Thanks for the comments. I have a bad habit of breaking what already works well for some reason

Unless I went through the upgrade installation too quickly I did not see the option to reformat and partition. It simply asks if you want to upgrade or do a custom/clean install. When you chose a clean install, it will show your current partition and OS, and that's it. I naturally clicked on the partition assuming the next screen would ask about formatting and making a partition. However, it went straight to installation.

Can you boot from an upgrade disc even? I was under the impression that if you have a OS already installed, your only option with the upgrade is to run it within windows.

Either way I'm still running smoothly so I think I'll stay put (I haven't activated yet just in case). I'm am curious as to why so many blogs (as Roadclosed mentioned too) recommend a clean install as in specific benefits other than possible upgrade woes that I don't have.