wideboyuk

Couple of questions:

1) Got an old 400mhz machine with 256mb ram running 98. Is it worth upgrading to XP (will it run ok) or be too slow. I am having problems with it freezing for no apparent reason from time to time, getting a bit p1ssed off. Done they usual defrags, spyware etc etc.

2) If I decide to do this, I want to back up my system, application and user data, as I would prefer a nice clean install on a formatted c drive. Whats the best / easiest way to do this.

Thanks guys

wideboyuk

If I use something like Norton Ghost, if i completely screw up my hd (possibly format it! ) and wipe the OS, will the backup disk it creates restore everything including the OS?

judgejules

Does the screen redraw really, really slowly?

Ghost should create you an exact image of the disk, but you'll need the same amount of space again to store the image.

Jules

wideboyuk

No it just locks up sometimes, for example when I delete a few files, it will just freeze (can't use mouse or keyboard) for say about a minute then spring back into life.

judgejules

Hmm, have you tried running a check disk ?

wideboyuk

Yeh done all that, got a horrible feeling the disk is dying.
Looking to get a replacement as its only a 10gb anyway and almost full, which isn't helping performance.

judgejules

Ahh its you from the HD thread

Tried ringing these guys?

Not sure how local they are.

Jules

wideboyuk

lol thanks fella

wideboyuk

One thing I havent done is defrag the pagefile area.
Could that be causing performance problems, it is quite an old pc?

judgejules

This shouldnt cause it to freeze in this way, nope.

Does the computer "grind" (lots of HD access) when these freezes happen?

J

wideboyuk

No it just seems to do f all !
As if the processor is working its nuts off but it happens sometimes when nothing much is running and if I run the system monitor CPU usage is pretty low.

judgejules

Hmm sounds like an OS prob, or hardware error Doesnt really narrow it down

You need a new HD and to put XP on there

I've got XP running on an old P2-233 laptop with 192mb ram and it runs better than Win98 did.

J

wideboyuk

Now thats a good idea....now where can I get a HD from today

I know 400mhz is slow compared to the latest cpu's but I would imagine its more than enough for surfing the web etc.?

wideboyuk

Picked up my version of XP from Bittorrent, not sure its a full version (is 530mb in size) but will try it out on a new HD before I wreck my current one!

Tony_W

If you ghost your drive , or partition prior to formatitng it, you will then be able to put it back to win98 standard (albeit with the freezing problem).

I've tried Win XP on a few machines less than 500 Mhz. They all run much better except when it comes to dial up internet - then they can't cope and grind to a halt when accessing web sites. It doesn't seem to happen if you connect the same machine via LAN to boradband though.

Have you thought about Win 2000 if XP doesn't work? You'll probably be able to get that from the same place as XP or Bearshare

wideboyuk

Dial-up isn't a problem as I use broadband.

Yeh I use 2k on my laptop for work, but I thought XP at home cos it would keep the missus happy as its all nice and pretty and stuff and I thought 2k wasn't very compatible with a lot of games etc.??

Tony_W

If you are going to do a fresh install, PRIOR to it; don't forget to search for your *.wab (address book) file and back it up, plus favourites folder, plus outlook exported to a .pst file, or if you use Outlook Express then search for your .dbx files and just copy the whole folder.
And if you use dial up, export the settings from in Control Panel, Internet options, connections - export.

If you are putting a new drive in, I would recommend partitioning it into 2 and putting every program you install into a folder called "Program files" on the second partition.

The reasons for this are:
Keeps the 1st partition size down to a minimum (about 1.5 Gb for XP) which means its much faster to ghost to the second partition/drive and keeps the image size down (you can also compress the image), and also if you did have to do a brand new installation to the 1st partition again for some strange reason then repeat the above by installing all programs to the second partition over the originals BUT... you should still have kept all your previous settings from these programs as they are usually extra files and so will not be re-written over.

Tony_W

If I remember back to Win 2000, can't you right click the short cut to a game/prog and set its compatability to win98, as you can for Windows XP?

Edited to say I never had a compatability Isuue with all my games on Win2000.

wideboyuk

Another question: If I format a 2nd HD and make it bootable, will the system automatically boot off the primary or will it ask which one to use?