Question re suggested preparations prior to upgrading

[Kevin J]

Please forgive me if this issue has been discussed previously (I couldn’t find a specific reference to it.)

I am about to upgrade from SS ver 3.2 to the new ver 3.4, and have a general question about what preparations I should make prior to upgrading. Specifically, in the “Hi-MD/NetMD Software FAQ” (under the heading “How to properly reinstall NetMD/Hi-MD”) there is a section which states:

“Uninstall all OpenMG related software via the Add/Remove Programs control panel and reboot as necessary. This includes, but is not limited to, OpenMG 2.2, related 'Limited Patches' and the 'Secure Module', SonicStage 1.x/2.x/3.x, Simple Burner 1.x/2.x, and software by RealNetworks.”

So my questions are:

1) is it recommended that I perform the removals indicated above, in order to ensure a clean, bug-free install?

and,

2) is it recommended that I uninstall ver 3.2 prior to installing 3.4, or will ver 3.4 install smoothly “on top of” ver 3.2?

Thx in advance!

~ peace, Kevin J

[A440]

First, use the Backup Tool to back up My Library. If you do that, you probably won't need the backup. If you don't do it, you will. It's just one of those things.

Being lazy, if I were you I would run the little Sony online installer to install 3.4 on top of 3.2. That will give you any bugfixes Sony may have come up with while MDCF was working on the offline installer.

You need to turn off any internet security, firewall, spyware-stopper, etc. programs before running the online installer. Turn them back on afterward.

I have upgraded twice (3.2 to 3.3, 3.3 to 3.4) with the online installer and had no problems at all.

If you do have a problem, then do the whole FAQ procedure. But that was written for earlier, much buggier SonicStage versions.

No guarantees: we are still using Sony software, after all. But try the easy way first.

[dex Otaku]

I have upgraded online between each version since SS 2.1 and never had any problems installing one over another.