raar i need help ^^;

[KAIMIE]

i just did a clean instal/upgrade from windows xp home to windows xp pro... but my computer (hp) came with 2 harddrives installed. the main harddrive is the one i use and the second harddrive stores the windows xp home on it (like having a windows xp home disc in harddrive form o,o) and its used to reinstal windows. does anyone know how i can instal windows xp on that second harddrive so that if i have to reinstal windows i can just reinstal from there? and how to make the system restore snap shots or whatever they are called save into the second harddrive?

[Watanuki01]

normally I wouldn't ask this, but since you mentioned a brand name such as HP, this needs to be clarified:

do you actually have 2 physical drives on your computer, or is the second hard drive just a partition held on the first?

[KAIMIE]

Watanuki01

normally I wouldn't ask this, but since you mentioned a brand name such as HP, this needs to be clarified:

do you actually have 2 physical drives on your computer, or is the second hard drive just a partition held on the first?

i think it is a partition xp weeeee shoulda said that in mah first post whee

[MalikTous]

You can do this... but with XP it's kind of lame. With Win98SE I can just copy the whole CD to a folder on another partition or drive and boot from a floppy and run the Setup.

As WinXP doesn't lend itself to an easy floppy boot, it's considerably harder.

You can try copying the XP disk to a folder on your second HD, it will at least eliminate the need to stick the CD in the drive when you add new hardware. Just point the dialogue for 'Insert the Windows XP CD' to the folder or go to your registry and search for the references to your CDROM drive and replace them with ones to the CD copy folder.

To be able to work effectively with 'snapshot' copies of your boot partition, you will need to abolish folder, file, and extension hides in your Windows Explorer Tools, Folder Options, View. You want to be able to see all files and folders, including system and hidden, and you want all extensions visible. To heck with MS's 'recommended default'.

[Watanuki01]

brand name hard drives with pre-installed operating system backups usually don't allow for their recovery partition to be erased. nor do the system recovery files save to another hard drive; they save to the drive where the operating system is located. you don't really need a specialized partition for the WinXP backup. the partition is made to prevent virus infections.

in simpler terms, I had an IBM laptop which a recovery partition, and the recovery partition is totally invisible, and could not be erased (unless you're really technical...).

A few choices I would recommend:
1) Get a new hard drive, install winXP, and create a folder in the C drive called "Backup". copy all of the WinXP install CD's content into that folder (no need to create a partition, unless you absolutely want to)
2) stick with your current hard drive, leave the pre-built partition as it is, and make a C drive Backup folder like #1 (less space though)
3) stick with your current hard drive, and don't copy the CD to your hard drive. the only reason you would need the setup CD files is when you're installing drivers, programs, or language packs. if the hard drive suffers a failure, the cd backup is a goner too. having a physical CD to run is safer, and doesn't occupy much space.

[KAIMIE]

Watanuki01

brand name hard drives with pre-installed operating system backups usually don't allow for their recovery partition to be erased. nor do the system recovery files save to another hard drive; they save to the drive where the operating system is located. you don't really need a specialized partition for the WinXP backup. the partition is made to prevent virus infections.

in simpler terms, I had an IBM laptop which a recovery partition, and the recovery partition is totally invisible, and could not be erased (unless you're really technical...).

A few choices I would recommend:
1) Get a new hard drive, install winXP, and create a folder in the C drive called "Backup". copy all of the WinXP install CD's content into that folder (no need to create a partition, unless you absolutely want to)
2) stick with your current hard drive, leave the pre-built partition as it is, and make a C drive Backup folder like #1 (less space though)
3) stick with your current hard drive, and don't copy the CD to your hard drive. the only reason you would need the setup CD files is when you're installing drivers, programs, or language packs. if the hard drive suffers a failure, the cd backup is a goner too. having a physical CD to run is safer, and doesn't occupy much space.

will u marry me? .__. heart anyway getting back to the topic..... so what do i do with that 5 gig harddrive partition?