Quick question about reformatting

[Stigmata]

I'm on a Vista laptop with a 160GB hard drive, partitioned into C: (99.9GB) and D: (48.0GB). Vista, obviously, is installed on C. Now, Vista has been crashing repeatedly, so I need to reformat, but I'm thinking of installing XP instead using my desktop's copy of XP Home.

The problem is, I have gigs upon gigs of media that I really don't want to lose, which pretty much requires I install XP on my D: drive, keeping all my media on C:. So my question is, if I install XP on D:, delete Vista from C:, and then switch the drive letters, will that cause any errors?

 

[PJ]

i'm not sure. I dont think you can 'just switch the letters' - but correct me if i'm wrong. you could copy all your media files etc onto D with live cd linux, and then install xp on your present vista partition (C)

 

[Stigmata]

The problem is, I have more than 48GB of media

 

[CyberPitz]

I'd imagine there will be some issues cropping up. If you just switch the drive letters, anything in the registry/config files will be wonky.....if by media you mean videos and music, I doubt they will care.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

I don't see why you need to change drive letters when you install XP on drive D: XP will recognise it as C: and Vista as D: Each OS recognises it's own partition as the C: drive.

 

[Asus]

You should be able to install on the D drive no problem. If you choose to not switch drive letters you should be OK as most programs will tell themselves to install in the windows drive no matter what letter it happens to be (which would be D in this case). But some programs don't look for that and just go for C no matter what. So you would have to catch those before installing and correct the path.

I know you can switch drive letters easy with non-windows drives as I do it all the time. I don't think I've ever switched a OS drive letter. Although I do have a machine right now with WinXP as D and C as storage. I could try it and see if it prompts with any warning.

Also, some apps may not work right if you change the drive letter that the OS is on after installing the app. Possibly some MS apps that get installed with the OS even.

EDIT: The normal way to change drive letters tells me it cannot change the boot volume's drive letter. There is a way although with warnings.
Read me

 

[Stigmata]

So if I install on D, and don't use programs that are hard-coded to install to C:, I should be fine right? I really only use Firefox, MSN, Reason, Steam, WMP11, and Azureus/Vuze, and they're all pretty recent.

 

[Krynn72]

If you install XP on your D drive, then programs you had installed with Vista on your C drive wont work. However, if you install any new programs while using XP (on your D drive) and let them install to the C drive, those will work, since windows sets up the proper registry entries so it can find the application. You can always just tell the install wizard in any app where to install it to anyways.

 

[McGooTheWise]

...Get an external hard drive... :l

It will serve for more than just one use, trust me. It's nice to have to move stuff over when you need room.

 

[Stigmata]

If you install XP on your D drive, then programs you had installed with Vista on your C drive wont work. However, if you install any new programs while using XP (on your D drive) and let them install to the C drive, those will work, since windows sets up the proper registry entries so it can find the application. You can always just tell the install wizard in any app where to install it to anyways.

That's perfect. I don't plan on keeping anything but my media files, which are all mp3, avi, and bin/cue.

I'll pick up an external drive when I can afford more than rent and food every month.

 

[AtomicSpark]

If you install XP on drive D:, XP will call this drive C: and your other one will be drive D:. Drive letters are just how Windows keeps track of volumes. Microsoft should really drop the silly alphabet thing.

 

[Asus]

If you install XP on drive D:, XP will call this drive C: and your other one will be drive D:. Drive letters are just how Windows keeps track of volumes. Microsoft should really drop the silly alphabet thing.

On my older machine I did a fresh install of XP on my 2nd drive and it called itself D still. The C drive may have been an old install at one time although atm it is just storage. I don't recall if I reformatted C or just started saving stuff on it.

 

[AtomicSpark]

Really? IIRC, when I duel booted XP and Vista, both System Volumes were labeled C:. I wonder how I managed that.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Really? IIRC, when I duel booted XP and Vista, both System Volumes were labeled C:. I wonder how I managed that.

It's normal, by default Windows will always try to call it's partition the C: drive

 

[Kadayi]

...Get an external hard drive... :l

It will serve for more than just one use, trust me. It's nice to have to move stuff over when you need room.

This.

You can get a 250 GB Western digital Passport for about ?50 - ?60 and back up your media and all your other documents & Steam onto it.

If your intending to feck around with a reinstall it's best to be prepared and have a second copy of your 'precious things'.

A few years back I inadvertently formatted the drive with all of my university work on, fortunately I had the sense not to put anything onto it (that would of buggered it) and was able to use a recovery program to get everything back, but it was a real horror show at the time. :x