LE -> Essentials -> Studio upgrade procedure

I am currently a registered owner of Sonar X1 LE. I got the email last week that said I could upgrade to Essentials for $79 and then get bumped up to Studio for free.
 
So I did the online purchase and got the email for the links and downloaded Essentials and all its doodads. (5Gb +/-)
 
Then the next morning I found the email and the links to download Studio (another 5Gb +/-). This included the specific instructions to use the serial number for Studio's Amplitude from my Essentials Amplitude install.
 
My questions are:
 
Do I have to physically install Essentials and set it up fully before I can install/upgrade to Studio? Both downloads were on the order of 5 Gb of data, so it would seem that both are full installs and not really "upgrades". But then it says to use an existing Amplitude plug in serial number?
 
Once I do get the full Studio version installed and working, can I then uninstall any of the prior versions (LE, Essentials if it has to be installed first) without messing up the plug-ins and what not? I only have 500 Gb worth of HD to work with and need to be efficient.
 
Just looking for a good idea of a how-to-proceed checklist on getting from LE to Studio in the fewest steps, that results in everything in Studio working as advertised.
 
Thanks for any guidance you can lend.

"Upgrade" is marketing terminology only. Just install Studio and leave the rest in a safe place.
 
In your case you could have left Essentials undownloaded, but since you bought your Cake you might as well have it too.
 
Yes it's silly to buy a program you'll never use just to get the upgrade but that's how marketing works. 
On the other hand, you can have as many registered programs/versions installed as your system can handle.
 
Steve

Thanks much for the quick replies. I had suspected that I could just install Studio, it's pretty much is why I came here to pose the question before I even started the process.
I'll give that a shot sometime tomorrow and just see how it goes.

Hi Subsonic, I also ordered SONAR X1 Essential upgrade on Saturday 23 but no SONAR X1 Studio free e-mail yet.... How many days did it take to receive the links e-mail? Cheers, Miquel.

Contacted customer support and all is well now! Thanks!

Here's a quote from the Sonar X1 Welcome info:

Removing previously installed Cakewalk products after installing SONAR X1 may remove some
plug-ins. Either uninstall previous versions first, or do a “Custom” re-installation of the effects
and synths from the SONAR X1 installer. Never remove previous versions manually by deleting
folders that contain the software.


Hope this is helpful.....

--Larry  (who is going to upgrade from SHS7 to X1 Studio right now!)