Re: Partition question when reinstalling XP.

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"Westie" <ridewestieride@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:d928fg$8ip$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi guys.
>
> After a couple of years I've finally gotten XP to become a bit unstable
> when I use, amongst other things, the demanding Cubase audio program. I'm
> going to reinstall Windows from scratch so that I have a nice clean
> system. I've done formats (but not much partitioning) and installs of Win
> 95 and 98 in the past but I don't really understand how the newish idea of
> a system restore partition fits into the scheme of things.

Only OEM products come with a system restore partition, and it's usually in
FAT or FAT32 format instead of NTFS format. When you select it from bootup
the BIOS selects that partition to boot from, and the manufacture's
restoration utility usually will wipe the partition that XP or whatever is
on, reformat it, and reinstall things back the way they were when the
computer was manufactured. That might or might not go well if you've added
new hardware. But basically speaking, get a Maxtor or Western Digital HDD
and use the CD that comes with them in the *box* (not a bag!) they are sold
in to copy the entire HDD to another. The utility has good help stuff you
can read, and works good too.

> I've got two harddrives so I'll put all my important files and documents
> onto the second, non-boot drive while I reinstall windows - and backup
> essential information on disks.

Good idea.

> The computer is a Dell that came with the two partions on the C: drive.
> The smaller partion is the system restore partition, yeah?

Yes.

> The questions: I want to keep things simple for myself. I presume that I
> use the installation CD and choose to delete the larger windows partition
> on C:.

No. Use the CD that comes with the Maxtor or WD Hard Disk Drive to make a
copy of one HDD to another.

Will the setup process happily wipe Windows completely
> off my computer and reinstall a nice fresh copy? I don't want it to
> re-use anything and end up with same problems that I had before.

Yes you do. Dell probably has some propriatary drivers that you want to
keep. And if you are going to put XP on a OEM computer then you (1) *must*
get the upgrade from the OEM or (2) you *must* use ONLY XP-Pro full edition
and NOT the upgrade version of XP to "update" your computer. But before you
put XP on it, if it doesn't already have it, use this Microsoft utility:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/upgrading/advisor.mspx

> Do I need to do anything with the smaller system restore partition?

Yes, probably. All the custom rivers for propriatary hardware that the OEM
might have installed, such as specialized keyboards or mouse, monitor
adjusting software, and so on.

> I don't really understand what it does with regards to re-installing
> windows.

Maybe you'd be better off taking it to a professional computer repair
person, then.

> Thanks for shedding some light on the situation for me.
> --
> Westie

You're welcome.


.

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