I've had it with my current situation…
I have a Dell GX280 with WinXP Pro SP3 & a 40 GB hard drive…
I'm on dial-up & that's going to change soon too…
My game plan is to upgrade my hard drive to a larger unit , install WinXP Pro , register & update it , install Win8 , register & update that one ( Not sure about Win8.1 yet) & wait for July 29th & get the much ballyhoo'd Win 10…
My question is this;…
You/I hear that "Bigger is Better"…
Is that the case for hard drives also ???
I am seeing 1 TB hard drives for a very reasonable price…
Even 500 GBs look good..
I have a 40 GB drive now & I KNOW I'll NEVER fill a 1TB drive..
IF I get one , will there be any side effects with it in this computer ???
I am already expecting a "forever" time formatting the drive..
the size of the hard drive makes no difference unless it's larger than 2TB, except i'd bet it will be a lot faster than your current 40GB drive.
seeing how your current drive is only 40GB i'd think your running a very old system and your drive is probably a pata and not a sata cable connection so that is something to be aware of.
also seeing how it is an older system it may not be capable of running win 8 or win 10, so you'd need to look at all the system components, ram, cpu, graphics etc.
you may find you'd be better off not buying a new hard drive but putting that money towards a new complete system.
you can probably find a new system for $500 that is much faster and better than your current system if it's as old as i think.
My game plan is to upgrade my hard drive to a larger unit , install WinXP Pro , register & update it , install Win8 , register & update that one ( Not sure about Win8.1 yet) & wait for July 29th & get the much ballyhoo'd Win 10…
What is the reason you want to reinstall WinXP pro prior to installing Win 8?
Yes , it's an older computer , but , it has served me well..
NO major problems , just minor glitches with functionality etc..
I ran a Win7 & Win8 compatability test & there are no major issues with each…
That , according to the info I got means that I can go to Win10 without any major issues , (I HOPE !!)…
I'm not a gamer , so I'm not looking for anything super fast…
I'm retired & on a small fixed income so $500 is not easy to come by…
IF the plan fails , then I'll find a way to get a new computer..
THANKS again for your help & advice…
Have a GREAT day & weekend…
TomK;…
GREAT to see that you are STILL alive & kicking…
THANKS for your speedy reply also…
I will not be "re-installing" WinXP Pro to the 40 GB hard drive..
I will be installing it to the new bigger hard drive…
I'm told by some sellers at eBay where I got the Win8 Pro install CD that Win8 has to be installed to an exixting OS..
I'm told that I can not do a raw , clean , fresh install to an empty hard drive…
Is that true ???
Ron, I would highly recommend getting a 250GB SSD instead of the 1TB HDD. The difference in performance is amazing and if you've lived with a 40GB drive this long, a 250GB SDD should be more than enough for you. You can always add the 1TB drive at a later date if you need more room.
Glad to hear you may soon finally get off dial up. I know that's been a killer for you on several occasions.
How much ram does the Dell have? If 4GB or less than you can go with the 32 bit version of Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 when it's released.
What about upgrading the software?
The software covered by this agreement is an upgrade to your existing operating system (XP SP3, Vista, or Windows 7) software, so the upgrade replaces the original software that you are upgrading. You do not retain any rights to the original software after you have upgraded and you may not continue to use it or transfer it in any way. This agreement governs your rights to use the upgrade software and replaces the agreement for the software from which you upgraded. After you complete your upgrade, additional software will be required to playback or record certain types of media, including DVDs."""
That's enough to scare me off…
Because of the warning , I'm not sure that that would work …
Mind you , I'm not saying that it won't…
I just have my doubts…
The CD that I bought is "Microsoft Windows 8 Pro - Upgrade for Windows 3UR-00001"…..
I got it here;=>..
What confuses me is that the CD says "Upgrade" , not a fresh install…
My WinXP Pro CD does not say "Upgrade"
To my knowledge , Windows Vista did not say "Upgrade"
Win7 or Win8 to my knowledge , Windows CD do not say "Upgrade"
Kinda like regular gasoline & premium gasoline …"Upgrade"…
Still gasoline , but , better ???…
To me an "Upgrade" means that you are adding to an existing thing…
IF I were to do the install as they say in the Eight Forums article , I have doubts that I'd get all/or some of the previous features from WinXP Pro blended in to Win8..
I may be way out in left field on that one , but I can't be sure..
THANK you…
Any thoughts ???
Ztruker;…
WELCOME back… … …
There is such a thing as going too big & for that reason I'm not going to get the 1 TB hard drive…
I AM kicking around a 250 or a 500 GB drive…
I expect a dramatic improvement with the bigger drive..
Sorry to say that I STILL will be on dial-up…
NetZero has gotten crappier as time wore on & I've had it with their lousy service & performance…
Their fastest speed is 5KB per second MAX !!!
