Wiping the Drive???-- and complete reload of XP???

[357]

Here's user guide for the USMT (User State Migration Tool) for XP:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb457090.aspx

Here's the download:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl....aspx?id=14110

[Savor the Stick]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

A simple format.exe will work or you can do diskpart.exe. If you are installing windows from a cd, it will overwrite the disk during the install, just as Ghost would.

I would consider partitioning the drive with a partition big enough to store your completed "gold image" and a couple of back up's.

Good luck.

Not sure what this means could you explain?

Originally Posted by 357

Microsoft makes a tool for pulling your data off prior to a reload. You can point it to a folder or external drive. I forget the name of it. You should be able to find it with a Google search.

Then I would just pop in the XP disc, and delete the old partition during setup. Next choose the unallocated space to install to and go.

Make sure you install SP3 if it's not slipstreamed into your media. Then install IE8 or IE9 and all the security and critical updates. Make sure to put a decent AV product on when done. AVG free is decent. MS Security Essentials is very effective but tough on resources.

The most I want to move off is pictures, word files, docs--not a whole lot of stuff. What are partitions and what are their functions?

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by Savor the Stick

Not sure what this means could you explain?

partitioning the drive with a partition big enough to store your completed "gold image" and a couple of back up's.


The most I want to move off is pictures, word files, docs--not a whole lot of stuff. What are partitions and what are their functions?

Partition is like slicing the harddrive into pie pieces. Instead of just having a c: drive, you'll have an additional letter like d: or f:. The advantage is that if you screw up your PC, it tends to stick to just the partition. If you blow away c:, you still have a copy of your machine on the other partition.

Most PC manufacturers have a small partition on their drive when you buy a computer. Partitioning is not as popular as it was, but it's still a necessary if you want to build you computer "the right way". There are plenty of good web sites that can walk you through this.

As for how big to make the 2nd partition, consider doing 10% of the total drive space.

As how to do this, there are several ways. If you are formatting the disk, fdisk is the easiest way to create a partition. Diskpart can create a partition as well.

[mmblz]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

Partition is like slicing the harddrive into pie pieces. Instead of just having a c: drive, you'll have an additional letter like d: or f:. The advantage is that if you screw up your PC, it tends to stick to just the partition. If you blow away c:, you still have a copy of your machine on the other partition.

Most PC manufacturers have a small partition on their drive when you buy a computer. Partitioning is not as popular as it was, but it's still a necessary if you want to build you computer "the right way". There are plenty of good web sites that can walk you through this.

As for how big to make the 2nd partition, consider doing 10% of the total drive space.

As how to do this, there are several ways. If you are formatting the disk, fdisk is the easiest way to create a partition. Diskpart can create a partition as well.

IF the disk fails you're still focked

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by mmblz

IF the disk fails you're still focked

Data is recoverable if a harddrive "is broken", but can be expensive. The last time I used a data recovery service it was around $500, but they got all the data I needed off.