Windows 7 ultimate 32 bit to 64 bit

I wanted to upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit without doing a fresh install as i dont want to loose my previous data on drive. is it possible as i tried to use the windows cd but got windows - Application Error
*The application was unable to start correctly (0*c00000a5). Click OK to close the application

And even clicking OK doesnt close this message so i have to open the cd drive to remove this message.


I have processor of intel core i3

2gb ram

Hi.

You can't upgrade from one architecture to another. In plain English, that means if you want to go from 32 to 64 bit, you have to clean (custom) install Windows.

so what if i install in another drive, can i move data from 1st drive to second drive. Like firefox bookmarks and passwords,etc. Or will backing up the drive help after i do a fresh install.

Should i even intsall a 64 bit version of windows 7 given that my laptop ram is only 2 GB

Honestly, I wouldn't bother wasting my time installing 64 bit version with only 2 GB. Will it work? Yes. Will it work very well? Sure. Will it work better for you than 32 bit with better performance? Nah.

64 bit's main advantages are seen with things such as intense video encoding or with engineering type applications. 4GB of RAM or more would also have to be present to see the advantages in those types of things.

Sure you can install to another drive as long as it resides in your laptop too.

Yes, you can install the x64 version with 2GB of RAM, that's the minimum recommended by Microsoft for the x64 version.

You can always add more RAM later. The x64 version is the way to go, it's the future and 32-bit in a few years will be a thing of the past.