Upgrade to XP or New Install ?

[Nictu]

Hi Harry. The very first thing Iwould do is run the
compatibility checker on the xp cd. This gives a report as
to any hardware or driver problems you may encounter. If
that goes ok I would copy over all your data to the 2nd
HDD. Boot off the XP CD and you will get the chance to
choose which partition to install to. Select to delete the
C:. Then create a new partition and format with ntfs and
away you go.
>-----Original Message-----
>Running WinME on 600 mHz machine, 384 MB of memory, have
two HDDs, with 120
>GB & 40 GB, each partitioned into 4 drives. Wife getting
me XP for XMAS. I
>have a ton of data/media files I want to keep and no
backup option other
>than onto a stack CDs. Would I probably be OK going the
upgrade route, or
>should I backup my junk and do a full install. If I do
the full install,
>will it reformat BOTH HDDs, or can I move my data files
to the second HDD
>and then bring them back after the install. Also, what
will happen to my
>partitions if I do the full install.
>
>TIA. Harry the veteran novice.
>
>
>.
>

[Harry Marnell]

Thanks, Nictu. I just ran the checker and there's nothing horribly wrong...
some possible conflicts with scanner, modem, network adapter, and programs I
can reinstall, so it looks OK to me to upgrade. Couple more question, my
current C:\ partition on the first (120 gig) HDD is 7560 MB. Is that where
the new partition will go, and how's that size? Should I resize the C &
(adjacent) D partitions ahead of time? Will the remaining partitions all
remain FAT32 and theoretically keep their programs?


"Nictu" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Harry. The very first thing Iwould do is run the
> compatibility checker on the xp cd. This gives a report as
> to any hardware or driver problems you may encounter. If
> that goes ok I would copy over all your data to the 2nd
> HDD. Boot off the XP CD and you will get the chance to
> choose which partition to install to. Select to delete the
> C:. Then create a new partition and format with ntfs and
> away you go.
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Running WinME on 600 mHz machine, 384 MB of memory, have
> two HDDs, with 120
> >GB & 40 GB, each partitioned into 4 drives. Wife getting
> me XP for XMAS. I
> >have a ton of data/media files I want to keep and no
> backup option other
> >than onto a stack CDs. Would I probably be OK going the
> upgrade route, or
> >should I backup my junk and do a full install. If I do
> the full install,
> >will it reformat BOTH HDDs, or can I move my data files
> to the second HDD
> >and then bring them back after the install. Also, what
> will happen to my
> >partitions if I do the full install.
> >
> >TIA. Harry the veteran novice.
> >
> >
> >.
> >

[Rich]

Harry,
I agree. A clean install of xp will take less space
and your chances of future problems will be less.

You do realize that you will have to reinstall all of
your other software back on to your main drive and
then you can copy your settings and data files from
your slave drive back into those programs on your
main drive.

Also, to keep peace in the family don't do it
Christmas Eve. (been there)
Rich

On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 21:10:03 -0800, "Nictu"
> wrote:
>Hi Harry. The very first thing Iwould do is run the
>compatibility checker on the xp cd. This gives a report as
>to any hardware or driver problems you may encounter. If
>that goes ok I would copy over all your data to the 2nd
>HDD. Boot off the XP CD and you will get the chance to
>choose which partition to install to. Select to delete the
>C:. Then create a new partition and format with ntfs and
>away you go.
>>-----Original Message-----
>>Running WinME on 600 mHz machine, 384 MB of memory, have
>two HDDs, with 120
>>GB & 40 GB, each partitioned into 4 drives. Wife getting
>me XP for XMAS. I
>>have a ton of data/media files I want to keep and no
>backup option other
>>than onto a stack CDs. Would I probably be OK going the
>upgrade route, or
>>should I backup my junk and do a full install. If I do
>the full install,
>>will it reformat BOTH HDDs, or can I move my data files
>to the second HDD
>>and then bring them back after the install. Also, what
>will happen to my
>>partitions if I do the full install.
>>
>>TIA. Harry the veteran novice.
>>
>>
>>.
>>

[Harry Marnell]

LOL! OK, thanks. I guess I misunderstood Nictu to imply that the upgrade
would work OK. I can handle the full version if that's the better way to
go. I'm not clear if it will reformat the entire main drive or just the C:\
partition. I think I need to get a better handle on some of this terminology
;-) Have a great holiday folks.

Harry

"Rich" > wrote in message
...
> Harry,
> I agree. A clean install of xp will take less space
> and your chances of future problems will be less.
>
> You do realize that you will have to reinstall all of
> your other software back on to your main drive and
> then you can copy your settings and data files from
> your slave drive back into those programs on your
> main drive.
>
> Also, to keep peace in the family don't do it
> Christmas Eve. (been there)
> Rich