Windows O/S Upgrade.

cidknee

cidknee

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Hi folks

Now im gonna ask a dumb question. Mainly I just want to make sure about what im thinking is right. My father in law has win 98SE and I want to update him to either 2000 or XP pro. Heres my problem, if I put the XP disk in, will it erase everything on his pc or will it just update it and keep his files? I would really rather not erase his HDD and lose my licence to live ya dig?

Now there is a 2nd option. He has 2 hard drives, If i was to take the main one ( the one that has all the data) out that has 98 on it and just install XP on it. Then add the 98 drive as a slave, will it be ok?

Ive gotten some conflicting info, even from MS. They are all like,ummmm i dont know, and i get passed on to another guy who says yup no problems, no erased data, Father in law calls in and they say nope u need an new HDD and new install cause it will erase everything. Thanks
 
If you install over the top, all the data and documents are preserved. Not all the programs will work without the compatibility wizard.

An alternative approach - run the XP setup disk, make a new partition on the 2nd drive (might need to remove all partitions and data, then put a new one back and format it) and install XP to the second hard drive.

Then when he boots, he'll have a menu - XP or normal Windows (98SE).

The beauty is, he can still browse and use the internet on 98, but have XP lurking in the background, ready for when he needs it.

Eases the pain of transition - if you want dual booting Windows, by the way, you install the oldest first and install the rest in order. In your case this has already happened.

XP Update disk will ask for the 98SE disk (to make sure you're entitled to the upgrade) but it doesn't mess about with existing system if it's installed to a different partition - in your case, a different partition on a different hard disk!
 
Personally, I really dislike upgrading windows. It's just begging for things to screw up.

Since you already have a 2nd drive there, it should be easy to do it the way I would prefer.

Copy anything and everything that he wants to keep over to the second HDD. Let the XP setup format the drive to NTFS, and install XP. Copy everything back over and drop it into the appropriate place. Nice and clean :)
 
I agree with CruddyLeper, use the second hard drive to run a dual boot system. Just make sure that anything you want to access from Win98SE is placed on the FAT32 formatted hard drive, as that OS cannot read NTFS drives.
 
yeah but im talking about a 68 yr old who has very basic computer skills. I think im might install XP on the 2nd drive and and then make it the master drive. It should pickup all the stuff on the second drive right?

And yes I agree about Linux Padma, usung ubuntu as we speak. But I cant do that for him, wish I could but I cant
 
If you mean;

1) Swap the master for the slave;

2) Install XP on the new Master (what used to be the slave).

Then it will see and read to/write the new slave (with Win98 on it) but Win 98 won't boot anymore. Because the BOOT.INI file has to be on the primary drive, and you've just swapped them over?

Why force him to upgrade? Why not just give him an extra option that he can learn how to use gradually?

You get no return for swapping the drives that I can see. It just makes things more complicated.

Here's a link people might find useful - it's a virtual desktop for XP, 2K, ME and 98. Purely educational but it helps you appreciate the similarities and differences;-

http://www.technophobik.co.uk
 
I don't see any reason to complicate things by doing dual boot or leaving 98 on the second drive. If you're going to install XP on the second drive, spend 5 extra minutes and move his files over.
 
Best solution;

1) First defrag the 2nd big storage drive. Ideally it should have 10Gb or more free space on it to fit on XP - say 5Gb minimum. If it doesn't have that much empty then something has to be deleted. But defrag it so that the end is free to be used. That's going to take hours.

2) Use Partition Magic to create a new partition on the end of the 2nd drive. You don't have to format it.

3) Run the XP setup disk. Format the new end partition to NTFS, and install XP there.

Now, in the short term, that gives him dual boot AND he can keep 98 AND keep alll his data intact.

Long term, he won't have a lot of space for XP programs, which is when he waves goodbye to 98. WHEN HE'S GOOD AND READY TO.

But in the meantime, he'll have his familar tools and files, can use XP to manipulate them, and learn how to set up and control XP.
 
vbraun said:
Trying to convert more people Padma? :lol:
Click to expand...
Why not? :D

I attended a briefing yesterday on the vulnerabilities of military information systems, including the known attacks on those systems over the last 15 yrs, or so. Some very interesting information (mostly classified - sorry ;)), but what I came away with was: WTH! We're still being forced to use the most vulnerable system available! (Windows2000 + Office2000 + IE + Outlook) And the government is paying mega-bucks for the "privilege" of doing so!
 
I agree Padma, I was at a confrence last month at a military base here. And the canadain forces are getting screwed royally by MS. Now we have a few enterprising systems engineers( my cousin included!) who refuse to use MS. So his laptop has a dual boot. And its slowly catching on to switch from windows to Linux. Security being the biggest issue. Seconded only to the fact that being the canadian forces, were pretty much broke, and Linux is free. Another reason, and i know it sounds silly, is that people cant do evrything on Linux that they can on Windows. Pvt jimmy jones can surf all the sites and send all the emails as normal, but he cant install his krappy game and distract time and or energy from the work hes supposed to be doing. So you have a system thats free, ALOT more secure, and isnt a stupid mac.....hmmm where do I sign. I personally have, see sig below.

Now the reason im upgrading for him is because alot of the new programs he has will not run on 98, church stuff and tax stuff, also his book editing program is not supported by win 98 so he needs it to work. Thanks a bunch folks.
 
Why not?
Click to expand...

You're shooting yourself in the foot ;)

Convert the masses to linux and it'll end up just as bad as windows.
 
AMEN my brotha
 
FOr a more serious answer, consider that Linux was designed with security in mind, from the start. A user has to *actively* defeat the default security of the system in order to be at any serious risk. With WIndows, a user has to *actively* start/add security features in order to lessen their risk. Which makes more sense to put in the hands of the average "know-nothing" user? ;)

Except for one or two "make it work like Windows" distributions, that have deliberately negated portions of the built-in security, in Linux, you can't "accidently" add a virus/trojan to your system. You *know* every time you do something risky, like run a program with root privileges. If you ever see a popup asking for your root password, and you *aren't* expecting it, you kill that program! "Know-nothing" users may still have problems, but they aren't going to want to learn how to use Linux, anyway. ;)
 
FOr a more serious answer, consider that Linux was designed with security in mind, from the start. A user has to *actively* defeat the default security of the system in order to be at any serious risk. With WIndows, a user has to *actively* start/add security features in order to lessen their risk. Which makes more sense to put in the hands of the average "know-nothing" user?
Click to expand...

All well and good, but quite speculative until linux is on 85% or so of the PCs out there and is being targetted the way windows is. ;) I wouldn't underestimate the resourcefulness of the people writing viruses.

Except for one or two "make it work like Windows" distributions, that have deliberately negated portions of the built-in security, in Linux, you can't "accidently" add a virus/trojan to your system. You *know* every time you do something risky, like run a program with root privileges. If you ever see a popup asking for your root password, and you *aren't* expecting it, you kill that program! "Know-nothing" users may still have problems, but they aren't going to want to learn how to use Linux, anyway.
Click to expand...

I don't know how it is other places, but in our company the default mindset of the average user is:

If it asks you to make a choice, always click "yes."
If it is smart enough to ask for your password, it *must* be important enough that you need to put it in.
;)
 
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