I have a second computer still using Win 98. If I install XP Home Edition will I lose all my existing files?
Thank you
Joe
XP Home Edition Install
Moderator: Wiz Feinberg
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Joe Delaronde
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Mitch Drumm
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Not if you do it correctly.
Be sure to back up your bookmarks, email, cookies, and data (documents, pictures, videos, mp3, etc).
The world is full of people who found out after the fact that they didn't back up correctly and lost some or all of their data, so I urge you to copy all of your stuff to DVDs, CDs, secondary hard drives, thumb drives, or whatever you have available. No harm done by having multiple backups.
As I recall, XP Home has built-in wizards to back up email, bookmarks, and possibly cookies. I personally would not rely on them to be perfect--make separate backups that do not rely on the wizard.
Of course, you should be backing up as a matter of course on a schedule of some kind.
Be sure to back up your bookmarks, email, cookies, and data (documents, pictures, videos, mp3, etc).
The world is full of people who found out after the fact that they didn't back up correctly and lost some or all of their data, so I urge you to copy all of your stuff to DVDs, CDs, secondary hard drives, thumb drives, or whatever you have available. No harm done by having multiple backups.
As I recall, XP Home has built-in wizards to back up email, bookmarks, and possibly cookies. I personally would not rely on them to be perfect--make separate backups that do not rely on the wizard.
Of course, you should be backing up as a matter of course on a schedule of some kind.
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Bruce Atkinson
- Posts: 41
- Joined: 10 Nov 2007 8:26 am
- Location: Massachusetts, USA
First, you should determine is your second computer capable of running Windows XP Home, and, how 'limited' and environment will it be for XP?
Although XP will run on some really slow computers (800mhz range), preferrably, something in the range of 1.6 ghz or faster should be used. Preferrably, a Pentium or Athlon processor, too, rather than a Celeron or Duron. XP has more overhead and thus requires more horses to run...unless you like waiting around every time you press enter.
Although I've seen XP run with only 256 meg of RAM, you really need a gig or so to make it sing.
You should also consider a bigger and/or faster hard drive, too. A 20 gig HD just doesn't 'get it' these days!
In short, with new computers so cheap these days, I'd seriously consider a new one before trying to 'save' a probably-too-slow-too-small Win 98 box. Just buying a new, genuine copy of XP is in the $100 range (finding one may be difficult as Microsoft stopped making them a couple months ago!), and new computers only $400 or so complete!
Also .....
If you decide to simply install Windows XP on the old computer, you must get the UPGRADE version, not the 'regular' version of Windows XP. The Upgrade version will recogize all your files and programs and even produce a report showing what is not compatible under XP. It will also save all your data files, too. The regular version will do a drive format before it installs, thus wiping out everything.
Lastly, if you go the new computer route, XP has some nifty software to copy your settings, files, and what not from your old computer, via a direct computer-to-computer connection. You only need to have both up and running to copy the information.
Although XP will run on some really slow computers (800mhz range), preferrably, something in the range of 1.6 ghz or faster should be used. Preferrably, a Pentium or Athlon processor, too, rather than a Celeron or Duron. XP has more overhead and thus requires more horses to run...unless you like waiting around every time you press enter.
Although I've seen XP run with only 256 meg of RAM, you really need a gig or so to make it sing.
You should also consider a bigger and/or faster hard drive, too. A 20 gig HD just doesn't 'get it' these days!
In short, with new computers so cheap these days, I'd seriously consider a new one before trying to 'save' a probably-too-slow-too-small Win 98 box. Just buying a new, genuine copy of XP is in the $100 range (finding one may be difficult as Microsoft stopped making them a couple months ago!), and new computers only $400 or so complete!
Also .....
If you decide to simply install Windows XP on the old computer, you must get the UPGRADE version, not the 'regular' version of Windows XP. The Upgrade version will recogize all your files and programs and even produce a report showing what is not compatible under XP. It will also save all your data files, too. The regular version will do a drive format before it installs, thus wiping out everything.
Lastly, if you go the new computer route, XP has some nifty software to copy your settings, files, and what not from your old computer, via a direct computer-to-computer connection. You only need to have both up and running to copy the information.
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Jack Stoner
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- Joined: 3 Dec 1999 1:01 am
- Location: Kansas City, MO
If you are already using that copy of Windows XP on a PC, you can't install it (activate it) on a second PC, you need a separate copy for each PC.
I agree that you need to really evaluate the hardware on the Win98 machine. Some older hardware is not compatible and you need Windows XP specific drivers as the older drivers are also not compatible. XP needs (real world minimum) of 256 MB just to run the OS (it's a memory hog) and 512MB is better. I've seen XP on old Win98 machines and it runs S L O W. If you have any peripherals (e.g. printers and scanners) that are working on the Win98 machine, check the peripheral vendor to see if it is XP compatible - a lot of the older peripherals are not XP compatible.
Finally, some of the older software is not XP compatible.
See THIS on the Windows XP Upgrade Advisor. If you are doing an "upgrade" it's very important to do EVERYTHING the upgrade advisor flags and BEFORE you actually do the upgrade.
I agree that you need to really evaluate the hardware on the Win98 machine. Some older hardware is not compatible and you need Windows XP specific drivers as the older drivers are also not compatible. XP needs (real world minimum) of 256 MB just to run the OS (it's a memory hog) and 512MB is better. I've seen XP on old Win98 machines and it runs S L O W. If you have any peripherals (e.g. printers and scanners) that are working on the Win98 machine, check the peripheral vendor to see if it is XP compatible - a lot of the older peripherals are not XP compatible.
Finally, some of the older software is not XP compatible.
See THIS on the Windows XP Upgrade Advisor. If you are doing an "upgrade" it's very important to do EVERYTHING the upgrade advisor flags and BEFORE you actually do the upgrade.