New install or upgrade...

[Guest]

I am currently running Windows 2000 Pro, and have just bought the upgrade for
Windows XP Pro. My machine has three hard drives, one IDE (C and two SCSI
(D: and E.

I have read about the advantages of doing a clean install, but I am daunted
by the business of backing up everything and reinstalling all the software.
My question is: if I do a new install will it reformat all my hard drives or
just drive C: which is the boot drive? (I ask this because D and E together
have about 130GB of data on them and that is a hell of a lot to backup.)

simonc

 

[Guest]

I have a feeling if Windows is on drive C: then a clean install will only
wipe the drive windows is on. I have reformatted in past and windows never
touched the other drives... i could be wrong but pretty certain of this, get
second counsel just in case... but if windows is on drive cd you can choose
what drive to touch and it should touch the others at all.

Clean install is far better than just an upgrade so try that if you can!

 

[T. Waters]

If you don't delete D and E, they will be left the same.
XP clean-installs on only the one drive or partition selected by you.

 

[t.cruise]

If you upgrade Windows on drive C:, data files on drives D: and E: should be OK. But,
from experience upgrading many systems, although time consuming, I believe that a clean
install is preferable. I am a power user, with much software. I knew when I upgraded my
old system with a clean install that it would take a couple of days of installing and
configuring MANY programs. I had tried quick upgrades on clients' systems, and was not
satisfied with the results. If you've been using your previous version of Windows for a
while, it is probable that the registry is carrying baggage that you will not want to take
with you when you upgrade.
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply

In memory of my mentor Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I am currently running Windows 2000 Pro, and have just bought
the
upgrade for Windows XP Pro. My machine has three hard drives,
one
IDE (C and two SCSI (D: and E.

I have read about the advantages of doing a clean install, but
I am
daunted by the business of backing up everything and
reinstalling all
the software.

Although many people will tell you that formatting and installing
cleanly is the best way to go, I disagree. Unlike with previous
versions of Windows, an upgrade to XP replaces almost everything,
and usually works very well.



My recommendation is to at least try the upgrade, since it's much
easier than a clean installation. You can always change your mind
and reinstall cleanly if problems develop.

My question is: if I do a new install will it reformat
all my hard drives or just drive C: which is the boot drive?

It will format whatever you tell it too. If you tell it to format
just C:, that's all it will do.

(I ask
this because D and E together have about 130GB of data on them
and
that is a hell of a lot to backup.)

I assume from that that you you don't backup your D: and E:
drives regularly. You're playing with fire. You can eaily lose
the entire contents of D and E: and at any time.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I am currently running Windows 2000 Pro, and have just bought the upgrade for
Windows XP Pro. My machine has three hard drives, one IDE (C and two SCSI
(D: and E.

I have read about the advantages of doing a clean install, but I am daunted
by the business of backing up everything and reinstalling all the software.

What "advantages?"

Some people will recommend that you perform a clean installation,
rather than upgrade over an earlier OS. For the most part, I feel that
these people, while well-meaning, are living in the past, and are basing
their recommendation on their experiences with older operating systems.
You'd probably save a lot of time by upgrading your PC to WinXP,
rather than performing a clean installation, if you've no hardware or
software incompatibilities. Microsoft has greatly improved (over earlier
versions of Windows) WinXP's ability to smoothly upgrade an earlier OS.

WinXP is designed to install and upgrade the existing operating
system while simultaneously preserving your applications and data, and
translating as many personalized settings as possible. The process is
designed to be, and normally is, quite painless. That said, things can
go wrong, in a small number of cases. If your data is at all important
to you, back it up before proceeding. And if, for some reason, the
upgrade doesn't pan out, you can always perform a clean installation later.

Have you made sure that your PC's hardware components are capable
of supporting WinXP? This information will be found at the PC's
manufacturer's web site, and on Microsoft's Windows Catalog:
(http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx) Additionally, run
Microsoft WinXP Upgrade Advisor to see if you have any incompatible
hardware components or applications.

My question is: if I do a new install will it reformat all my hard drives or
just drive C: which is the boot drive? (I ask this because D and E together
have about 130GB of data on them and that is a hell of a lot to backup.)

If you elected to perform a clean installation, you would need to
format only the system partition, leaving the content of the other
drives/partitions intact.



--

Bruce Chambers

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You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[HeeroYuy]

To protect D & E - unplug the power to the drives.

Upgrade or Clean install - Upgrade. If it gets screwed, then the "clean"
option. If the "upgrade" works, you're golden.

I don't unplug my D: drive and everything is spiffy. The ONLY reason you may
feel the need to unplug your other HDD's is if you are compulsively deleting
the partition on, or reformatting, the wrong drive. Simply put, if you tell
it to format C:, it will only format C:.

 

[HeyBub]

I am currently running Windows 2000 Pro, and have just bought the
upgrade for Windows XP Pro. My machine has three hard drives, one
IDE (C and two SCSI (D: and E.

I have read about the advantages of doing a clean install, but I am
daunted by the business of backing up everything and reinstalling all
the software. My question is: if I do a new install will it reformat
all my hard drives or just drive C: which is the boot drive? (I ask
this because D and E together have about 130GB of data on them and
that is a hell of a lot to backup.)

simonc

To protect D & E - unplug the power to the drives.

Upgrade or Clean install - Upgrade. If it gets screwed, then the "clean"
option. If the "upgrade" works, you're golden.