Migrating to Windows 7 and Zune 4.0 via External Hard Drive

I intend to wipe my PC and install a clean version of Windows 7 x64.  I am currently running Zune 3.0 s/w and all my Zune music files are stored on an external hard drive.  I would like to just install Zune 4.0 on the new O/S and continue syncing my Zune from there, but I'm afraid that 1)  the Zune will not sync because it is locked to my old version of Windows, and 2) I will lose all my statistics for song plays, etc.  I'm hoping some of you have already done this and can provide some guidance.  All the music is on the external drive with all the proper meta-tagging.  But I definitely do not want to go hunting for all that album art again! 

Here are my specific questions:
1)  Is the correct album art on my external drive or does the Zune s/w cache it somewhere on the drive where the Zune s/w is installed?
2)  Will the Zune forget my old computer and sync with the 4.0 software on my new Win7 system?
3)  Also, how do I retain info like "date last played", "play count", and "date added"?  Do I need to move some support files?  Will they be compatible with Zune 4.0?
4)  Any other Win7 issues I should look out for?

Any advice appreciated!

1) It often is...usually is.  But you can check the folders to see if the jpg album art files are there or not.  It also caches some album art...for instance if you embed the album art into your song files as metadata, or you marked your content folders as read only.  I can't tell you the name or location of the folder for this...I don't know it.

Thanks!  Very good advice.  I did find a local art cache (C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Zune\Art Cache), so I will try moving this over, as well as the zunestore.sdf file.  I'm just concerned that if I install 4.0, these 3.0 files won't work...i.e., an upgrade from 3.0 to 4.0 might work, but a clean install of 4.0 and a replacement of the old .sdf file might not.  Maybe some MS Zune people can answer this?
No zune pass or drm for me, so no worries there.
Thanks also for the Win 7 link.
-MXC

Just an update.  I followed the above process by copying over the art cache and the zunestore.sdf file.  Once I installed Zune 4.0 on my new Win 7 system, it recognized all the existing music and art with no problem.   And then when I connected to zune.net, all my song plays and dates were automatically updated.  So the process was pretty seamless, as long as you know where to find the art cache, etc.

I am running the 32 bit version of win 7 Home Premium. I just got off of the phone w/Zune & they said that they consider all versions of Windows 7 except the RTM versions (Pre-installed on Dell, HP, etc) a beta version & beta versions are not supported.

I'm getting the error that says the zune package was unable to install. Argued w/level 1 tech that I didn't have an RTM version, after 45 mins, she let slip that only RTM was supported, but I had to call Microsoft & verify that I did not have a pirated copy of Windows. Told her bought this from Best Buy, but she didn't care. Called MS Wind & verified that had retail version & called Zune support back, they transferred me to Level 2 tech & he informed me of the beta version stuff.

DO NOT upgrade to Windows 7 any version if you want to use your Zune. Level 2 tech said that "he was sure, that they would be working on this problem, but they don't know what is causing the install to fail". I informed them that the "Packages" were older versions than were already installed & that is the reason they are failing. If it is looking for a specific version (Example 1-4) & you have 5 installed it's not recognizing it. Need to change the programming to look for version 4 or up. I suggested that they change the system requirements screen to note that only the RTM version is supported, but he didn't like that answer. Told me to post to forum instead. I'm going to post this to as many threads concerning Zune & Win 7 as possible. I have tried to install this w/Administrator privileges, as XP, Vista, etc, still get same error.

There is no solution, just need to wait until new version comes out.

BAD MICROSOFT!!!!!!!!!!!

Despite what you are being told, or understand about what you are being told, it is *extremely* unlikely that your install problems are directly a function of Windows 7.  I have had several "failure to install" problems with Zune 3.0 and Zune 4.0 software on Windows Vista.  I resolved the 3.0 install by, astonishingly, turning off my 3rd party firewall, turning on Windows Firewall, and trying the install again.  I gave up fighting with 4.0 because I knew I was moving to Windows 7.  As reported above, I had *zero* install problems with Zune 4.0 on Windows 7 Home Premium (x64).  Many others have been successful.
Still, it is quite breath-taking that MS has so many problems getting *their* software to install on the *their* operating system.  Should be downright embarrassing. 
Clearly, and by definition, all versions of Windows 7 prior to RTM are beta (technically, alpha, beta, release candidate, etc.)  Unless you have the (obvious) beta version of Win7, you are running an RTM version or equivalent.