Okay... I've come to the conclusion that in order to handle some of the educational stuff I want to do during my period of unemployment, as a first step I need to get my desktop upgraded from Win2K to at least WinXP. I've spent at least a token amount of time searching the web for XP installs I can buy, and to be perfectly honest, I've found many, some of them surprisingly affordable. But which ones will do an upgrade, preserving my disk structure and contents? (At least I know to stay away from the OEM CD-ROMs, which at least officially only install from scratch and won't upgrade.) Can anyone give me a clue? Thanks.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Bob,
As long as it says 'upgrade' it *should* keep your disk contents as long as you start it up from within 2k.
However, as I'm sure you know, every IT professional out there will advise you to wipe+install, not upgrade.
Yes, but if you acquire a XP upgrade-only disk each time you re-install, it asks to see a disk of a previous copy of windows (98, 2k not ME) before the install
process can continue. I basically got sick of that and picked up an official Microsoft OEM XP Pro SP3 disk which upgrades quite happily XP to XP, even with
oddities of my HD or hardware setup.
--Rod.H
I had a computer once which did upgrade after upgrade. I went from Win 3.11 clear through XP, continually transferring the system to a new drive every time I
got a new system. Eventually, I hit on a basic truth.
The system died and I reinstalled... and I discovered it took less than half the time it used to for the PC to boot up. I had so much crud in the registry from
legacy installs and upgrades that the system was bogged down with useless extraneous code.
Windows XP should be run from a fresh install the first time you use it. If you're upgrading an existing setup, I recommend picking up a couple new hard
drives and starting fresh with those. You can pick up some external drive enclosures to put your old hard drives in. Then you can connect them to the USB ports
and use them as external drives. That preserves your file structure and personal data. And it lets you have an XP build that's clean out of the box. It
does mean you have to reinstall the applications software, which will take you the better part of the afternoon. But
it also clears out the stuff that's been collecting in the corners all this time that you didn't know about.
For safety's sake, before doing any of this, I always back up critical personal data to something like a DVD rom, since I'm a big fan of optical
storage as a backup to eraseable magnetic media. But that's as much personal bias as anything.
An alternative if you're leery about getting that in-depth with a system that works and does all your work just fine is to pick up another box. And even on
a budget, you can usually pick up a cheap system in the local refurb computer store that's actually more powerful than what you have right now for a
fraction of a new system. For a system like that, you're not looking for state of the art. Just something that equals what you already have but will run
XP. Then you can network the two machines and transfer data over as you see fit.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.
I'd recommend you also look into whether or not Windows 7 will do what you need it to do. While XP is a very good and stable OS, its days are quite
literally numbered.
Well, I was thinking XP because I was pretty sure Win7 wouldn't do a direct upgrade from 2K. If I I do a wipe-and-install, though, I can jump to 7. Then my
concern becomes handling the backup -- although I do have that half-terabyte USB drive I bought a few weeks ago, which will hold my entire hard drive nicely --
and the cost of Win 7. I don't remember seeing how much the professional version costs -- and I'm probably going to need the Pro.
In any case, thanks for the advice, all.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Well, Win7 is not due out till nearly the end of October. I don't think you should wait that long for an experience of a new MS OS. Sides XP's pretty much the Plus pack for 2k. If you do it right, you should be able to shenangle a voucher for a free upgrade to Win7.
Neweeg's MS Pro OSs
As for handling the backup, grab a copy of Acronis as it's a fairly user-friendly backup, image & disk migration tool
Newegg's list of Acronis. I've copies of it, which I've misplaced but it's been handy when I've used it. If you know anyone who does IT refresh projects, they should have a few copies on hand as Fujitsu gear seems to have a Acronis disk thrown in.
Dell gear....if you don't use it, steer clear of their OEM disks as they're locked to the hardware. I've experimented with a Dell OEM copy of PowerDVD from time to time, just can never get to work.
--Rod.H
Hm. That's an idea.
ETA: Unfortunately, only product keys are still available. The actual release candidate can no longer be downloaded. Would anyone happen to have it?
(scampers off to check torrents, etc. ...)
ETA: At least one torrent listing warns that the RC stops working after August 1; can anyone confirm? Thanks.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
According to the page BA linked to, it stops working on the first of June. The retail version is up in MSDN if you have a subscription.
Not any more, unfortunately.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Well, lemme put it this way. My experience with Windows 7 has been so good that I'm going to buy it when it's released. (That is, I'll give it a
month or two for the real tech-heads to have a go at it and rip it to shreds so I'll know what to expect.) Honestly, all the quirky crap with Vista is
gone, a few new shineys have been added, and what's left is a surprisingly rock solid OS.
Sure, it will take a bit of getting used to (perhaps more so for you, Bob, since you'd be making the jump from 2000 instead of XP or Vista). Things are
not where one would have once expected them to be. Trying to get at your Networking device's IP settings to setup an IP Address manually takes a bit of
doing, but it can be done without the OS freaking out at you.
