What Files Are Saved with XP Reinstall

  • Thread starter Thread starter George Orwell
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G

George Orwell

One of the choices on the XP disk when reinstalling without a clean
reinstall is to save without losing data. What files/folders are saved
when the reinstall is completed?
 
One of the choices on the XP disk when reinstalling without a clean
reinstall is to save without losing data. What files/folders are saved
when the reinstall is completed?
Click to expand...

There are several ways to reinstall XP:

Clean install: Wipe the volume (remove all files) and install clean -
obviously no data remains unless you have backups somewhere.

"On top" of itself - this is known as a "repair install." Let's say this
completes successfully (no other problems encountered) - all data is left
in place. Most software will still function without repairing but Windows
updates will need to repeated.

And there's the "parallel install." This is installing XP to the same hard
drive that it already exists on - IOW, you end up with two Windows folders
on the same partition. This method is good if you need to grab copies of
data and can no longer boot into the old Windows install. Once the data
files are moved somewhere safe, perform a clean install which gets rid of
the old install and the parallel install. Then move data back and reinstall
your programs.
 
One of the choices on the XP disk when reinstalling without a clean
reinstall is to save without losing data. What files/folders are saved
when the reinstall is completed?
Click to expand...

PS: If using an XP disk other than retail or generic OEM, you may have
different reinstall options. In this case, details on what is saved or not
saved should be in the documentation supplied by the system manufacturer.
If you do not have a copy of that information on hand, it can usually be
found online at the manufacturer's website.
 
PS: If using an XP disk other than retail or generic OEM, you may have
different reinstall options. In this case, details on what is saved or not
saved should be in the documentation supplied by the system manufacturer.
If you do not have a copy of that information on hand, it can usually be
found online at the manufacturer's website.
Click to expand...

Thanks Sharon for the answer. I follow. I have done most reinstalls
cleanly but have so much on this computer that I hate to spend a week
putting it all back on. However, I really would like to get rid of all
the digital dust bunnnies which I assume the repair install would not
really do. I was told, although I never tried it and as I say, do mostly
clean installs, that I guess what was being referred to as the repair
install would wipe out all programs except the My Docs folder. It looks
like that info was not entirely correct.
Happy Holidays your way.
GO.
 
I guess what was being referred to as the repair
install would wipe out all programs except the My Docs folder. It looks
like that info was not entirely correct.
Click to expand...

I can understand the hesitation to completely rebuild from scratch but if a
repair leaves you with less than desirable results, you'll spend more time
trying to fix what broke during the repair with the real possibility of
doing a clean install to sort the mess out. It's really a matter of
personal choice as to where you're going to draw the line for amount of
effort and time spent for "possible" results vs the time needed to start
over from scratch.

I don't enjoy rebuilding from scratch either. When I adopted XP, I finally
looked into imaging software. There are many well known titles in this
software category, I chose Acronis True Image. It takes 5-10 minutes a week
to create an image. Another 5-10 minutes to "verify" that a usable image
was captured. If making major changes, an extra image is made just before
that happens. This means that if things go wrong, it takes me about 20
minutes to restore to a known good image. This sure beats the heck out of
rebuilding from scratch!

Just to reiterate, a repair install will wipe out old restore points and
all updates since the last service pack level you're at.

Good luck on whatever path you take and happy holidays to you too!
 
I suppose that would include your data files eg. word documents, emails,
internet favourites etc.
 
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