Fat 32

[Werner Ganz]

Trying to get my courage up to install XP Pro. Right now I am running on Me
with my C drive -40gb and my internal Maxtor D drive also 40 gb. I also have
an external USB Iomga 80gb. So I read the installation manual and it says
don't use Fat 32 if your drive is over 32gb. What to do, with C drive 40gb,
D Drive 40 gb and external 80gb. I don't have a clue

 

[Tom]

Do a clean install of XP on your C: drive.

Copy all your stuff you want to keep to the D: drive then UNPLUG it. Leave
USB drive unplugged too.

Update BIOS if new available.

FDISK the C: drive and delete the partition.

Boot the XP CD and install. Partition/Format NTFS.

Install all chipset drivers and device drivers.

Run Windows Update.

When done, reattach the D: drive.

Go into computer management and shuffle drive letters to make the second HD
D: again (it is probably either E: or unmounted now) And the CD drive to E:.

Copy the i386 directory from CD to D: hard drive. This way you will not need
to use the XP CD to do any config changes or updates because the system will
look for it on D: because that was where it was when installing from the CD
that WAS D: at that time.

Add all apps except virus scan. (this should be the very last thing
installed)

 

[Lorne Smith]

Uplugging the other drives is not necessary....

Using FDisk to delete the FAT32 partition on drive C is not necessary, all
the tools needed to repartition the drive are included on the XP CD and will
be run when you run the setup. From there you can partition the drives
accordingly.

You should only EVER update the BIOS if you experience a specific fault
which the BIOS update fixes. Just doing this willy nilly can often cause
far MORE problems...

What you should do though is backup any important data before you start...
It probably IS a good idea to disconnect the USB drive, but certainly not
essential....

I have 7 IDE devices connected to my PC and I never disconnect them if I
reinstall XP. All you need to is make sure you select the correct drive to
partition and install to (drive 0).

Lorne

 

[SailSpray]

Seems to me you are wrong Lorne, Werner will end up with aspects of my
problem- see "please help URGENT" from SailSpray, any advice welcome
Roger

 

[Lorne Smith]

Your problem is not related. You issue it caused because you are trying to
boot from a drive which does not have the boot information on it, this was
on your old C drive. Joseph has suggested a method which should work so try
his suggestion.

There should be no problems when initially installing windows with the
number of connected drives. In fact, if you disconnect some HD's but leave
and CD devices connected, then when you reconnect the HD's, you have to mess
around with drive letter assignments which is totally unneccesary. Like I
said, I've have 7 IDE devices and never disconnect any of them when
reinstalling Windows, and have never had any problems in the 15+ years I've
been using computers...

It's far better to guide a novice through the correct procedure than to
suggest they start unplugging hardware. A novice could cause even more
damage that way... (I'm not saying they would, merely that they could as
they don't know what they are doing)

Lorne