Reformat, fresh start?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim Scott Mathews
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T

Tim Scott Mathews

I'll almost certainly want to move to Vista when it arrives on the shelves
in late January. I had thought as it's a totally new OS during in stall it
would "want" to reformat my hard drive but I see so much about both dual
boot and upgrading that I'm not sure of what to expect and plan for. Will I
be given some options during install as to how I wish to procede regarding
any and everthing already on my system?

If everthing currently installed can remain and the installation is more
like an upgrade, is this one of those things one can do but often causes
major headaches? I'd much prefer to reformat and reinstall any programs I
use than have headaches with endless tweaking if I choose to "upgrade"
rather than complete reformat/install.

Thoughts, anyone?

Thanks
Tim
 
I'll almost certainly want to move to Vista when it arrives on the shelves
in late January. I had thought as it's a totally new OS during in stall
it would "want" to reformat my hard drive but I see so much about both
dual boot and upgrading that I'm not sure of what to expect and plan for.
Will I be given some options during install as to how I wish to procede
regarding any and everthing already on my system?

If everthing currently installed can remain and the installation is more
like an upgrade, is this one of those things one can do but often causes
major headaches? I'd much prefer to reformat and reinstall any programs
I use than have headaches with endless tweaking if I choose to "upgrade"
rather than complete reformat/install.
Click to expand...

The Vista installation is different in a couple of key ways.

If you buy an upgrade then you must install it from within a qualifying,
activated OS. Although you can boot from the DVD you can't install from it
(you can carry out repairs). A full version will allow you to install from
the booted DVD and format the install partition.

The actual installation process is different in that it appears to use a
lot of images. It will tuck your existing apps out of the way, install
itself, then pull the old apps back in (I am sure somebody will be able to
give a more scientific explanation). Many people seem to believe that this
gives you a 'clean' install even though the drive won't be formatted.

It would be worthwhile reading this group for a while before you proceed.
I have many apps that will not run on Vista, the potential cost of
upgrading them is not worthwhile as far as I am concerned but you may well
have a different view.
 
Tim--

If I were you, I'd buy a full version and dual boot for a while. This
enables you to keep XP intact, and you need only move the files and folders
you want to. You can get used to Vista, and add apps to Vista one by one.
I haven't run into the app that won't work on Vista for me, but I'm sure
there are many out there given the slowness of some 3rd party companies to
adapt to Vista waiting for I'm not sure what.

Vista Ultimate Install Screens
http://www.windowsvista.windowsreinstall.com/vistaultimate/installnewhdd/part1.htm

Bios Guide
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/articles/bios/XP

You can access the files on your desktop from Vista with a simple shortcut
that would be Vista Drive\Documents and Settings\Tim's Profile\Desktop and
copy or move any you want to. This saves time and space if you dual boot.

You just need to have a space that is adequate for what you'll be adding to
Vista if you elect to do that. You can target the Vista installation to
that space when you are in setup by clicking on Advanced on the screen or
two after the language screen. 20-40 GB should do this for you, unless you
are going to install many more apps then alot space accordingly.

CH
 
If you want to format first and then install Vista then buy the full
edition. Upgrade editions can only be installed on a machine already
running a legacy Windows. Unless you are just gaming and surfing the net,
I do not recommend dual booting with XP. You have been reading threads
about this already. Booting into XP causes you to lose many of the recovery
capabilities of Vista. Search on this newsgroup on "volsnap.sys" to get
further info.
 
Some of the smartest guys in this NG have already spoken to the meat of your
questions. I will now add my two cents...

I always do a "bare metal" install with a new OS. Vista lets you delete
partitions and start anew. When I move to Vista on my home PC, that's what
I'll do.

But... I'm not sure WHEN I'll move to Vista on my home PC. I've got too many
apps with which I think I'll have problems. Of main concern are the utility
apps I've purchased to allow me to get my legitimately purchased media onto
my iPod. ImToo DVD to iPod converter being the major app. So... point being
that you need to do some homework on your apps and HW -prior to- moving to
Vista. Don't assume that everything that worked in W2K/XP will work in
Vista. You'll see that in this NG every day: "Hey! My Periwinkle-Flotsam
doesn't work in Vista. Worked fine in XP. What's up with that?" Uh... new
OS? Need new drivers? Need an update to your app?

Lang
 
To Tim,

(sorry Lang)

I may not be smart or nothin,
cuz I deleted the original thread,but
trust me, what Colin and Lang have said is dead on.
They may not know it, but I've tested Vista reformatting WAY too many times
to count-could be a Vista format mvp-lol
And their advice is correct,
do yourself a favor,
install-don't upgrade-if you can afford too.
(faster actually and less potential headaches than an upgrade)
I've found, just by habit-that I do both-delete and format a partition.
I have just one HD and partition,so I've just done this by habit-may not
make a diff,but I do both.

And simple stuff, like always right click-run as admin, helps when
installing(if possible)
Also, along with a good AV-(I personally like AVAST-free and nice), make
sure to install the correct Java.
It's Java JRE 6-it'll help with legacy apps rendering correctly with Vista.

http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp (1/2 way down the page)

Other than that-go for it-and remember-like Lang said-much stuff will
work-but this o.s. is new territory-so some might not.

(Lang-you're an iPodista- :-0 rofl)

My one cent.

Jeff
 
Ipod presents no problems with Vista RTM or any other build prior to it in
my experinece Lang. But I don't have any experience with the ImTooDVD to
Ipod converter. I'd be inclined to go for it, and try to get it to work but
every app could be different. In general, I have all my apps working on
Vista that I've tried, but that's a long list and I haven't tried every one.
Like most people I have apps that I thought I would use that I haven'g
gotten around to in XP.

For sure, despite the growing compatibility lists, some 3rd parties and some
driver manufacturers are waiting around to the spring of 2007.

CH
 
Yeah... just "a-scared" of losing the ability to carry on in "business as
usual" mode.

Gotta try installing this stuff on a skunk box to see if it works. Just a
matter of time and effort... shoot, I'm on vacation now... jes' sittin' at
home but it's been years since I enjoyed working on my personal PC's, so
I'll wait until the code's released and, one hopes, drivers and updates are
released also...

Lang
 
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