Pre-plan your Win 11 upgrade for a smooth experience


Yeah, I've debated that point with myself repeatedly, so my thinking went something like (this only partial logic, but you get the idea)...

On my laptop I have only a single drive so there is simply no choice.
However, that drive is BitLocker protected and is backed up every single day. The backups have 2 additional copies replicated to other locations including one offsite location.

In addition, all that data is in a single place so if need be, all I have to do is backup a single folder with subfolders and that is everything. There is no accidentally forgetting that some stuff was off in some weird corner somewhere.

In order to have some consistency, I do it the same way on my desktop computer.

Note that this may not be what you are really thinking - It's just word docs, spreadsheets, misc stuff, etc. In grand total, this stuff that I need ready access to is barely over 1 GB in size.

All my big stuff - ISO images, software assets, and a lot of other stuff totaling maybe 400+ GB is on a separate drive for the desktop and an external drive for the laptop. Again, multiple copies are backed up every single day. Plex is whole different story. The Plex server runs as a VM to it's a super easy to backup because it's simply one unit - the VM. The data for Plex is separate and accessed via UNC share names. That way, if the VM is ever moved, it doesn't matter. Access is still to the same UNC shares. Last time I specifically checked the size I think that VM was only like 50 GB. The Plex data, however, is about 6 TB so far, and yes, it is backed up every single day.

My job for over twelve years with a major storage company was to help top enterprise customers to protect and recover data on our mission critical systems so I've seen my fair share of planning both good and bad. Makes me highly paranoid about how I handle my own personal data :)
Fair enough, you seem to have backups and recovery covered very well! I always put my personal files on a separate drive and back it independently of the OS drive (which gets backed up every day using Macrium)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (RP channel)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Gigabyte
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5900X 12-core
    Motherboard
    X570 Aorus Xtreme
    Memory
    64GB Corsair Platinum RGB 3600MHz CL16
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Suprim X 3080 Ti
    Sound Card
    Soundblaster AE-5 Plus
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS TUF Gaming VG289Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 990 Pro 2TB
    Samsung 980 Pro 2TB
    Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB
    Samsung 870 Evo 4TB
    Samsung T7 Touch 1TB
    PSU
    Asus ROG Strix 1000W
    Case
    Corsair D750 Airflow
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15S
    Keyboard
    Asus ROG Flare
    Mouse
    Logitech G903 with PowerPlay charger
    Internet Speed
    500Mb/sec
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Absolutely! Nothing wrong with an upgrade. It's purely preference. An in-place is also so much easier, especially if you have a backup and can recover just in case.
I did an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11, no problems at all
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (RP channel)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Gigabyte
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5900X 12-core
    Motherboard
    X570 Aorus Xtreme
    Memory
    64GB Corsair Platinum RGB 3600MHz CL16
    Graphics Card(s)
    MSI Suprim X 3080 Ti
    Sound Card
    Soundblaster AE-5 Plus
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS TUF Gaming VG289Q
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 990 Pro 2TB
    Samsung 980 Pro 2TB
    Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB
    Samsung 870 Evo 4TB
    Samsung T7 Touch 1TB
    PSU
    Asus ROG Strix 1000W
    Case
    Corsair D750 Airflow
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15S
    Keyboard
    Asus ROG Flare
    Mouse
    Logitech G903 with PowerPlay charger
    Internet Speed
    500Mb/sec
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender

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