HELP - partitioned hard drives & xp issues.

[casto3]

i am trying to upgrade from win 98 to win xp.
here's the deal:
the hard drive on my laptop (micron gobook pent 1 233MHz MMX 64 MB 3.2 GB) is partitioned
into two drives (c & d - the c has 1.99 gb and the d 948 mb.). i never did this personally as i wouldn't know how to, but
it is possible that my friend did. i think i bought it new with one drive but i could be wrong. firstly, i would like to know if they can be combined.

secondly, i have saved all my precious docs and files on a zip. how should i proceed?
i would like to format everything, start fresh... then install 98 and upgrade to xp... but i dont even really know how to format. ????????
basically i dont know at all what im doing and am looking for an angel to help me.
thanks

ALSO - the clock on my other comp (with xp pre-installed) is all screwed up - anyone heard about this being a prob w/xp?

 

[Tsaico]

I beleive you can use partition magic to squeeze those partitions together, but if you are starting over from scratch, don't bother. If you have alreay backed everything up that you would like, I would start of with this:
1. Make a boot disk from win98 with cd support. (in case you don't know, go to control panels-->add remove programs-->Startup Disk tab.
2. Boot off that boot disk you just made, and then at the command prompt run "fdisk"
3. Delete all the old partions and then create new one with all the available space on the same one. Restart.
4. Format your drive using the same bootdisk and the "format c:" command.
5. Then you can proceed to install the Win98
6. once that is done, update with winxp
7. install newest available drivers for your components.

The clock on your other comp, check out your bios settings, they might be of. It could be that xp is correting itself to that clock...

 

[chaswood]

If you are starting clean, and all your data is backed up, you'd be much better off installing XP without Win98 first.

Boot from a floppy to a command prompt and use fdisk to delete the current partitions, then create one new one using the entire 3gb (a quick search on using fdisk will bring up lots of tutorials for the details).

Your BIOS probably gives you the option of booting from CD-ROM. If so, boot from the XP CD and begin the install. You will be asked for your old Win98 disk to verify if you have an upgrade version of XP, but installing Win98 first isn't necessary.

If you can't boot from CD, then boot from a floppy with CD support and go from there.

Good luck!

 

[rbV5]

Forget XP, your hardrive is too small and you don't have enough ram for it to perform well.

 

[Mitrich]

I agree with rbV5: Just installed XP professional and check the size of directories Winnt and Program files.
Weight of Winnt is more than 1 Gb, ad program files - 58 Mb. And swapfile on your laptop takes another 200 mb...
I even don't install office or any other soft. System files takes half of your HDD - is it good for you?

If you are really fan of XP - try to add more ram (another 64 mb at least!)

As i understand you have upgrade version ow WinXP?
I have different problem: my xp distrib (Russian WinXP Prof) don't want to upgrade from russian W98SE... but on my 40gb IBM
i find plase for both systems
In common, you don't need to install 98 while you have w98 cd.


Don't you forget to save your zips? Since you have two computers, you can link they using LAN, or using null-modem cable and Norton Commander, or thru floppy-net upload your zipped files to different computer.

2. boot using win98 rescue disk, type a:\fdisk, delete all partitions (firstly run fdisk simply for training and try to understand that you must do. Don't worry, you will be asked before fatal changes). Than make single partition taking whole disk space . Then restart and type a:\format c:
I don't remember but think that you even can do the same thing while installing XP, but only if you have non-upgrade version.

Ah, you just forrmatted drive C. Insert cd with XP and install it

By the way, you can send me a letter - and i promice to help you, if you understand my English

Mitrich, offline@comail.ru

 

[Tsaico]

It was my understanding that he had the upgrade version of XP, which if it was like the upgrade version og 98, required a full version before you could apply it. Though I do agree witht he other comments, adding more ram as it really is rather anemic. Hard drive space iis all right, for a lappy at least, assuming you aren't loading games and the like on it. And if he is trying to combine his partitions, he will still need to run some version of fdisk/partition magic no matter what...

 

[DaiShan]

you can run setup with xp upgrade, but it will ask you for prior ownership credentials to continue (98 cd key)