Reloaded XP Updates Slow

[SueL]

I had to reload Windows XP Pro and it showed the updates
were 41 files 43mb including Service Pack 1 Express. The
unpacking of the files were taking hours and then got
interrupted and I'm faced with doing the whole scenario
over again. Should it be taking about half an hour to
download the files and another 8-10 hours to unpack
them? This is a fairly new computer with a cable
internet connection.

 

[MrB]

I did 2 laptops needing 40 critical updates each and a service pack each and
the whole process took about 2 hours on a cable connection.

 

[SueL]

Well after about 3 hours of unpacking it still had over
900 files to unpack out of 1173 originally. Wonder why
it's so slow. Should I defrag the hard disk first?

 

[Alex Nichol]

Well after about 3 hours of unpacking it still had over
900 files to unpack out of 1173 originally. Wonder why
it's so slow. Should I defrag the hard disk first?

SP1 express method, that you are using, starts by downloading a fairly
small stub to analyse the machine, and then downloads the files it finds
to be needed. These *may* be only 30MB, but may also be 100 MB,
depending on the state of the machine. And it has a downside that it
may not get things that would turn out to be needed later (eg if you
later install a USB 2.0 card it will not have got the drivers that
needs). So I think there is a lot to be said for spending $10 on a CD
of SP1 complete - at
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/pro/downloads/servicepacks/sp1/default.asp
order form is at the bottom of the page