Problem getting a clean install while removing other installations

First off, let me define my two HDs: Main drive is what came with my PC, and
what I want to be my "C" drive, Storage drive is my 200gb drive for, well,
storage...

OK, I regularly do a format/reinstall. On my last one, the installation did
go to my main drive, but the drive letters got screwed around, and my main
drive became "G", and my two partitions on the storage drive became "C" and
"D".

So, I popped in my XP CD, booted from it, hoping the installation would
simply over write the old one. When it was done and rebooted, I got the Dual
OS boot menu... great. If I log into the new one, it got installed onto one
of the storage partitions... great.

So I boot from the CD again to run a repair (for no reason really). When the
repair was done, it rebooted, still got dual os menu, but now I cannot logon
to any of the two installations... great.

Booted from the CD once more, and got a third installation running... Short
from just saving files from the dtorage drives to DVD's and then formatting,
how can I remove all 3 installations, get one installation onto the main
drive, all while getting my drive letters corrected...?

Disconnect the extra drive then clean install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
There are other ways but disconnecting is simplest/fullproof

Why on earth are you 'I regularly do a format/reinstall' ??

"Fermunky" <Fermunky@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:945255EE-A9CD-4BD7-BBCE-938FC6EFD84D@microsoft.com...
> First off, let me define my two HDs: Main drive is what came with my PC,
and
> what I want to be my "C" drive, Storage drive is my 200gb drive for, well,
> storage...
>
> OK, I regularly do a format/reinstall. On my last one, the installation
did
> go to my main drive, but the drive letters got screwed around, and my main
> drive became "G", and my two partitions on the storage drive became "C"
and
> "D".
>
> So, I popped in my XP CD, booted from it, hoping the installation would
> simply over write the old one. When it was done and rebooted, I got the
Dual
> OS boot menu... great. If I log into the new one, it got installed onto
one
> of the storage partitions... great.
>
> So I boot from the CD again to run a repair (for no reason really). When
the
> repair was done, it rebooted, still got dual os menu, but now I cannot
logon
> to any of the two installations... great.
>
> Booted from the CD once more, and got a third installation running...
Short
> from just saving files from the dtorage drives to DVD's and then
formatting,
> how can I remove all 3 installations, get one installation onto the main
> drive, all while getting my drive letters corrected...?

I do it regularly just to keep the system clean. By regularly, I mean maybe
once or twice a year. In regards to your answer... am I able to simply delete
the Windows folders created on my storage drive to remove those
installations? Will "remains" of it be left?

"DL" wrote:

> Disconnect the extra drive then clean install
> http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
> There are other ways but disconnecting is simplest/fullproof
>
> Why on earth are you 'I regularly do a format/reinstall' ??

If by storage drive you are referring to the non o/s drive simply delete the
folders, you may have some files left in the root that you should be able to
identify

Assuming you aren't constantly installing trial apps, and those given away
in mags, and have appropriate AV and malaware scanning apps there should'nt
be any neccessity to format/install to keep your sys clean. That process is
a bit of a throwback to win9* days.

"Fermunky" <Fermunky@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5E04FB84-8460-4163-A37C-0F4F63F06606@microsoft.com...
> I do it regularly just to keep the system clean. By regularly, I mean
maybe
> once or twice a year. In regards to your answer... am I able to simply
delete
> the Windows folders created on my storage drive to remove those
> installations? Will "remains" of it be left?
>
> "DL" wrote:
>
> > Disconnect the extra drive then clean install
> > http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
> > There are other ways but disconnecting is simplest/fullproof
> >
> > Why on earth are you 'I regularly do a format/reinstall' ??

This is true, I have been meaning to do this once and make an image once I
have my apps installed. But unfortunately, I do have other users of this
computer which, quite frankly, are not the best at keeping the PC "clean",
and the PC needs some upgrading to be able to handle any decent spyware, AV
apps etc...

So here's what I plan to do today, let me know if this is fine... unplug my
storage drive (see my original post for definitions of my drives), blast the
main drive (OS drive) and install a clean WinXP setup, reconnect the storage
drive, and delete the Windows system folders created by previous
installations... this should work right? Any other tools recommended to find
a wipe not-needed system files that may be on my storage drive?

"DL" wrote:

> If by storage drive you are referring to the non o/s drive simply delete the
> folders, you may have some files left in the root that you should be able to
> identify
>
> Assuming you aren't constantly installing trial apps, and those given away
> in mags, and have appropriate AV and malaware scanning apps there should'nt
> be any neccessity to format/install to keep your sys clean. That process is
> a bit of a throwback to win9* days.