Is it possible to get rid of Vista Beta 2, and re-install XP?

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Guest

I was running XP Pro SP2. Installed Vista Beta 2 as an upgrade. Vista Beta
"sucks", and I want to go back to XP until the final release of Vista is
ready. Is there a way to get rid of Vista and re-install XP without loosing
all of my installed programs?

I did a full back up of my computer using the Windows Backup program, to a
USB hard drive. I disconnected the hardrive before installing Vista.

I know that I did a dumb thing by not installing a dual boot, but the
non-upgrade method seemed to contain a warning that Iwould loose all of my
data.

Thanks for help...
 
One more question on this topic. I have two physical hard drives in my PC. Is
it possible to install XP on the second drive, then force the PC to boot from
the second drive using BIOS settings? This might sound crazy, but I don't
trust the Windows Backup application that comes with XP.
 
Yes, that also is possible, but a little clumsy. Why not look into a
freeware boot manager?
 
I use Norton BootMagic, that comes as a part of Norton PartitionMagic (if
you purchase the CD and don't download it) which costs about $70.00 USD. I
have no recommendation for a freeware alternative, but if you look through
the news group you will see a few different ones mentioned.
 
shel10 said:
Thank you... any recommendations for the boot manager?
Click to expand...

Ranish Partition Manager (www.ranish.com) is free, and will get the job
done, but the boot menu is lacking in functionality. There is a more
flexible derivative of it to be found at www.echirag.com (but I have not
tried it).

I really recommend BootIt NG (www.terabyteunlimited.com). It is not
free, but it is cheaper than PartitionMagic and other major offerings.

David Wilkinson
 
Thanks for all the help. I'll post the details of my success, or failure when
I've tried the recommendations.
 
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