Hey all,
I'm thinking of wiping my current installation of windows xp home and all the other data on the hard drives, and starting again. I've read all the info i can find on performing a clean install using the windows xp setup program on the windows cd.
I'm still at that newb-ish stage where i know some stuff, but not quite everything yet. So as i've never done anything like re-installing the os befor, I'm still debating with myself as to whether to do it, or just put up with the comp the way it is. I've been putting this off for a while because of all the new stuff i'd have to learn/read up on in order to successfully re-install an operating system correctly, but hey.. i'm gonna have to learn this stuff sooner or later so i figure it's best to learn now and go through the "trial and error" stages of learning & testing new stuff like this while the computer is still under warranty
So as you can imagine i have alot of questions and they are abit long-winded, because i need to explain some stuff aswell, so you get the whole picture. Here goes..
(1) My general understanding of how a reinstall of windows xp goes when using the windows xp setup program off the windows cd is thus:
* Fire up the computer with the windows xp cd in the cd rom and boot from the cd and let the cd load it's setup files.
* Press enter to accept installation of windows xp, and accept the license agreement.
* Select a partition to use for the installation, and select a file system for that partition, then format the partition, then let some more files load.
* Then the computer will restart, and the windows xp setup wizard will go though some information gathering stuff, and ask for the product key, then reboot again.
* Then it will boot into windows to setup a user account and activate windows
Is this all correct, and the way it's still done ? as some of the sources i used to read up on how to install windows xp via the windows setup program were abit old and were written when win xp was first released. Also some of the guides even talk about using setup floppy disks/fdisk tool/format tools on floppy's.
(2) In some guides on how the installation process goes, they say that before the setup program begins, the first thing you'll see at the bottom of the screen is the option to press F6 if you need to install a SCSI or RAID controller. My current windows installation is currently installed on to two maxtor 80gb sata drives in a raid 0 array setup, meaning the two hard drives a combined, and all data is stripped between the two, which is confirmed by the following text that comes up just after POST, but before windows loads, when the system is booting:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FastTrack 378 (tm) BIOS Version 1.00.0.27
(c) 2002-2005 Promise Technology, Inc. All rights reserved
ID.....MODE..........SIZE..........TRACK-MAPPING......STATUS
=====================================================
1*....2+0 Stripe....163928M.....19929/255/63.........Functional.
Press <Ctrl-F> to enter FastBuild (tm) Utility..._
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I must have read all the manuals that came with the computer over at least twice now, in preparation for this os re-install lol, as i didn't actually build the computer myself Anyway i've been reading the motherboard manuals, and apparently FastTrack is the utility used for the raid arrays. So as the utility that is used for the raid array is already setup and "Functional" as it says, my question is do i need to press F6 and install any drivers at the "install raid/scsi drivers" part of the windows setup program, granted that the FastTrack utility thingy is already setup ? or is the FastTrack utility thing suppurate form the drivers ?
(3) When I actually get around to re-installing windows i'm planning/hoping to be able to select the partition that my current windows installation is installed on (eg the raid array, which is one whole big partition) and then format that partition when i get to the file system selection part of the setup program, and install the new clean installation of windows on that. Will i be able to do this ? or will i have to delete the whole partition ? I'm not too keen on messing with the current partition on the raid array, as i don't know if i delete the partition whether i will be deleting the raid array FastTrack stuff along with it. Which i don't want to do as i don't want to have to setup the array again. (Mainly because i don't know how to yet lol ) or will even just formating the partition delete the FastTrack stuff or the raid array ?
Basically if i keep my existing partition on the raid array, and don't delete it, but just format the partition for the new windows installation, then that should mean that the FastTrack stuff and the array it's self should not be interfered with right ?
(4) Finally, once windows is installed i'll obviously have to reinstall all the drivers for all the device's in the system. I don't mind doing this. However i've learned by accident really that you can apparently install drivers of any of the devices in the device manager list by clicking on an individual device and click update drive, then you can just pop in the cd for that device and the windows driver update wizard will automatically search the cd for the correct driver for that particular device. What are you opinions on this method of installing drivers for hardware ?
PS - oh yeah, i've just noticed that on my windows xp home edition cd, that there is a tiny little spec of sticky paper on it off the cd sleeve or it might be a scratch on the cd it's self, i don't know, but do you think that it could interfere with the windows installation ? As i have read about some people having problems with missing files and errors happening because of stuff on the cd. If it could be a problem, how do you recommend i sort it ?
Cheers in advance for any help,
Dayus.
