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I have been using Windows 10 for a long time now and want to upgrade to Windows 10 Professional, but I have a lot of files on this computer I want to keep, most of them are backed up but not all. If I upgrade will this remove my files?

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    Very unlikely going from Win 10 to Win 10 Pro - less likely than if you went from eg. Win 7 or 8 to Win 10. But, always assume any upgrade is going to fail. Back up your files and make a list of the programs you have installed, so if something goes wrong the only thing you lose is your time.
    – Tim Malone
    May 28, 2016 at 3:13

3 Answers 3

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The upgrade is supposed to work

If you upgrade without backing up any data loss would be your fault. Even though the upgrade should work properly, I never do them. Any issues in your current OS will just be migrated to the new.

You may feel like your OS is good and clean but chances are you have something in there from the time you have been using. Perhaps even some malware. Who knows?

I suggest this:

  • Perform a Full Backup

  • Format Your Current System

  • Install the New OS

  • Restore Your Data from Backup

This will insure your data integrity should something fail during the upgrade. You can avoid the upgrade altogether and go down the longer road to get to a nice clean OS without issues and ALL your data.

You reduce the risk of something occurring that could be disastrous and rather than rolling the dice and hoping everything goes well you just go through a process to ensure that everything will go well. If something goes horribly wrong, who cares. You have your data. This is the no stress method IMO>

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Updating to another edition, as in this case from Windows 10 (Home) to Windows 10 Pro, is done in-place. This process is simpler and usually takes less time than upgrading from previous version of Windows: No Windows.old folder is created. You will get the same Windows installation but with more features.

It's always good to make backup copy of all important files.

Once I updated Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional. Everything went smooth.

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Much like upgrading from a previous version of Windows to a newer one, your files will not be overwritten, but will be moved to a folder called "Winows.Old". It still would not hurt to backup, as other than during the upgrade, there are many other risks that can make you lose your files. And keep backups on external media or on the cloud.

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