experimenting," to get it to work. And that is when you have trouble.

I had two IT guys at 2 different jobs trash two of my servers, when they started "experimenting" to get something to work. I had to do a grounds up/complete reinstall, twice. grrrrr

 

Now, I tell any tech to tell ME what to do, and I make the changes. This way I KNOW and keep track of what changes were done, so that I can back out the changes, if needed. And if I don't understand the change, I make them explain until I am satisfied with the answer, or it does not get changed.

 

I had one remote tech leave a piece of software on my machine or change a system configuration, so that it kept asking me to subscribe to their service.

I finally had to blow out that computer, and reinstall from scratch, to get rid of that "infection."

 

One sneaky problem is that some application software rely on common software/programs.

Change that common software for one software and it could break the other software.

I saw that when 2 different software wanted specific versions of a reporting software. But they wanted different versions, and would not work with any other version. So the 2 software could not run on the same computer. grrrr

I NEVER let any of those so called techs remote into any of my computers.

One bad experience was too much.

 

Some/many of them are going off a script, and if you have something different, they start "experimenting," to get it to work. And that is when you have trouble.

I had two IT guys at 2 different jobs trash two of my servers, when they started "experimenting" to get something to work. I had to do a grounds up/complete reinstall, twice. grrrrr

 

Now, I tell any tech to tell ME what to do, and I make the changes. This way I KNOW and keep track of what changes were done, so that I can back out the changes, if needed. And if I don't understand the change, I make them explain until I am satisfied with the answer, or it does not get changed.

 

I had one remote tech leave a piece of software on my machine or change a system configuration, so that it kept asking me to subscribe to their service.

I finally had to blow out that computer, and reinstall from scratch, to get rid of that "infection."

 

One sneaky problem is that some application software rely on common software/programs.

Change that common software for one software and it could break the other software.

I saw that when 2 different software wanted specific versions of a reporting software. But they wanted different versions, and would not work with any other version. So the 2 software could not run on the same computer. grrrr

Thanks for your reply. It's going well so far, though.