reinstalling XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter paul.bennett
  • Start date Start date
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paul.bennett

due to injudicious downloads and careless mucking about with my computer it
now runs slowly and is becoming erratic with various links being lost (My
Pictures/My Computer/My Music etc). i have come to the conclusion that the
only way out of this predicament is to wipe everything and reinstall XP. is
there any way i can transfer all my files and stuff somewhere on the hard
disk and mark it some way that it won't be affected by a reinstall or have i
got to put all my stuff on to CDs. Any help would be gratefully accepted

paul
 
You can do a repair installation which should leave your data intact. Follow
these instructions provided by Mark Ferguson.

Start the operating system from the CD-ROM,

When the computer starts from the CD, the system checks your hardware

and then prompts you to select one of the following options:

To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER.

To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.


Press ENTER.


Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement.

A box lists your current Windows XP installation, and then the system

prompts you to select one of the following options:

To repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R.

To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, press
ESC.

Press R to start the automatic repair process. After repairing Windows XP,

you may need re-download all updates, starting with SP1.
 
Here's a way to keep your programs and be able to start clean.

Do a clean install of XP, that means not over a previous install but a
freshly formatted partition, ideally, you should first delete the partition
then recreate it and then format, all of which can be done from within XP
setup. Install whatever necessary drivers for your hardware, then install
your applications to the same partition. Once your most used applications
are installed, use imaging software, Drive Image from PowerQuest (now owned
by Symantec) www.powerquest.com, Norton Ghost, www.symantec.com or some
other imaging software to create an image of your setup and save that image
to another partition or, if you have a DVD burner, save it to DVD as such
disks might be able to hold an entire image depending upon how much space
your apps and OS combined consume. NOTE: check manufacturer's web sites for
versions compatible with XP.

These apps usually have some sort of boot disk that you can use to
initialize the application in the event you need to restore the image or,
assuming your hard drive hasn't failed just your setup, open the image app
on your hard drive and restore this clean image. The copy on DVD should be
for backup in case you lose your hard drive but ideally, you might want to
create a partition on which to store an image for quick retrieval and
restore. Also, while some of the apps have the ability to restore from a CD
or DVD, the method is still problematic.

In any event, an image coupled with a good backup strategy for your data can
get you up and running very quickly after some mishap that might require a
format and clean install.
 
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