Upgrading & retaining files

[Marcia]

Is it possible to update from Windows (release 1) to Windows (release 2) and still retain the data files and software? Or is it 100% necessary to reformat?

[bill]

Marcia are you talking about a service pack release or a completely different version of Windows? Windows XP has a Files and Settings Transfer Wizard [microsoft.com] that can help in a move from major versions. Service Pack releases can generally be installed over your existing OS without changing your settings.

[Marcia]

Not a service pack, Bill. A machine has the first release of Win98 with the little fixit patches, but they weren't effective.

What I've got is the full version of Win98 Second Release (which is what it took to actually fix the bugs), and that's what I'd like to install on top of what's there and keep the data, emails and software, if at all possible.

[supermanjnk]

You would need an windows 98 SE upgrade I believe, also why would you want to upgrade to windows 98? It may be time to get a newer computer, since 98 is no longer supported by microsoft (you can still get updates but there won't be anything new)

[mathguy]

It is possible to upgrade over the previous release but I really think that is much better to start over again. If you are having problems with your current install it is probably a good idea to start with a fresh installation so that you are certain that all of your system files are good. It might take a little bit more time but I think you will generally be happier with the end result. Fresh installation will usually be quite a bit faster and less likely to have stability problems over machines that you have upgraded.

I would definitely agree with the previous poster that you really should reconsider installing Windows 98. Unless the machine is too slow to run XP or 2000 at a reasonable speed you really should consider moving on. Microsoft doesn't support older versions of Windows anymore and a lot of other vendors have dropped support for 98 as well. If you choose to move up to XP or 2000 the previous advice still applies.

When you reinstall windows you don't really need to reformat so much as get rid of everything in the windows directory and any installed software. There is no reason you can't keep data files on the drive. That should save you some time reinstalling. Provided you have a good backup of everything it shouldn't take you very long to reinstall everything unless you have a very slow machine.

[cooldoug]

If you upgrade to xp, the software should still run. It says its backwards-compatable.

[supermanjnk]

not neccesarily, Upgrades don't always copy over registry entries, which are needed for some programs to run.

[vkaryl]

Exactly right supermanjnk - and a major screwup for me due to believing something I read on a "techie" forum. When I redid my machine last weekend, I installed XPPro SP2 on a 40 gig drive (leaving plenty of space to install whichever flavor of linux I decide on), and the programs and data on the 120 gig drive I just bought.

Wouldn't have been a problem had I not decided to return the OS to SP1 from SP2 - which I accomplished by wiping the drive and reinstalling a fresh SP1. But then I had to reinstall all of the application programs because the registry had changed....

Fairly annoying, though not fatal.... I'm still considering what would be best to do though - because the point of putting the OS on a separate drive was supposedly that you would have no trouble just wiping and reinstalling the OS at any time you needed to.... but there will ALWAYS (with windows anyway) be the registry problem....

And to address Marcia's situation, when I was still using 98, I upgraded to 98SE and simply "upgraded". It worked fine for about 4 years. In fact I occasionally long for my 98SE whenever XP does something stupid....

[Marcia]

>>too slow to run XP or 2000 at a reasonable speed you really should consider moving on.

It is way too slow, it's a P2/350 clunker and there wouldn't be enough available HD space for XP. I've got a new computer, but just wanted to hold on to this as a backup.

As it turns out, it looks like there's a motherboard problem and with P3 refurbs under $100 complete it seems like that'll be the way to go, just pull the HD and memory and bury the old gal. It's only for a spare for the time being that'll mostly sit unused, just in case.

Plus, I've got some hardware that can't be used with XP (printer & scanner), so when I move up again I can just give the outdated stuff to someone who has no computer at all.

I'm a hoarder - still have the 8088 under the bed. :)

[vkaryl]

I'm a hoarder - still have the 8088 under the bed. :)

Made me laugh - my old 8086 is still in business, believe it or not; it's running part of the water system in Pahrump, NV. (This is the first machine I ever owned, the first computer I ever touched - 1984....)