upgrading to xp home

[ButchX]

as you can see in my profile i'm still running with win98 se.. 98 has done everything i asked of it, from backing up my dvd's, capturing from my betamax and vhs tapes..i have no problems with firewire and any conversion i attempt..the one downside is the Fat32 limitation when i'm downloading from my digital camera..however, i feel like i'm falling behind by not upgrading to XP..Question, can i install xp home on my current machine or do i have to start anew..a salesman at Staples told me i could install xp home over my existing os..i would like to keep what i got and switch to xp..any input would be appreciated..if i have to renew, any suggestions what to look for?..

[aedipuss]

i've done it both ways. upgrade and clean install. xp uses different drivers and not all old programs will work anyway so by far the best solution is to start over clean. your comp specs look up to xp specs so there shouldn't be any problems. make sure to d/l all needed drivers and put them on a cd just in case before proceeding. backup my docs and email files also. get a version with xp sp2 to use, and it will prevent some pain.

you're not only falling behind, you're not getting any protection from newer exploits since nothing below xp sp2 is supported with updates anymore.

[redwudz]

I would recommend a clean install of XP also. Even if you were upgrading, you would want to back up your files. You might as well go all the way and have less problems by starting fresh. I usually repartition and reformat to NTFS to start.

Don't forget to also back up your 'favorites' in Explorer or whatever you use.

[AlanHK]

If you start an XP install you'll have an option to dual boot. You can edit the options at any time to default to one or the other OS. Hopefully after a while you'll have everything working in XP and you can then reinstall again and wipe the Win98.

Of course, this is more time consuming than crossing your fingers and jumping to XP, but gives you security. Also, after using XP for a while and installing and uninstalling a load of things you'll have accumulated a load of crap and with that experience a restart in a couple of months will give you a nicer install.

An excellent site for all issues involved with installing Windows, especially customising your install, slipstreaming service packs, etc, is MSFN.

[Bjs]

As alanhk mentioned "dual boot" ...

Depend on the drive space available ... 300gig ...

Use the patitioning tool from the manufacturer of your hard drive , and create around a 40gig fat32 partition first for win98 , then the rest can be ntfs .

However most users dont dig deep enough into software as many software and game producers do list possible issue's under ntfs , as they were designed with fat32 in mind ... such as ifoedit's ability to playback dvd always crash's under xp ... not under win98 .

Install win98 , and drivers for system .

Then after that's been sorted , run the xp install , and tell it to install on the ntfs partition ... this is the correct method for dual boot system .

This way you have the best of both worlds ... the only issue will be hardware used under xp that may be connected to the pc that win98 driver's are not available for ... they shouldnt pose a problem , just they'll be disabled under win98 ... such as usb2 device's .

Atleast you'll still have access to programs that work for you under win98 that you are familiar with... as well as most older games ... as xp can choke on older program's no mater what you try ... esspecially many game's .

[bevills1]

There's 1 catch to Bjs suggestion which is that Win98 doesn't recognize NTFS partitions, and WinXP would have to be installed on FAT32 partition if there'll be anything on that partition desired to be accessible from Win98. I have dual boot Win98 and Win2k each on FAT32 partitions for that same reason.

[ButchX]

thanks guys for the input..i'm gonna purchase "Home" after the holidays and give it a shot..i failed to mention my 300 gigs is spread on 3 harddrives so my system is backed up on a separate harddrive..thanks again

[bevills1]

FYI check http://www.bensbargains.net/ for 12/14 to find Office Depot has Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade version for just $30 after rebate. Note purchase need be made by 12/18 to qualify for rebate, and original Windows disk is required for Upgrade versions.

[bevills1]

Just checked to learn it shows "Expired" on page 9 of 12/13 to 12/14 archives at http://www.bensbargains.net/ for $30 after rebate offer, but the rebate form states for purchases made between 12/14 to 12/18 which is not expired. The http://www.bensbargains.net/ site sometimes have errors like this, but they're usually against the consumer instead of in consumer's favor like this one.

[grossjamesh]

I think your system needs at least 512 Meg of RAM for XP to run well. Otherwise run the compatability wizard to make sure your HW is compatible. Also you will need SP2 and the latest security patches.

[bevills1]

The grossjamesh suggestions are advisable, and the Office Depot WinXP Upgrade edition includes SP2 which saves the bother of download and install SP2.

[yoda313]

I think your system needs at least 512 Meg of RAM for XP to run well. Otherwise run the compatability wizard to make sure your HW is compatible. Also you will need SP2 and the latest security patches.

I think 512 is for a "comfortable" experience - I have 512 and xp sp2 and can do multimedia no sweat. I believe the true minimum for XP is 256. I have seen tons of low priced comptuers on sale in the weekend ads with only 256 ram - they all had xp. FYI. But MORE RAM THE MERRIER I always say