A Windows reformat/reinstall question

[Eos]

I have taken on a favor for a elderly friend who got screwed over by a local "technician".

Last year, he paid to have Windows reinstalled. Turns out the technician didn't ask for my friend's Dell XP Home re-installation cd, so it appears the tech installed his own pirated copy of Windows XP Pro. Of course the WGA thing happened and now the updates come in, but my friend is annoyed by the counterfeit software notice all the time. He's not interested in ever talking to the "technician".

Personally, I would just install the paid for OS with a full reformat and be done with it but my friend wants his pictures, favorites and .doc files saved.

Can I do this:

1) Call Dell or Microsoft and get help to put this version directly over the XP Pro? (unlikely, I'm assuming)

2) Can I install the Dell disc onto a separate partition, recover the files from the old install after the new install is complete, then delete the old install partition to recover the complete size of the hard drive?

3) Something else I'm not considering besides the obvious copy files onto floppy (no cd writer) and then put them back after?

Thanks.

 

[bucwylde23]

How many pictures/documents does he have?

If you have a USB thumb drive or external hard drive that would be the easiest route. Just do a clean install and copy his stuff back over.

 

[Eos]

Originally posted by: chrisg22
How many pictures/documents does he have?

If you have a USB thumb drive or external hard drive that would be the easiest route. Just do a clean install and copy his stuff back over.

I knew I had forgot something. I actually just got my first thumbdrive a couple months ago free with another piece of hardware. It is still in the packaging...

 

[Eos]

So I was able to transfer the data from the old install to the a 64mb FAT formatted thumbdrive. Awesome.

I install the Dell/Windows XP Home OS and do all the Windows updates. I insert the drive and it is not recognized. WTF? I try every USB slot in the house. 10 slots on two more computers. Nothing. Can't find it in a search for new hardware. The drive I have was part of a pair and the other one with no data is recognized in 2 seconds.

Any hope for getting his data off of this memory stick?

 

[Cutthroat]

Try it on your PC, if it can read it you can copy the data to a cd or something. I'd have to think you already tried that but...

 

[Eos]

Thanks. I did try that already.

I'll keep after it.