reinstalling windows xp, trying to save my document

[imported_importpsycho]

say...
I can not load windows xp, repair, recovery etc... only option left is to reinstall windows
I can not move HD to different computer to access My Document folder to back up

if I reinstall windows(not format) i have two options, L to delete exsisting windows and install, other option is to choose different folder/partition

If I choose to delete exsisting windows and install, will it delete my document files as well?
if I choose to use different folder/partition in hopes that it wouldn't touch my documents and I only have one partition, how dangerous is to have two same windows xp running on same partition?

 

[MrChad]

You cannot repair the existing installation? What makes you think a fresh install will work?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: importpsycho
say...
I can not load windows xp, repair, recovery etc... only option left is to reinstall windows
I can not move HD to different computer to access My Document folder to back up

if I reinstall windows(not format) i have two options, L to delete exsisting windows and install, other option is to choose different folder/partition

If I choose to delete exsisting windows and install, will it delete my document files as well?
if I choose to use different folder/partition in hopes that it wouldn't touch my documents and I only have one partition, how dangerous is to have two same windows xp running on same partition?

If you install to partion #2, you have a good chance of saving your document files.

The boot manager will direct the OS to use the second installation by default.

If you presently only have one partition, there may be some problems with data that existed in the first partition depending on where it was located physically.

Think about getting the required data (if you can get to it) after the installation i completed backed up and then re-install again with the the OS on the primary partition.

 

[QueBert]

I have reinstalled XP a billion times, in fact I did it last week. the clean install only deletes the windows directory and everything under it, your documents should be under \documents and settings\username it doesn't touch any of those folders except to add the new user you create when you reinstall xp. If you use the same name it will create a 1 folder, like for me \documents and settings\john1\

so what I did after reinstalling XP, I created a 2nd user called temp, logged on as temp, then went to the \john dir and cut+pasted the content to my \john1\ the 2nd user is so you don't get any access violation for open files, which you probably will.

I have no idea if this is the easiest way to do it, but it works every time and really doesn't take but a couple extra minutes. This kept all my documents the same + my firefox bookmarks. If you don't plan to reinstall all the software you had before don't copy the\desktop\ folder from your old account, it just has shortcuts to whatevers installed.

If somehow your documents and in a folder under \windows I don't know what to tell you except follow what EagleKeeper said to do

The only thing you loose doing it this way is are your fonts, which sucks if you're like me and have lots of interesting fonts. To remedy this since seem to have to reinstall XP twice a year I copy all my fonts to c:\fonts for backup


cliffnotes: the clean install option WILL NOT delete your documents, just your windows itself.