newbie: ME to Win2000 or XP?

[tamarisk]

Formatting the drive is a MUST since Windows XP/2000 use a different file system NFTS.

Win me uses FAT32

[Kungfucious]

formatting is easy..

1. get yourself an old windows boot disk from HERE and boot with that.. (get the win98 disk..its very handy to have around)

2. once you boot it will ask you if you want to format the disk.. go haead and format it as long as youve backed everything up

3. once formatted, you can install XP from the cd itself if you set your pc to boot from cd..

4. If your using a ripped version of XP youll need the boot disk from the same site above.

thats how easy it is!

[blackspawn]

From those 3 OSe's I definately go for XP Pro, it rock solid in terms of stability and with a little tweaking you get to have awesome visual styles!

I've been using XP for a year now and I NEVER had a crash (OS crash that is, aplications crashes I had many...)

If you have XP instalation cd all you need to do for formatting you HD is to set in the bios to start bootup with the cdrom and then restart you computer with XP installation cd, then just follow the instructions.

BE SURE TO BACK UP ANYTHING YOU MAY NEED IN THE FUTURE ON PORTABLE DISKS (cd-rom / Zip's / DVD's etc.)

[Grand Master B]

at this point after doing some research, I am unsure if I have enough knowledge to format the HD myself. I figure I'll just dive in and learn as I go.

gmb

[Grand Master B]

btw, it is a ripped version.

gmb

[Kungfucious]

get the boot disk maker for the ripped version from the site i listed in an earlier post. Also i think you willl come accross two files which the install will not find.

one is: DVDplay.exe and the other: TITLE.WM_

these arent really that important so the installation can be continued by pressing cancel on the prompts for those files..

also formatting is NOT hard to do and the installation for XP is easy peasy! Just print out the advice given in this thread and youll be set ..

hope it goes well for you

[Grand Master B]

Done and Done, thnx. I'll reply should I have issues. One good thing, I do have a laptop I can use while I work on my desktop.

gmb

[rastagard]

Originally posted by tamarisk
Formatting the drive is a MUST since Windows XP/2000 use a different file system NFTS.

Win me uses FAT32

I have been using XP Pro for over a year and a half and still use FAT 32. I clone my HDDs onto other HDDs for a complete backup. The easiest way I have found to do this is with the DOS bootup disk created in Norton Ghost. I know Norton has a new version of Ghost that supposedly works with NTFS, but I use what I know and I haven't learned the newer version yet.


I have also heard mixed reviews about NTFS..............

[Kungfucious]

NTFS is great... when i switched from FAT to NTFS, i did heaps of research beforehand and eventually after 3 months decided to shift over.. i wouldnt go back now..

its much securer and faster.

[greffov]

NTFS takes more space, but you get journaling and accesscontrol back for it, as well as reservation of areas of the disk (for the swapfile for instance) so it never gets spread out over the disk.
It's best to let the OS run on NTFS. Your storage like MP3's and movies can be easily on FAT32, unless you want to protect it from others... but that is mostly what you don't want....

[rastagard]

The only reason I still use FAT32 is it supports DOS. I still use Norton Ghost and Partition Magic in DOS.


I feel FAT32 is an extremely wasteful system, but since NTFS doesn't support DOS, I'm stuck. I tried the newest versions of Ghost and Partition Magic which supposedly support NTFS, but found them dangerously unstable. Last thing I want is for a program to lockup in the middle of a partitoning operation..........


I will switch to NTFS when I can clone my drives easily without needing to go into DOS. I can tell you I am not in love with DOS, but it does what I need to do. FAT32 due to the cluster size for large partitions is very wasteful, but drive space is cheap right now.

[cyberrico]

XP will have less compatibility issues than 2000. 90% of all beta testing for Windows-based software is done on XP.

I'm using both OS right now (XP at home/2000 at work). There are very few instances that I would use 2000. It doesn't suck. I would probably use it for a web server if I had to go Windows on that one. In virtually any other situation, I would go xp.

[Cirga]

Originally posted by cyberrico
XP will have less compatibility issues than 2000. 90% of all beta testing for Windows-based software is done on XP.

I'm using both OS right now (XP at home/2000 at work). There are very few instances that I would use 2000. It doesn't suck. I would probably use it for a web server if I had to go Windows on that one. In virtually any other situation, I would go xp.

Well.. if you think about it both 2k and XP are built from the NT kernel. Compatibility has never really been an issue before when users stayed on Win98 while they were doing all their testing on 2k.

I guess the reason I like 2k professional is becuase its been tried and tested really well.. and it manages all my applications and my games like a champ (compared to win98).. and I have yet to crash.

Just my opinion of course though