There’s basically 2 methods and I’ve tried them both.
- Performing an upgrade from Windows 7 or Windows 8
- Performing a clean install. This basically erases the hard drive and installs Windows 10 from scratch. See how to do this here.
Usually, performing an upgrade keeps all of your data and installed programs intact. However, it’s been my experience that following an upgrade, you may encounter some programs not running properly. There’s pros and cons to both methods but in my case, after a clean install, my PC was faster and required a lot less hard drive space. However, one or two programs that I used previously did not install at all.
I stuck with the clean install but had to replace two older programs. Your mileage may vary.
Note: After a clean install you might have to install 1 or 2 drivers that Windows 10 doesn’t include. To be on the safe side backup all of your drivers first and store them in a safe place. A free program for doing this can be found here.
Here’s some numbers:
I upgraded my Windows 7 PC to Windows 8 and just recently to Windows 10. My 128 GB Solid State Drive had only 15.8 GB of free space. However, after performing a clean install and reinstalling all of my software I had 71.8 GB of free space. This is a huge difference. So what caused my original multi-upgrade to occupy so much space? Well, over a period of 4 years of installing and uninstalling software there’s a buildup of files on your hard drive. There are possibly other factors as well but it’s nice to have a clean system. Now that I’ve done it once the next time will be easier.
Contact me if you have any questions.