A question about XP

[Kasturi]

Hello,

I have read thru a lot of discussions on here & I cannot seem to find the answer I am looking for.

I currently have Win98 SE & was interested in finally purchasing Win XP Home edition (not the upgrade). My question is, If I install this new OS over Win98 will I lose all of my files that I currently have on there or will they still show up as normal?

I have also seen some discussions about a dual boot that can be used. Does XP offer this or would I need to get a program to do this function?

I do not want to format & install clean if I don't have to.

I have another hard drive in there that has little or no info on it that I could install XP to if this would enable a dual boot.


Thanx,
Kas

[Alfie]

Upgrading Win98se to XP can be problematic.
A dual boot is possible if you have another partition on the drive,do you?
XP would have everything you'll need for a dual boot and no other software is required.
The best file system to use is ntfs with XP.
XP can read fat 16,32 and ntfs,whereas 98se can't read ntfs,but if your primary OS is XP,this shouldn't be a problem.
You can use the upgrade version and do a clean install with it,as long as you have a qualifying cd,this would be Win 95b,98,98se,me.
The XP cd would ask for verification,you would put in the other OS's cd,XP will check it and insrtuct you to put the XP cd back in.
I see you have another drive,so you could install XP to that drive,the drive would have to be formatted and you would have to instruct XP to install there,so make sure you know what drive it is!

[trulad]

If it was me I would move all my files to the second hard drive, boot with the XP cd in the drive,let it format & partition, select NTFS file system(much better) do a fresh install of everything then move your files back. I've heard too many bad things from installing over top of 98 or ME. If you don't have XP yet you can get an OEM copy from Newegg for about $85.00 or so then you don't need your 98 disc anymore.
trulad

[trulad]

Correction: Newegg has XP OEM for $96.25 + .99 shipping.
Trulad

[macko72]

Yeah you do just how trulad have explained and as for where to buy check some other sites maybe you will find cheaper than Newegg!!!

[glc]

You have nothing to lose if you try to do an upgrade as long as you do not convert the drive to NTFS. If it runs bad, you can uninstall XP and go back to 98 - then do either a clean install or a dual boot. You can upgrade with a full CD, just put it in in Windows and let it autorun. If the upgrade goes well and you want to keep XP, you can then convert the drive to NTFS.