I have inquired at Centurylink & they're much faster…
But , there's a higher price that I now can afford to pay…
My dell has 1 GB of RAM & I plan on installing the 32 bit version of Win8…
1GB of ram for Windows 8 is the absolute minimum. 2GB would be much better, even for 32 bit.
To me an "Upgrade" means that you are adding to an existing thing…
IF I were to do the install as they say in the Eight Forums article , I have doubts that I'd get all/or some of the previous features from WinXP Pro blended in to Win8..
There is no upgrade to Windows 8 from XP. You will have to do a Clean install. If you don't format the hard drive during install then all your XP stuff will be placed in C:\Windows.old where you can retrieve it after the install is finished. You cannot do a straight upgrade install, it's not allowed. You will have to reinstall any programs you want, no choice.
Before you do anything, make sure you have a image backup of your existing hard drive so you have a way to get back to where you are if something goes wrong. The best way to do this is to use Macrium Reflect Free and backup to an external USB attached hard drive. With the image, you can browse it to recover any file or folder for the new Windows 8 install if you want.
""Before you do anything, make sure you have a image backup of your existing hard drive so you have a way to get back to where you are if something goes wrong.""
The "existing hard drive" (40 GBs) will be removed from this computer & Windows 8 etc will be installed on a new 250 or 500 GB hard drive…
Any files , pix or other data on 40 GB drive , I can easily transfer them to the new hard drive with a flash drive..
One is for "Clean Install-Windows 8" & the other is for "Windows8UPGRADE"!!!
BOTH articles written by the same author for the same(?) results with the same (?) CD ???
What the ???
What ever happened to;
Boot computer from CD..
Follow prompts…(Will include format drive & entering product key)
Restart computer…
Done !!!
Use as you like..
Now I'm NOT trying to OFFEND ANYONE here !!!
I'm NOT saying one is better than the other , but , I am thoroughly confused…
WinXP was & is EASY to install…
What the hell happened to this procedure ???
WHY so complicated…
All I want is to get Win 8 installed as it should be with all the goodies that go with it , wait for Win 10 & hopefully go with that new OS…
WHY so involved ??
I forgot you were removing the 40GB drive so you are in good shape there for backup.
It looks complicates but the 22 steps are logical and in order as the screens appear during installation. Windows 10 is not Windows XP, things have changed. The installation is actually simpler and a lot faster. The post installation setup is what requires the extra steps.
You have to decide whether you want to use a Microsoft account to login with, which I recommend, or use a Local account like you did with XP. You can have both but the Microsoft account is required to make use of some of the new features of Windows 10.
The difference between the clean and upgrade is the installation media itself. If you purchased a Upgrade version then follow Shawn's upgrade tutorial. If you purchased a retail (non-OEM) version then follow his Clean tutorial.
Don't make more out of this than is necessary.
Since you are starting with a new SSD, you want to delete any existing partition so the drive is completely unallocated then click Next and let the installer create and format the partitions it needs.
Once you have Windows 10 installed and all working to your satisfaction, think about getting into a regular image backup routine as I mentioned above. You can get a 1TB USB 3.0 external hard drive for around $50 and Macrium is free. I use a Samsung Canvio 1TB USB 3.0 external drive and it works great and is pretty quick.
Don't be afraid to experiment as it's real easy to start over if something goes wrong or doesn't come out the way you wanted.
Here is a screen shot of Disk Management for my Lenovo K450 running Windows 8.1 currently. Windows 10 will setup the 250GB Samsung SSD exactly the same way when I install it.
I believe I already have a Microsoft account…
I'll check & make sure that it's still useable…
If you purchased a Upgrade version then follow Shawn's upgrade tutorial. If you purchased a retail (non-OEM) version then follow his Clean tutorial.
I think I have the "Upgrade" version…
The reason I say that is even tho the eBay listing said "Upgrade" , on the package I got , there is NO "Upgrade" printed anywhere on it…
That said , will the features be the same for each install procedure..
Let me clarify that..
Let's say I have the "retail (non-OEM) version" & follow Shawn's Clean tutorial..
Let's say that I have the "Upgrade" version & follow Shawn's upgrade tutorial…
Would BOTH end results be identical ???
Or will I miss out on some of the features with an "Upgrade" version…
the thing to do is disconnect your current 40GB hard drive with your win xp pro on, connect your new hard drive, insert your win 8 cd and see if it will install to the empty drive if it does then do the upgrade of that to win 10, reconnect your old 40GB hard drive and now you'll have the choice of booting into either the xp or win 10 os depending on which drive you set as first boot drive.
biggest problem i can see you having is if the bios is gpt capable with it being such an old system, far as i'm aware win 8 and win 10 can only be installed on gpt partitioned hard drives and not on the older mbr partitioned hard drives but may be wrong about that.
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