Upgrade 98SE ---> XP Home -- FAT32 or NTFS during upgrade?

[John Blaustein]

Hi...

I find myself with an extra copy of XP Home, full version. I want to use
this CD to upgrade a PC running Windows 98SE.

QUESTIONS:

1) Will the FULL version allow an upgrade, or will it require a reformat of
the HD and a clean install? I'd rather not have to reformat and reinstall
all of my applications.

2) When doing an upgrade from 98SE to XP Home, will the installer allow me
to convert my HD to NTFS as part of the upgrade process? I'd prefer to use
NTFS.

3) My system has two HDs:

C: containing 98SE, all applications and all data
D: used to backup data from C: drive and other data storage

When upgrading to XP, I thought I'd first backup all data from C: to D:.
Then, I thought I'd disconnect D: from the PC and run the upgrade. Once XP
was up and running on C:, I figured I'd reconnect the D: drive. At that
point, C: would have NTFS and D: would still have FAT32. Will XP recognize
the D: drive that's still in FAT32 format? Once I reconnect D:, can I
convert it to NTFS? How?

Thanks for any help here.

John

 

[BuzzLightYear]

Answers Are as follows

1)The Answer is yes to both. YOu can do any upgrade or
install from scratch.

2)Yes you can.

3)Good Idea though probably not necessary Windows XP is
pretty easy to install. You will have to convert the
drive after the fact using the comand line in dos. just
type in help in the command prompt in xp.

Let me know if you have any more questions at
(e-mail address removed)

 

[John Blaustein]

Buzz,

Thanks for your quick reply!

Here's a little more detail...

My second HD is actually one drive partitioned into D: and E:. My thought
was to backup C: to D: before the XP upgrade to protect my data in case of
"upgrade hell."

1) If I leave the second drive in the PC when initiating the XP upgrade,
will the installer convert D: and E: (along with C to NTFS?

2) If I remove the second drive for the XP upgrade, am I correct that
post-upgrade, XP will recognize the second drive (D: & E even though it is
still using FAT32? Or, will I have to convert that second drive to NTFS
before XP on the C: drive will recognize it?

3) Will XP convert the second drive to NTFS with two partitions on it?

4) I've been under the impression that it is way safer (smarter?) to do a
reformat and a clean install of XP, rather than an upgrade. I ran the XP
Upgrade Advisor and it confirms my machine is "up for the task," but I'm
terrified I'll run into problems. You said XP is pretty easy to install, so
maybe my worries are not justified. My PC is PIII/1Ghz, 1GB RAM, so it
should run XP just fine. Any comments?

John

 

[John Blaustein]

One more question here... roughly how long will it take to upgrade to XP?
My C: drive is 120GB with about 30GB free space. Pentium III, IGhz, 1GB
RAM. Including the conversion from FAT32 to NTFS, is this something that
will take a couple of hours, or will it take all day?

Thanks!

John

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I find myself with an extra copy of XP Home, full version. I want to
use this CD to upgrade a PC running Windows 98SE.

QUESTIONS:

1) Will the FULL version allow an upgrade, or will it require a
reformat of the HD and a clean install? I'd rather not have to
reformat and reinstall all of my applications.

Yes, you can do an upgrade wit a Full version. However be sure
you have a Full version, and not an OEM vsersion, which many
people confuse with the full version. A regular OEM version can
*not* do an upgrade.

2) When doing an upgrade from 98SE to XP Home, will the installer
allow me to convert my HD to NTFS as part of the upgrade process?
I'd prefer to use NTFS.

Yes, it will. However there's a potential performance issue to be
aware of. Read http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm first.

 

[John Blaustein]

Ken,

Thank you.

Yes, you can do an upgrade wit a Full version. However be sure
you have a Full version, and not an OEM vsersion, which many
people confuse with the full version. A regular OEM version can
*not* do an upgrade.

I'm OK here. I have a full version, not OEM.

Yes, it will. However there's a potential performance issue to be
aware of. Read http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/ntfscvt.htm first.

I read the page in the link.

Are you suggesting I'd be better off upgrading to XP and keeping FAT32 until
after the upgrade? Then, once the upgrade is complete, run BootitNG to
rearrange the HD and THEN convert to NTFS from within XP. It sounds like
this is preferable to simply letting the XP installer do the FAT32>NTFS
conversion during the upgrade? I gather I can't run BooitNG while Win98SE
is still installed and then let the XP installer convert to NTFS.

The XP home Product Key I'm going to use was used once on my son's computer.
He had to have XP Pro, so this XP Home Product Key is "out of service" for
right now. Do you know how I let Microsoft know I'm moving the Product Key
to a new PC? I've searched the MS website and couldn't find that info.

Thanks again!

John

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Thank you.

You're welcome, John. By the way, your name is familar. Did we
know each other from another newsgroup?