Other than that, the interface is shiney, clean, and utterly uncluttered, memory management is a far cry better (though I still recomend having at least 2
Gigs, which seems to be the low-end standard nowadays anyhow), and the hardware compatability is something to behold.
If memory is an issue, Bob, then rest assured that you can find a pair of 1 Gig RAM for a very reasonable price. Just as long as you aren't using
something absurdely ancient on which even Windows 2000 chuggs, in which case I recomend just getting a new compy all together.
Well, it's not like I'm not familiar with XP. I used it at work, and it's on the laptop we just bought. So that's not going to be an issue. And
my hardware is far from ancient -- the Win 7 site says I'm just fine for the OS. I just haven't really needed to update the OS until now; but in the
last few months, updates for various things I use on a regular basis have announced that they won't install for 2K, and of course, if I'm going to do
some serious self-education while I'm on my enforced vacation, I'm going to need the latest platform.
So I guess I'm down to this question: Should I buy a cheap copy of XP (found one for $30) to tide me over until the dot-zero release of Win 7 shakes down?
Or should I find a torrent of the release candidate and go for broke? (And in either case, buy a full Win 7 a couple months from now.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
If that's a full copy of XP and not an OEM version, then I'd suggest buying it. Not only will you get some recent (if still trailing-edge) experience
in installing an OS on your desktop, you'll also have a backup in case something happens to the laptop's copy of XP.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Hm. In that case, let's see if I can find it again...
ETA: Gah. Braino. Not $30, but $130. I found it on
http://www.amazon.com/foo/dp/B00005MOTH/: "Microsoft Windows XP Professional {Old Version)"; the reason I remembered it was because of that "Old Version" -- i.e., no system packs incorporated. Which isn't a big deal because I have a Net connection and time to spare.
Mm. Bouncing around now, I can find an academic upgrade with SP2 for$70, and a SP2 upgrade package for $100. Looks like if I want a proper full install, this might still be the option for me.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Update: Another option has presented itself. A old friend with the means is sending me a legal copy of Win7 plus activation key.
Oh, btw, on the upgrade vs. wipe-and-install front. I guess I should point out that this system isn't very old; I think I've only had the current
installation of Win2K for two years or so. It's not a years-and-years-and-years of upgrades situation here. I don't think it's had time to
accumulate very much cruft.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Y'know, I had this paragraph-long post on the factors that determine how long a Windows install will last planned out... and then I realized that all
I'd done was come to the same conclusion you already have. For what you've said you do with your PC (CoX, moderate net-surfing, e-mail, writing,
etc.), two years isn't very long at all. You could probably go five without seeing problems, and stretch that another six months to a year before it
started to get unacceptably crufty.
Lucky dog. With all the games I install and remove, I'm lucky to get three years.
My
Unitarian Jihad Name is:
Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate.
Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
Update: The Win 7 disk came yesterday. Win 7 Ultimate. I am stoked.
I now know what I'm doing with my Monday after I go through my job leads.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
It is Monday. I've backed up my whole system to that half-terabyte USB drive we bought in August. And after I'm done with my lunch and all, I will be
installing Win 7. Wish me luck.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Well, one thing I do with XP to stretch the lifetime is Norton Systemworks. Let it go through the registry and clean out dead entries.
That reminds me, I should pick up a new copy sometime this year, to make sure it works well with SP3.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.
Norton EEEEVIL.
Well.
Perhaps I should qualify that. Systemworks itself may not be evil, and if you're happy with it, then more power to you. However. I've had to
struggle to remove SO MANY Norton software installs that I regard Norton in general as only slightly better than the Bonzi Buddy and his ilk.
Resource hogs and annoying quasi-malware, the lot of them. Bah. Bah, I say!
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
I wish to report preliminary success. I am writing to you now from Win 7 Ultimate. I have even managed to work around its nanny nature to copy my old Seamonkey configuration, complete with 400K of bookmarks, over to the new configuration.
Now I just have to rebuild everything else on the system.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
It should go pretty smoothly - more so for you than it went for me, since a lot of the software producers out there have made all the little mods needed to get
stuff to work in Win7 rather than just Vista.
Well, one big fail: Our all-in-one printer is apparently so old (ten years?) that HP has thrown up its hands and said "no driver, sorry". The amazing
thing is that Win7 still detects the printer and identifies it by name -- but it has no idea what kind of device it is and just shows it as a grey box. And I
can't tell it otherwise.
Peggy and I have been talking about getting a new printer to handle digital photos anyway, so that's going to be the new acquisition.
In the mean time, Win7 is very pretty and seems quite comfortable on my system. I'm still restoring and reinstalling various applications, but overall
things are proceeding nicely. Even if I did have to go directly to a chip manufacturer to get drivers for the mobo's built-in sound card.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Oooookay... will someone please tell me why my DVD-RW drive suddenly stopped working in the middle of the afternoon, and now seems utterly resistant to driver
(re)installation?
(It's a Pioneer DVR-110D. ATA.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.