From WinNT 4.0 to Win ME

[wjperry]

I have inherited a buisness Compaq Armada 1750 laptop that has NT 4.0 installed on it. I want to install WindowsME in order to make use of the multimedia features and the USB connections as well as hook up to the home ethernet network & cable modem. I know the file system is different, but what are any special considerations that are needed to undertake such a seemingly backward task??? Any help will be appreciated.

[Statica]

Not much to it actually, just get used to a lot more crashes than NT
If you convert your data drives to FAT before the switch to ME, then you can preserve a lot of your data as FAT is readable by ME.

Also the system partition has no restrictions now, so thats another bonus.

[K A Hall]

Statica, you can convert an NTFS drive to FAT? I did not think that could be done. I thought you could only do the opposite.

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

I believe Partiton Magic can do it. not that I condone partition magic.

[K A Hall]

oh yeah! I think you are correct.

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

wpjerry,

it's strange that Compaq doesn't have any softpaq for ME up for it, I would probably take that as a good sign, or it could just be the reverse of the reasoning they use when they refuse to put up Windows 2000 softpaqs up for the Presarios.

either way, Compaq uses relatively generic hardware on their PCs and workstations and work with MS, so most of your drivers should already be on the ME disk...although, sometimes it's better to go with the softpaqs than the default drives. then again, sometimes it's better not to use the softpaqs or the default drivers at all, the ATI and ESS drivers for the onboard video and sound were better than either, on the presario, deskpro and laptops that used them.