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Joan F (MI) · Guest

I just got a 450X notebook and would like to partition the hard drive.
Should I just partition and do a new install of XP or get a partitioning
program? If the latter what program do you recommend? Am I likely to have
problems installing XP? This is my first XP experience, I am still running
my four year old PIII with 98. I hate to mess too much with a brand new
computer but really like to keep my data on a separate partition.

Hurricane Andrew · Guest

You could do either, but frankly if you "don't like to mess too much" with
your new computer, then partitioning software is the way to go. I
personally have used Partition Magic for the past 3+ years on Win98, Win2K,
and WinXP systems. I've never had a problem with it, and it does a good job
of walking you through the process. Of course, having a current backup
before any such major event is a must.

If it were me, I would go the new install route, just because I like my
systems as clean as possible (before I begin adding and tweaking things).
But that can be a much more labor intensive process, and to be honest, I've
always had an original Operating System CD, so I'm not sure how much more
difficult it would be with the restore CD's currently being given out.

--
Andrew

"Joan F (MI)" <jjfahltakethisout@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:VO0Eb.16903$P%1.15755802@newssvr28.news.prodigy.com...

Ben Myers · Guest

Good point. A restore CD may thwart a resinstall onto two partitions either by
refusing to run at all or by demanding and setting up a single partition. For
this reason, I have to lean toward Partition Magic... Ben Myers

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 18:20:28 GMT, "Hurricane Andrew"
<hurricane.andrew@att_nospam_.net> wrote:

Joan F (MI) · Guest

That does sound like the easy way to go. I haven't opened the Windows CD
yet, but it looks like a regular XP CD but labelled for use on a Gateway.
There is a separate CD with drivers on it.

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote:
| Good point. A restore CD may thwart a resinstall onto two partitions
| either by refusing to run at all or by demanding and setting up a
| single partition. For this reason, I have to lean toward Partition
| Magic... Ben Myers
|
| On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 18:20:28 GMT, "Hurricane Andrew"
| <hurricane.andrew@att_nospam_.net> wrote:
|
|| You could do either, but frankly if you "don't like to mess too
|| much" with your new computer, then partitioning software is the way
|| to go. I personally have used Partition Magic for the past 3+ years
|| on Win98, Win2K, and WinXP systems. I've never had a problem with
|| it, and it does a good job of walking you through the process. Of
|| course, having a current backup before any such major event is a
|| must.
||
|| If it were me, I would go the new install route, just because I like
|| my systems as clean as possible (before I begin adding and tweaking
|| things). But that can be a much more labor intensive process, and to
|| be honest, I've always had an original Operating System CD, so I'm
|| not sure how much more difficult it would be with the restore CD's
|| currently being given out.
||
|| --
|| Andrew
||
|| "Joan F (MI)" <jjfahltakethisout@ameritech.net> wrote in message
|| news:VO0Eb.16903$P%1.15755802@newssvr28.news.prodigy.com...
||| I just got a 450X notebook and would like to partition the hard
||| drive. Should I just partition and do a new install of XP or get a
||| partitioning program? If the latter what program do you recommend?
||| Am I likely to
|| have
||| problems installing XP? This is my first XP experience, I am still
|| running
||| my four year old PIII with 98. I hate to mess too much with a
||| brand new computer but really like to keep my data on a separate
||| partition.

Ben Myers · Guest

If the CD provided by Gateway is an authentic Microsoft Windows XP CD, then a
reinstall is not likely to prove problematic. Worst case is that you'll have to
load additional drivers from the driver CD. I would still lean toward Partition
Magic, having grown weary over the years of having to reboot, reboot, reboot
Windows when doing an install. Hey, if Linux needs only to be rebooted once
after a full installation, why can't Windows be as clever. Oh, I forgot.
Because it is Windows... Ben Myers

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 22:24:32 GMT, "Joan F $MI$"
<jjfahltakethisout@ameritech.net> wrote:

Joan F (MI) · Guest

Yeah, my grandsons try to talk me into trying Linux but I am too lazy, I
have accumulated a lot of favorite programs over the years that do the
things I want done and hate to start over learning a whole new system. I
ordered Partition Magic yesterday and will go with it, spent some time last
night uninstalling the AOL and MSN crap they put on and adding some of my
favorite little programs. The laptop has a beautiful screen, it's set to
1400 x 1050, is that the native resolution? It's very clear and I have no
problem reading things on it so far but I haven't been online with it yet
and suspect that some pictures will look pretty small at that size. I run
1024 x 768 on my 17" CRT. I notice that a lot of pictures posted on an HTML
friendly private newsgroup look pretty small to me, I suspect they are
running 800 x 600. On the other hand, mine probably look big to them.

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote:
| If the CD provided by Gateway is an authentic Microsoft Windows XP
| CD, then a reinstall is not likely to prove problematic. Worst case
| is that you'll have to load additional drivers from the driver CD. I
| would still lean toward Partition Magic, having grown weary over the
| years of having to reboot, reboot, reboot Windows when doing an
| install. Hey, if Linux needs only to be rebooted once after a full
| installation, why can't Windows be as clever. Oh, I forgot. Because
| it is Windows... Ben Myers
|
| On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 22:24:32 GMT, "Joan F $MI$"
| <jjfahltakethisout@ameritech.net> wrote:
|
|| That does sound like the easy way to go. I haven't opened the
|| Windows CD yet, but it looks like a regular XP CD but labelled for
|| use on a Gateway. There is a separate CD with drivers on it.
||
|| ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote:
||| Good point. A restore CD may thwart a resinstall onto two
||| partitions either by refusing to run at all or by demanding and
||| setting up a single partition. For this reason, I have to lean
||| toward Partition Magic... Ben Myers
|||
||| On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 18:20:28 GMT, "Hurricane Andrew"
||| <hurricane.andrew@att_nospam_.net> wrote:
|||
|||| You could do either, but frankly if you "don't like to mess too
|||| much" with your new computer, then partitioning software is the way
|||| to go. I personally have used Partition Magic for the past 3+
|||| years on Win98, Win2K, and WinXP systems. I've never had a
|||| problem with it, and it does a good job of walking you through the
|||| process. Of course, having a current backup before any such major
|||| event is a must.
||||
|||| If it were me, I would go the new install route, just because I
|||| like my systems as clean as possible (before I begin adding and
|||| tweaking things). But that can be a much more labor intensive
|||| process, and to be honest, I've always had an original Operating
|||| System CD, so I'm not sure how much more difficult it would be
|||| with the restore CD's currently being given out.
||||
|||| --
|||| Andrew
||||
|||| "Joan F (MI)" <jjfahltakethisout@ameritech.net> wrote in message
|||| news:VO0Eb.16903$P%1.15755802@newssvr28.news.prodigy.com...
||||| I just got a 450X notebook and would like to partition the hard
||||| drive. Should I just partition and do a new install of XP or get a
||||| partitioning program? If the latter what program do you
||||| recommend? Am I likely to
|||| have
||||| problems installing XP? This is my first XP experience, I am
||||| still running my four year old PIII with 98. I hate to mess too
||||| much with a brand new computer but really like to keep my data on
||||| a separate partition.