I'm thinking of wiping my current installation of windows xp home and all the other data on the hard drives, and starting again. I've read all the info i can find on performing a clean install using the windows xp setup program on the windows cd.
I'm still at that newb-ish stage where i know some stuff, but not quite everything yet. So as i've never done anything like re-installing the os befor, I'm still debating with myself as to whether to do it, or just put up with the comp the way it is. I've been putting this off for a while because of all the new stuff i'd have to learn/read up on in order to successfully re-install an operating system correctly, but hey.. i'm gonna have to learn this stuff sooner or later so i figure it's best to learn now and go through the "trial and error" stages of learning & testing new stuff like this while the computer is still under warranty
So as you can imagine i have alot of questions
and they are abit long-winded, because i need to explain some stuff aswell, so you get the whole picture. Here goes..(1) My general understanding of how a reinstall of windows xp goes when using the windows xp setup program off the windows cd is thus:
* Fire up the computer with the windows xp cd in the cd rom and boot from the cd and let the cd load it's setup files.
* Press enter to accept installation of windows xp, and accept the license agreement.
* Select a partition to use for the installation, and select a file system for that partition, then format the partition, then let some more files load.
* Then the computer will restart, and the windows xp setup wizard will go though some information gathering stuff, and ask for the product key, then reboot again.
* Then it will boot into windows to setup a user account and activate windows
Is this all correct, and the way it's still done ? as some of the sources i used to read up on how to install windows xp via the windows setup program were abit old and were written when win xp was first released. Also some of the guides even talk about using setup floppy disks/fdisk tool/format tools on floppy's.
(2) In some guides on how the installation process goes, they say that before the setup program begins, the first thing you'll see at the bottom of the screen is the option to press F6 if you need to install a SCSI or RAID controller. My current windows installation is currently installed on to two maxtor 80gb sata drives in a raid 0 array setup, meaning the two hard drives a combined, and all data is stripped between the two, which is confirmed by the following text that comes up just after POST, but before windows loads, when the system is booting:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FastTrack 378 (tm) BIOS Version 1.00.0.27
(c) 2002-2005 Promise Technology, Inc. All rights reserved
ID.....MODE..........SIZE..........TRACK-MAPPING......STATUS
=====================================================
1*....2+0 Stripe....163928M.....19929/255/63.........Functional.
Press <Ctrl-F> to enter FastBuild (tm) Utility..._
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I must have read all the manuals that came with the computer over at least twice now, in preparation for this os re-install lol, as i didn't actually build the computer myself
Anyway i've been reading the motherboard manuals, and apparently FastTrack is the utility used for the raid arrays. So as the utility that is used for the raid array is already setup and "Functional" as it says, my question is do i need to press F6 and install any drivers at the "install raid/scsi drivers" part of the windows setup program, granted that the FastTrack utility thingy is already setup ? or is the FastTrack utility thing suppurate form the drivers ? (3) When I actually get around to re-installing windows i'm planning/hoping to be able to select the partition that my current windows installation is installed on (eg the raid array, which is one whole big partition) and then format that partition when i get to the file system selection part of the setup program, and install the new clean installation of windows on that. Will i be able to do this ? or will i have to delete the whole partition ? I'm not too keen on messing with the current partition on the raid array, as i don't know if i delete the partition whether i will be deleting the raid array FastTrack stuff along with it. Which i don't want to do as i don't want to have to setup the array again. (Mainly because i don't know how to yet lol
) or will even just formating the partition delete the FastTrack stuff or the raid array ?Basically if i keep my existing partition on the raid array, and don't delete it, but just format the partition for the new windows installation, then that should mean that the FastTrack stuff and the array it's self should not be interfered with right ?
(4) Finally, once windows is installed i'll obviously have to reinstall all the drivers for all the device's in the system. I don't mind doing this. However i've learned by accident really that you can apparently install drivers of any of the devices in the device manager list by clicking on an individual device and click update drive, then you can just pop in the cd for that device and the windows driver update wizard will automatically search the cd for the correct driver for that particular device. What are you opinions on this method of installing drivers for hardware ?
PS - oh yeah, i've just noticed that on my windows xp home edition cd, that there is a tiny little spec of sticky paper on it off the cd sleeve or it might be a scratch on the cd it's self, i don't know, but do you think that it could interfere with the windows installation ? As i have read about some people having problems with missing files and errors happening because of stuff on the cd. If it could be a problem, how do you recommend i sort it ?
Cheers in advance for any help,
Dayus.
