upgrade to XP

[Modas]

Well, I've been running win98 SE for many moons now.  I went out and purchased Call of Duty Pacific assault, and failed to notice that I need XP to run this thing....

So, I am going to upgrade to XP pro with a dual boot for win98SE

Ok, the first of my MANY questions....

1.  I've got my HD partitioned into 3 drives.  I want to change the partitions down to two.  How do I go about doing that?  I know there are a couple of different levels of formating.  I want to format the drive as if it just came from the factory...  I have software that came with the drive originally that I can use to recreate the partitions once I get to that point.

2.  In what order to I need to do all the installations?  I'm assuming.... XP/win98/drivers.  I have an Epox 8RDA+ Nforce2.  I need to update the drivers for it.  I'm assuming (again) that these drivers are loaded after the OS is up and running?



3.  I'm looking at prices on pricewatch.  What the heck is the difference between OEM, OEM/COA, and Retail and what am I supposed to buy?

4.  Anything else that I should be looking for?

Much thanks!!

[JB73]

I've got my HD partitioned into 3 drives. I want to change the partitions down to two. How do I go about doing that? I know there are a couple of different levels of formating. I want to format the drive as if it just came from the factory...

you have to run fdisk and delete all the partitions, then create what you want from scratch

I have software that came with the drive originally that I can use to recreate the partitions once I get to that point

don't use such software, XP can manage the disks better

In what order to I need to do all the installations? I'm assuming.... XP/win98/drivers. I have an Epox 8RDA+ Nforce2. I need to update the drivers for it. I'm assuming (again) that these drivers are loaded after the OS is up and running?

you MUST load 98 first, you can not do a dual boot system the other way. also XP can use NTFS file system, but 98 will not be able to read any drive tha is formatten in NTFS. NTFS is much better, and you probably should have the XP partition in it, just make sure to leave the 98 partition in FAT32.

3. I'm looking at prices on pricewatch. What the heck is the difference between OEM, OEM/COA, and Retail and what am I supposed to buy?

OEM: "Original Equipment Manufacturer".

Retail: what you buy in store off shelf.

OEM is basically a cheaper version for you, but same as off the shelf. imagine Segate hard drives off the shelf marked up for retail prices, then imagine what Dell might pay for that same hard drive.

OS OEM versions are meant to be sold with a piece of hardware, usually a harddrive to install that OS on, or a motherboard for a new PC for that OS.

there are "workarounds" like new-egg that sell XP Pro OEM if you by a CDROM cable for $2. heck you even get a rebate int he price of said cable.

4. Anything else that I should be looking for?

if you have never done a full install of an OS from a fresh unformatted drive, i'd suggest having someone around to help you along.

[Roscoroo]

if your planing to run  xp in the ntfs format then i would recommend that you just get anouther hard drive and leave your win 98 drive set up the way it is ..

You can either use a boot manager program or just do what i do is enter the bios and swap the boot sequence .

[StarOfAfrica2]

Aye, I agree with Roscoroo, its much much easier later on if your 98 drive is totally separate from the XP drive.  Clean them up how you want, have your 98 installed and setup the way you want.  Then add the second drive and install XP.  It will tell you there is already an operating system installed, and that it is not compatible with XP.  Later it will read it as a FAT32 partition and ask you if you want to setup another one as FAT32 or NTFS and give you a list of available drives/partitions.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both choices in a dual boot system, so I'd read up on this before making your final decision.

Just remember that the 98 drive is your boot drive.  I made the mistake of not double checking my 98 boot disk, and when I had to make repairs later I was hosed because I didnt have one.  There are workarounds, obviously, but its a pain.  Make sure you can recover your 98 drive in case of a crash.  The nice part about this is, if you kept the drives separate, you can setup 98 on the new drive, copy over any software you can salvage off the old one, and then put your XP drive back in and you are back up and runnning exactly as before, and only had to replace one OS instead of both.