Thread: Time to take the plunge, fresh XP install....but....

I think it's finally time to do a fresh install of XP.

We've had this copy running since we bought the computer....almost 2 years ago

BUT it is far from optimal. I tried doing a XP SP3 install and it had an error! (Though I did not DL the entire file like Zap suggested, did the win update route).



Besides, I am one of those that thinks a new install of an OS runs 18-22% faster!

I have the core programs I want to install and all that but what I don't have is like 24 consecutive hours to be able to do it all @ once!

What I was thinking about doing is a dual boot. That way I can build the new OS in my leisure time....and really see how much faster it is!

Thoughts?

Good idea/bad idea?

I wold prefer the clean install myself. Grin and bear it and just get it over with, dude.

With a dual boot system on the same partition, you'll be sharing files between the two installs (Program Files folder). That negates the reason for the whole reinstall.

If you want to have both operating system installs at your disposal, get another hard drive and install fresh on it. Hard drives are dirt cheap these days. You can start working on the new drive and just switch back to the old one when you need it.


Also: For a really clean install. Check out a free program called nlite. You can slipstream SP3 right into your install CD and create a new install CD with SP3 as part of it. So, when you install your new XP system, SP3 will already be there!

Originally Posted by Zap

I wold prefer the clean install myself. Grin and bear it and just get it over with, dude.

With a dual boot system on the same partition, you'll be sharing files between the two installs (Program Files folder). That negates the reason for the whole reinstall.

If you want to have both operating system installs at your disposal, get another hard drive and install fresh on it. Hard drives are dirt cheap these days. You can start working on the new drive and just switch back to the old one when you need it.


Also: For a really clean install. Check out a free program called nlite. You can slipstream SP3 right into your install CD and create a new install CD with SP3 as part of it. So, when you install your new XP system, SP3 will already be there!

NO! You take it (the plunge)

I already created a new partition on the same disk....yeah, I'd never do it on the same.

Would that be ok you think?

I know new ones are dirt but this one is quite new and the 10K variety!



I'll def have to scope the nlite though! Thanks!

New partition = much better idea.

Only thing about that is "repairing" the drive when you're done with the old partition and wanting to merge the old into the new.

Originally Posted by Zap

New partition = much better idea.

Only thing about that is "repairing" the drive when you're done with the old partition and wanting to merge the old into the new.

right, that was the plan...to do away with the other...but would that be a PITA?

one is the primary parition, the new one is a logical...MBR's and all that jazz...

timsdd added 1 Minutes and 56 Seconds later...

Would this be easier?
what if instead I created the new OS on a spare USB drive and then clone it onto the main PC HDD?

Provided of course I can boot from the usb drive! never tried that.

Booting directly from a USB drive depends entirely on your motherboard and whether or not it supports it.
What about removing the hard drive from the external case and putting it into the chassis?

Originally Posted by Zap

Booting directly from a USB drive depends entirely on your motherboard and whether or not it supports it.
What about removing the hard drive from the external case and putting it into the chassis?

I am 98% certain that it allows such operations.

Would that be easier to deal with than the dual boot on sep partitions? I mean if I blew away the original partition after getting the new one up to speed, would the drive even boot? Or do I have to massage the logical vs. primary.

I thought this was going to be simple

I suppose I could do the swap physically...actually I might have an old drive I could use instead for just such a thing.

so far so good. DL'd a sweet free partition manager and went to town.

got everything installed and most all settings and docs moved over and SO FAR no blue screens!

I had ben getting about 5 of them last week :evil: "kernel stack inpage error"

oh, of course :evil:

new OtotheS moves and shakes out fine so far :love:

Cool. Don't forget to edit the boot.ini file if you're going to be moving partitions around.