Install XP on second physical drive

[miskairal]

Hello there,
I haven't visited this group for about 6 months because I've had no
problems with my one year old pc with XP home installed.

During that year I have installed (and uninstalled) heaps of software
and I have files all over the place and it's all becoming a big mess

I have 2 physical hard drives. Each hard drive has one Primary partition
and one extended partition. I have left the Primary partition on the 2nd
hard drive unused, although it has been formatted.

Can I install XP onto this partition without running into problems? I'd
like to install XP BEFORE I format the 1st hard drive's Primary
partition (OR something bad happens) and will probably make the 1st hard
drive into the 2nd hard drive. In other words, I'd like to make sure I
have a working installation of XP before getting rid of the current XP
installation (it's not like I do this every day - scary). Will I end up
with a dual boot system with options on start up (not what I want)?

Thanks for your time
Robyn

 

[Jerry]

If you try to install XP a second time, on the same system, to a different
drive you will end up with a dual-boot configuration. I don't think there is
any way around it.

 

[miskairal]

If you try to install XP a second time, on the same system, to a different
drive you will end up with a dual-boot configuration. I don't think there is
any way around it.
Thankyou!
Robyn

 

[miskairal]

OK, another idea...
What if I physically remove/unplug the first hard drive then install XP
on the 2nd drive which will now be the first (and only) drive AND THEN
physically install the removed drive as slave? Will I be able to access
all my junk (settings etc. that are on the current drive c?) I do
regular backups but don't trust that I will have remembered to backup
EVERYTHING.

Wouldn't it be nice if Microsoft etc. created a standard folder (like My
Photos or My Documents) called Backup and all software developers used
this folder to put data that requires backing up?

Thanks again
Robyn

 

[Thomas Wendell]

Removing the old drive,etc.., install all drivers and upgrades..,boot at
least once when system is ready, then reinstall old drive as slave is (IMO)
the best way..

To get at all your stuff on the old drive might necessitate "Taking
ownership of folders", because your security ID changes with the new install
(presuming NTFS as file system)



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Tumppi
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