XP install over ME?

[Penguin]

Can I upgrade ME by installing XP over top of it so I don't have to wipe the hardrive and start over? I think I remember reading a while ago, that MEW and XP had some issues if you installed XP over Me and it was best to remove ME and start from scratch. I really don't want to remove and reinstall everything. I always loose data or something when doing that. Unless there someone knows a good way to back up everything and get it back. Maybe I just don't backup everything the right way.

[Panama Red]

You're much better off to save your data to another drive and do a reformat and clean install. One reason is to remove all the ME "stuff". The other is to allow you to format in NTFS instead of FAT32 like ME uses. NTFS has many advantages over FAT32. Easiest way to save data is to install your hard drive as a slave in another machine and copy everything in My Documents and Favorites that you want to keep. Assuming you store all your stuff in My Documents.

[Penguin]

Quick question. I have my hard drive partitioned and Windows in on the C drive, and most of my programs are on D and E. IF I reformat c and install XP, is there a way to get the programs on D and E to work without reinstall? I would think formating C would remove program registry values and render the program unable to run with out reinstall. Is this correct?

[Panama Red]

That's right. Programs are installed to the registry so reformatting or changing the OS will render them inoperative. I quit installing programs to a separate partition just for that reason. Just move your My Documents to a separate partition, use the XP disk to remove the Programs partition to combine it with the C: partition and be prepared to reinstall all the programs.

[Penguin]

Thanks Panama Red. That is what I though, but just wanted to double check. I guess I have some work ahead of me.

Thanks everyone.