Installing Windows XP over ME

[Hen]

Hi,
My pc has got no CD brander, has got only one C:\ drive. All document files
and photo's are on the C:\.drive.
PC is running under Windows ME. 128 MB RAM with 15 Gig. available space on
C:\
Is it possible to install Windows XP Pro on the C:\ drive, wiping ME away
and still retain all the files on C:\ without making a back up? (I can not
save all the files on CD, no brander, files are about 5 Gigs. don't have any
idea how to do it). Would be appreciated with any help and suggestion from
any one.

 

[SlowJet]

Hen,

If you get an OEM version of XP Home and a new disk (for a few dollars more
than a retail of HOME)
You can install Xp on the new disk, install your programs, update to Sp2.
(You can do this any way you like, XP, SP1, Sp2, then programs. Or XP, Sp1,
programs, Sp2. Which ever way works best for you and you p/c.

Then just add the old disk as a slave drive. You have your data and settings
for your programs. Over time, rearrange the data to the new drive and then
reformat the old driver as NTFS. Afterwards you can move your dtat back to
the slave, and backup to a folder there, store drivers and program package
installs and updates, etc.

Now when you computer system / boot disk goes weird you can worst case
reinstall and not loose anything except some time. That could be several
hours of installing and rebooting, but is much more straight forward than
trying to repair and debug.
Note: If you can get an OEM XP with SP2 you will be way ahead when something
about SP2 does break coz you can do a repair from the XP CD.
An XP CD even with SP1 on it can not repair error within SP2 files. The
files don't exsit on the CD.

And finally, the update in place will still be FAT32 and even if you convert
to NTFS it will be 512B cluster rather than 4K, plus you MFT will be all
weird. This will slow down you disk perfomace noticably.

That's what I would do,

SJ

 

[SlowJet]

Opps, ... Make that XP Pro then

SJ

Hen,

If you get an OEM version of XP Home and a new disk (for a few dollars
more than a retail of HOME)
You can install Xp on the new disk, install your programs, update to Sp2.
(You can do this any way you like, XP, SP1, Sp2, then programs. Or XP,
Sp1, programs, Sp2. Which ever way works best for you and you p/c.

Then just add the old disk as a slave drive. You have your data and
settings for your programs. Over time, rearrange the data to the new drive
and then reformat the old driver as NTFS. Afterwards you can move your
dtat back to the slave, and backup to a folder there, store drivers and
program package installs and updates, etc.

Now when you computer system / boot disk goes weird you can worst case
reinstall and not loose anything except some time. That could be several
hours of installing and rebooting, but is much more straight forward than
trying to repair and debug.
Note: If you can get an OEM XP with SP2 you will be way ahead when
something about SP2 does break coz you can do a repair from the XP CD.
An XP CD even with SP1 on it can not repair error within SP2 files. The
files don't exsit on the CD.

And finally, the update in place will still be FAT32 and even if you
convert to NTFS it will be 512B cluster rather than 4K, plus you MFT will
be all weird. This will slow down you disk perfomace noticably.

That's what I would do,

SJ

 

[Michael Stevens]

Hen,

If you get an OEM version of XP Home and a new disk (for a few dollars
more than a retail of HOME)
You can install Xp on the new disk, install your programs, update to Sp2.
(You can do this any way you like, XP, SP1, Sp2, then programs. Or XP,
Sp1, programs, Sp2. Which ever way works best for you and you p/c.

It is not necessary to have SP1 installed to install SP2.
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Alex Nichol]

My pc has got no CD brander, has got only one C:\ drive. All document files
and photo's are on the C:\.drive.
PC is running under Windows ME. 128 MB RAM with 15 Gig. available space on
C:\
Is it possible to install Windows XP Pro on the C:\ drive, wiping ME away
and still retain all the files on C:\ without making a back up?

You can run an Upgrade XP Pro CD (or a Full one, but no point in paying
more), *from* the ME, enter Install, continue with Upgrade. Read up
first at Gary Woodruff`s article on upgrading to XP at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

BUT I would NOT do it on only 128 MB RAM which is not enough for
anything like proper performance for more than basic word
processing/email on a single program at any time

 

[Hen]

Hen wrote:

Thanks Alex.