I'm OK here. I have a full version, not OEM.

Good.



I read the page in the link.

Are you suggesting I'd be better off upgrading to XP and keeping
FAT32 until after the upgrade? Then, once the upgrade is complete,
run BootitNG to rearrange the HD and THEN convert to NTFS from within
XP. It sounds like this is preferable to simply letting the XP
installer do the FAT32>NTFS conversion during the upgrade? I gather
I can't run BooitNG while Win98SE is still installed and then let the
XP installer convert to NTFS.

I'm going to refrain from answering that and let Alex Nichol, who
wrote the article, answer you; he can give you a better answer
than I can. Alex hangs out here in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, but he's away on vacation at
the moment. He should be back in a few days, so why don't you
repost this around the end of the week.

The XP home Product Key I'm going to use was used once on my son's
computer. He had to have XP Pro, so this XP Home Product Key is "out
of service" for right now. Do you know how I let Microsoft know I'm
moving the Product Key to a new PC? I've searched the MS website and
couldn't find that info.

Assuming it's gone from his computer, all you need to do is
install it on yours and activate it. If it's been over 120 days
since your son activated it, activation will proceed on the
internet just as it did the first time. If it's been fewer than
120 days, you'll be prompted to make a voice call to an 800
number. That's almost as quick and easy; just explain that your
son has taken it off his machine and you've installed it on
yours. They'll give you a number to enter at your keyboard.

 

[John Blaustein]

Ken,

See replies below... John

You're welcome, John. By the way, your name is familar. Did we
know each other from another newsgroup?

Yes, come to think of it... your name is familiar too. Must be the Quicken
NG. Now there's a shark tank to jump into!

I'm going to refrain from answering that and let Alex Nichol, who
wrote the article, answer you; he can give you a better answer
than I can. Alex hangs out here in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, but he's away on vacation at
the moment. He should be back in a few days, so why don't you
repost this around the end of the week.

OK. It will be that long before I get everything backed up and remove the
stuff from my machine that the XP Advisor said may present a problem.

Assuming it's gone from his computer, all you need to do is
install it on yours and activate it. If it's been over 120 days
since your son activated it, activation will proceed on the
internet just as it did the first time. If it's been fewer than
120 days, you'll be prompted to make a voice call to an 800
number. That's almost as quick and easy; just explain that your
son has taken it off his machine and you've installed it on
yours. They'll give you a number to enter at your keyboard.

Great news! It's been way more than 120 days. I looked high and low on the
MS website and couldn't find this simple answer anywhere. I'm sure it's
there, I just couldn't find it. I tried to use the MS web e-mail support
site but after I logged on (using my Passport) and worked through the menus,
it asked for the product ID. I tried to use the Product Key, but that
didn't work. Then, I e-mailed the helpdesk for the support site, explained
my issue, and got a return e-mail with the Activation phone number. It's
all automated, so I still didn't get the answer... until your reply.

So... thanks again!

John

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Ken,

See replies below... John



Yes, come to think of it... your name is familiar too. Must be the
Quicken NG. Now there's a shark tank to jump into!

Yes, that's where it is. I mostly lurk there, but I post now and
then.

OK. It will be that long before I get everything backed up and
remove the stuff from my machine that the XP Advisor said may present
a problem.


Great news! It's been way more than 120 days. I looked high and low
on the MS website and couldn't find this simple answer anywhere. I'm
sure it's there, I just couldn't find it. I tried to use the MS web
e-mail support site but after I logged on (using my Passport) and
worked through the menus, it asked for the product ID. I tried to
use the Product Key, but that didn't work. Then, I e-mailed the
helpdesk for the support site, explained my issue, and got a return
e-mail with the Activation phone number. It's all automated, so I
still didn't get the answer... until your reply.

So... thanks again!

You're welcome. Always glad to help.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

The XP home Product Key I'm going to use was used
once on my son's computer. He had to have XP Pro,
so this XP Home Product Key is "out of service" for
right now. Do you know how I let Microsoft know I'm
moving the Product Key to a new PC? I've searched
the MS website and couldn't find that info.

Ken is restrained by his relationship with MS from
telling you that MS has no way of knowing whether
WinXP Pro has been removed from the other PC.
That's why it's not on MS's website.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Ken is restrained by his relationship with MS from
telling you that MS has no way of knowing whether
WinXP Pro has been removed from the other PC.
That's why it's not on MS's website.

I'm not restrained at all. What you say is true. Much of the way
Windows Product Activation works is based on trust; many people
may be willing install a single copy on two machines if they
doesn't have to tell anyone they did it, but are not willing to
tell a direct lie, and say they've removed it when they haven't.

Clearly, there are also those who are willing to lie. Windows
Product Activation isn't perfect; it decreases piracy, but
doesn't eliminate it.