Clean Install Questions

[Sweetshop722]

Hi, I have a Toshiba laptop wth i3 processor (?) that is running Windows 7 but need to upgrade to Windows 10. Purchased upgrade that comes in flash drive at Micro Center so it's real. Was told by Microsoft tech support chat that W 10 install will wipe out my drivers. I am not a technical wizard. I am more of a technical special needs person. Partially out of my fear of my computer crashing, and because I don't really speak computer fluently. I have installed antivirus on my own and created a back up disk before but for this I need a lot of hand holding. My question is if I lose my drivers, how do I recover my drivers after installation? I'm not even sure how many drivers I have, where to find them or if I just email Toshiba and can download all from them. Would it be cheaper in the long run to have Micro Center do it so that I will know that they wil do the upgrade right. I am scared that I will mess things up. Pls advise.
Thank you.

 

[Trouble]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
First make sure that your "backup" is current and contains all your critical data. Then consider creating a disk image so you have a stronger fall back position.
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/

THEN.... why not think about baby steps.
The title of your post is "Clean Install".
Why not consider using the media you've purchased (presumably with a product key) to perform an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10.
You can always do a clean install at a later point in time.
OR
Is there some reason why you think performing a Clean Install now is the appropriate approach to moving from 7 to 10.

Not trying to talk you out of it. I love "clean installs", but they are not generally for the faint of heart and can sometimes require some futzing.
Personally I wouldn't worry too much about drivers, generally Windows 10 does a pretty good job getting hardware to work although you may need to acquire anything system specific and unique, directly from Toshiba, which might be something you would want to do in advance of a clean install.

 

[Grizzly]

Or, if you can purchase another hard drive where you can make the clean install on. That way if something happens, you just swap drives and are back to Windows 7 again. I do that all the time ,especially with my old Toshiba Laptop (a relic from the times of Vista). In general Windows 10 installs the most drivers automatically but there may be a driver or two that Windows update cannot find. We have here a lot of enthusiasts that can help you proceed in your task installing your new Windows 10. As Trouble says we need to start with "baby steps".

 

[StevenG]

Hi, I have a Toshiba laptop wth i3 processor (?) that is running Windows 7 but need to upgrade to Windows 10. Purchased upgrade that comes in flash drive at Micro Center so it's real. Was told by Microsoft tech support chat that W 10 install will wipe out my drivers. I am not a technical wizard. I am more of a technical special needs person. Partially out of my fear of my computer crashing, and because I don't really speak computer fluently. I have installed antivirus on my own and created a back up disk before but for this I need a lot of hand holding. My question is if I lose my drivers, how do I recover my drivers after installation? I'm not even sure how many drivers I have, where to find them or if I just email Toshiba and can download all from them. Would it be cheaper in the long run to have Micro Center do it so that I will know that they wil do the upgrade right. I am scared that I will mess things up. Pls advise.
Thank you.

I've got a 7 years old laptop, an Acer Aspire 5750-2414 that I've upgraded, I must say that I did go abit wild on the upgrade to an i7-2720QM CPU (from an i5-2410M that came standard on my laptop) I upgraded it to 8GB DDR3-PC3-1333 RAM and changed the old HDD to an SSD Samsung 850 EVO 1TB HDD, changed the old 2.4G 1/2 PCIe WiFi card to an Atheros AR9462-AR5B22-1/2 PCIe WiFi WLAN 2.4 to 5GHz/Bluetooth BT 4.0 card so that I can have Bluetooth and 5 GHz WiFi. I'm running Windows 10 Pro 64bit-Ver 1709-O/S Build 16299.192 (which is the latest) and its running like a rocket on Windows 10, its fast and can handle anything that Windows 10 updates requires. An upgrade to Windows 10 within Win-7 is the best (you can do a clean install later from within Windows 10) after you have recovered all your files from Win-7. This way, the upgrade from Win-7 to Win-10 keeps your old data and files and it saves it all to a folder called 'Windows Old' on c;| drive, in your new Win-10 after the upgrade.

As far as your Win-7 drivers are concerned, why would you need them or want them? Windows 10 updates all your drivers to the latest and the current drivers within every aspect of your old laptop but, if you want to keep your old Win-7 operating system and all your files (which is very unnecessary) I would listen and do what 'Grizzly' is suggesting above, but I would buy a new SSD HDD for your Windows 10 upgrade, as and SSD will improve your speed 100% at a minimal cost and you will experience what Windows 10 is all about! Hope this helps, cheers.