Windows Vista Home Basic to Windows 7 Professional...

I am one of the very unlucky few who has Windows Vista Home Basic.
I have A LOT of important files, and no backup discs whatsoever for backing up files.
I have a huge problem here. I want to install windows 7 professional but I only have windows vista home basic.
I have been told that I'll have to perform a clean install...I have so much important things on here, it's ridiculous. Is there anything I can honestly do, to prevent myself from losing my games, pictures, videos, programs, etc from being deleted or sent to that dreaded windows.old folder everyone is talking about?
PLEASE let me know. There has to be someway I can keep my stuff.
Right now too, I have 2 hard drives. A 500GB one and a 250GB one(my primary HD). On the 500 GB one, I have Linux Ubuntu 9.04 and I am hoping I don't have to delete that.
Anyway, thank you for your time, I hope to have some replies soon!


EDIT: I also do not have the money to purchase a windows vista home premium upgrade so I can't take that path

The 'windows.old' folder should definitely not be dreaded! I wish I had read about it before wasting a lot of time. I spent several hours backing up my files to DVDs (which is still recommended when possible) only to find out there was no real need for it. The 'windows.old' folder is easily accessible once your up and running in Windows 7; you can even place a shortcut to it on your desktop until you don't need it anymore.

Since installing Windows 7 Ultimate from Vista, I've been able to easily transfer files from the 'windows.old' folders into the proper folders in the new OS. Once I'm done moving everything I want to keep, I will delete the 'windows.old' folder. I'm so glad that I don't have to transfer all those files back onto my computer from discs!!

No worries bro, you're golden!
jasonsmith

Thanks for your reply,
I am a little confused though, what is the real purpose of the windows.old folder?
Will I have to reinstall all my programs(itunes, firefox,etc) again?

I know that you can create a ghost drive of your C drive, just google and find a cheap ghost drive software, that will definitely going to save you a lot of time

Hi,

You can install 7 to a separate partition and multiboot.
Some programs will run as exe's - most will nee to be installed on 7.