Techy pc/xp question

[mowgli]

Sorry folks, but I am quite a luddite when it comes to home computer upgrading, as I am frightened of cocking up & selling the wife to a nigerian brothel or something, so here is the techy question.

my pc already has a c: drive (with windows 98se) & a d: drive (that is pretty much empty) Can I load windows xp into the d: drive without ruining my old window 98se (in the c:drive) & then simply swap the files over to the new xp drive?

Also does anyone know of a cheap reliable place to get xp.

Please answer slowly because I might get lost.

[Ash]

Simply - yes. It's exactly what I did. But you need to know a few things first.

The operating system should be on the smaller drive or partition.

The programs install under the 98SE setup will not work with the new and you can't just drag the folders across (like on MAC) as the programs are written into the registry.

On boot-up it will give you the option of which operating system to use. There is a away to have it load straight though to one, but i've forgotten.

From my experiance it seems less stable and more confusing. Information gets filed in both drives, etc.

Personally I wouldn't do it again.


You can just install over the top of 98SE with XP, although depending on versions you may have trouble.

Best thing you can do is - Buy an external hard drive (very cheap now and extremly useful), transfer everything over. Format the C: and install XP nice and fresh. Then you can load your old document back on from the ex. HDD

[Welsh Dan]

You can grab XP here (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=487053) or here (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=136431). The OEM version won't do an upgrade from '98, the retail will do a fresh install or an upgrade.

With the price of hard drives as they are, you may aswell buy something like this (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=45901), load XP afresh onto that and be safe in the knowledge that you didn't wipe or break the windows '98 install.

Bear in mind that if you're thinking of buying XP Home Edition Retail version (?160), that you're halfway to buying a half-decent pc with XP Pro already on it. (we do some basic Hewlett Packard machines with XP on in work for ?300-460ish, we'd also transfer your data from the old PC for free).

If your PC abilities are as you describe, then dual-booting may be a bit beyond you if something goes wrong.

[Longun]

You also have to ask the question if the system is running windows 98se will it be able to handle XP?

Do you know the current spec?

Dell also do really good pc's these days and they start from around ?300. No offence to Xen0phobiak as hp pcs are a good as most others but the after sales support service from HP is beyond shocking ever there business support sucks.

[Welsh Dan]

We provide our own support at work(to the customers). I've always found Dell support to also be sucky, unless it involves a server.

[bump]

Mowgli, shame I'm not at Dodwells anymore. What's your time scale for the upgrade?

[Jack]

Why do you want to keep 98? (thats not meant as an insult, its a genuine question lol)

As said, you can install XP on the second drive Ok, files can be swapped over but as Ash pointed out programs can't. You'd need to reinstall them under XP.

Also, for best results, do a fresh install of XP on the second drive which means format it from FAT32 to NTFS. In my experience, XP gets very cranky if it tries to run on a FAT32 file system. You'll see how to do it when you install XP, there should be various options for formatting the hard drive.

Also consider hardware, XP eats more resources than 98. Although for a couple hundred or less you should be able to update your existing kit quite easily (and its much easier than you might think).

[mowgli]

The pc is fine, the previous one sort of had a house insurance claim, (kids spilt water on it & the motherboard went bang) & a local computer bloke built up a new tower but as we already had tons of stuff on 98se, the missus is definitely not computer friendly & we didn't want to upgrade at the time, he stuck 98se into the new one. He then dropped dead a few months ago.

My computer skills went out the window in 1986 when I had a conflict between BBC micro's & chasing girls round in my car. The girls & car won & I've never really caught up.

What I am trying to do is find a quicker way than manually saving every single thing & then put it all back in after loading xp.

[mowgli]

Mowgli, shame I'm not at Dodwells anymore. What's your time scale for the upgrade?

Its more of a tightscale, having just seen those prices for xp retail, I think it includes the air fare for Mr Gates to come & do it himself.

I was hoping someone had a decent CHEAP source for it.........:confused:

[Longun]

If you want CHEAP copy of XP drop me a PM ;)

[Courtnova16v]

Sent you a PM