Am I going to have to reformat??

[Tullphan]

I'm getting ready to install a new motherboard, video card, sound card, cdr-w & dvd. Will I need to reformat my hard drive? If so, can I use Partition Magic to create a new partition to move all my mp3's & zipped applications? I have most of my applications burned on cd so that isn't a problem. I just have a ton of mp3's that will take some time to burn.
If I can use Partition Magic, can someone give me some help on how to use it & how to reinstall windows on the old partition?
Thanks in advance.

 

[BCYL]

Which windows version are you using?

But it would be recommended for you to reformat and re-install windows, since you are changing the motherboard as well... yeah, you can use partition magic to create a new partition to put all your important data, then install windows on your old partition...

After you've done that, just start Windows setup and you can choose which partition to install windows on... then just choose your old partition and you're set!

 

[Lonyo]

You should check u make the partition at the end of the drive though, so it doesn't interfere with the boot partition, but other than that you should be fine. partition magic rocks btw

 

[Tullphan]

Hehe...I guess it would've helped to say that i'm running XP Pro.
So, i'll create a new partition with Partition Magic, FDISK the old one, then restart the computer w/the XP cd in the drive (making sure the bios is configured to boot from cd) & install? Will it automatically create its own partition?
Thanks for the help.

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: Tullphan
Hehe...I guess it would've helped to say that i'm running XP Pro.
So, i'll create a new partition with Partition Magic, FDISK the old one, then restart the computer w/the XP cd in the drive (making sure the bios is configured to boot from cd) & install? Will it automatically create its own partition?
Thanks for the help.

Yep, that's basically it... XP setup wont automatically create a partition....

You dont really need to fdisk the old one neither... after you moved your data to your new partition, just reboot with XP CD, and you can choose to install it on your old partition... u will also have the option to format the drive before installing...

 

[randypj]

No, you don't need to fdisk/format/fresh install Windows.

Modus's FAQ.....Helping Windows Survive a Motherboard Upgrade

Granted.....I personally have only changed mobos with W9x (even changed from VIA to Intel), and I always had a cloned hard drive in case there were problems (there weren't). I fresh installed W95a in '96 and have upgraded through W2K, with never a fresh install. No way I'm gonna attempt to reinstall all the stuff I've got installed. I couldn't even find the original cds for half of it.


I believe BCYL may have been getting at the following from the FAQ:

Misc. Notes:

- Reportedly, Windows 2000 and XP can be tricked into doing this stuff for you. The procedure is this: Shut down, install your new hardware, power on, and enter your system BIOS. Make sure your First Boot Device is set to CDROM. Insert the Windows 2000/XP setup CD and boot from this disk. (You may have to "press a key to boot from CD" as the prompt says.) Skip the initial prompt asking to repair your existing installation. Then proceed to the screen where you select a partition, and choose your existing Windows partition. Setup will detect your existing installation and ask you to repair. Say yes. When Windows Setup is complete, you should have a fully working installation with all your old user and application profiles. Everything should be intact, except your hardware and driver settings, leaving it fresh for your new motherboard.

- Sysprep, a Microsoft tool for preparing a Windows 2000 system for disk cloning, is useful when changing motherboards. Among other things, Sysprep removes all references to the local machine's hardware devices. You could run Sysprep, install your new hardware, and reboot. However, the procedure is more complicated than the Windows Setup CD repair method described immediately above. Sysprep is best suited to disk image deployment. You can find Sysprep binaries and documentation at

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/planning/incremental/sysprep11.asp.
--Randy

 

[Robscix]

No, You Don't need to. Windows should dtill boot up after some Hardware detection and some driver tweaking.......Try it, Should work fine if it doesn't then you have some fun ahead of you.....I have done it before though......just the HD is holding all hardware settings for current config, but will pick up new devices, if it doesn't start loding drivers........

 

[Tullphan]

It appears that there are mixed opinions on this.
It seems that if I don't wish to do a fresh install, i'll have to go to alot of trouble (& do some finger crossing) for this.
I'm new to this & it seems like creating a partition & moving some critical files then doing a fresh install on the old partition would be more simple & logical, yes?

 

[randypj]

IMO,

1. If you don't have many programs to reinstall, and not alot of critical files to move, then, yes, a fresh install would probably be better.

2. If you can clone to another hard drive, can't hurt anything to experiment with a non-fresh install, on your cloned drive. That's what I did when I upgraded from W98SE to W2K. I realized after a few days with my upgrade, there was no need to go back to my original drive.
--Randy