Win XP 32 bit to Win XP 64 Bit

[toddstew]

I have two HD's on my system a Hitachi 500 GB and a Seagate 250 HD. I have 6GB of RAM installed on my Gigabyte mb. I use the 500 GB for daily usage and the 250 GB for backup. I have Windows XP Professional which I think contains the XP 64 bit OS. I'm considering moving everything to 500GB Hitachi drives then reinstalling XP 64bit on the Seagate 250GB HD. After doing this will the Hitachi HD with the Win XP 32 bit files and system formatting plug and play on the 64 bit XP system? I believe that I need the 64 bit OS to fully utilize the extra RAM I have installed.

I'm getting ready to upgrade my CPU from the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Brisbane 2.7 GHz to the X6 1055T Thuban. I want to try to run the my current system with XP 64 bit to see if I observe much difference between 32 vs 64. Then I will order the 1055T and really upgrade my system.

 

[geekapproved]

I think it's time to join the 21st century.

Your gonna need a new mobo, just to upgrade to a slow 1055T, which I wouldn't suggest, there are too many better cpu's out there to go with that one.

 

[toddstew]

I think it's time to join the 21st century.

Your gonna need a new mobo, just to upgrade to a crappy 1055T, which I wouldn't suggest, there are too many good cpu's out there to go with that one.

Actually, my motherboard does support the crappy 1055T.
I have checked the cpu support list for my Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS-3HP (rev.2) http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2943#ov.

I would have to get a new motherboard for an AMD Fx or Intel. I was considering making the jump to AMD FX. Okay. I guess I'll just forget about the easy route to upgrading my system and I'll change everything. New md, cpu, Win 7, and new HD's. Instead of spending $150 I'll go ahead and personally stimulate the economy with a $1000 system. I don't have $1000 to spend at the moment. I had thought spending a $150 for the 1055T would be a sweet upgrade. One guys sweet is another guys ho-hum passe. Thanks for slapping my into the 21st century.

 

[toddstew]

For the sake the threads continuity, will my Hitachi HD (configured with Win XP 32 bit files and system formatting) plug and play on a Win XP 64 bit system? I think the answer is yes. My understanding is that the 64 bit OS XP and Win 7 are designed to be backward compatible with 32 bit system. I just want to make sure that my hard drives will be ok and that I won't lose any files in the transition.

Thank you.

 

[4745454b]

I'm considering moving everything to 500GB Hitachi drives then reinstalling XP 64bit on the Seagate 250GB HD. After doing this will the Hitachi HD with the Win XP 32 bit files and system formatting plug and play on the 64 bit XP system?

Moving or copying? If you move it, there is no 32bit left to boot from.

I strongly suggest NOT using XP-64. The driver support was terrible and we've moved on since then. I'm not sure if it's become any better over time, but considering everyone has moved on to vista/win7 which has a vastly different driver scheme I doubt XP drivers are even being worked on. A computer with no drivers is useless.

I was a long time XP 32bit user. I bought the win7 family edition so I could upgrade my computers. It came in both 32 and 64bit flavors. I've installed the 64bit edition and haven't looked back. I haven't had any major issues. (a few minor issues with some older games but no show stopping things.) Everything is different but not impossible.

You have two options if/when you installed win7. I used option one btw. Option one is to leave your XP install alone and just install win7 on a different drive/partition. You'll have a software boot screen to pick which OS you want to load. Really easy. Option two is to unhook the drive with XP on it and install Win7 on the other drive. When you reboot to load the different OS, you'll need to go into the bios to select which drive to boot from. The one advantage this has is that if the other OS F's up the boot loader, you'll be able to get into the other OS.

Finally, I'm not sure what you mean by "will the Hitachi HD with the Win XP 32 bit files and system formatting plug and play on the 64 bit XP system?" As I understand that, you want to make sure the stuff you moved/copied over can be used by the xp-64 bit windows. The answer is it depends. Sometimes things need to be installed with entries in the registry. Other times they simply need to be "unpacked".

 

[toddstew]

I'm considering moving everything to 500GB Hitachi drives then reinstalling XP 64bit on the Seagate 250GB HD. After doing this will the Hitachi HD with the Win XP 32 bit files and system formatting plug and play on the 64 bit XP system?

Moving or copying? If you move it, there is no 32bit left to boot from.

I strongly suggest NOT using XP-64. The driver support was terrible and we've moved on since then. I'm not sure if it's become any better over time, but considering everyone has moved on to vista/win7 which has a vastly different driver scheme I doubt XP drivers are even being worked on. A computer with no drivers is useless.

I was a long time XP 32bit user. I bought the win7 family edition so I could upgrade my computers. It came in both 32 and 64bit flavors. I've installed the 64bit edition and haven't looked back. I haven't had any major issues. (a few minor issues with some older games but no show stopping things.) Everything is different but not impossible.

You have two options if/when you installed win7. I used option one btw. Option one is to leave your XP install alone and just install win7 on a different drive/partition. You'll have a software boot screen to pick which OS you want to load. Really easy. Option two is to unhook the drive with XP on it and install Win7 on the other drive. When you reboot to load the different OS, you'll need to go into the bios to select which drive to boot from. The one advantage this has is that if the other OS F's up the boot loader, you'll be able to get into the other OS.

Finally, I'm not sure what you mean by "will the Hitachi HD with the Win XP 32 bit files and system formatting plug and play on the 64 bit XP system?" As I understand that, you want to make sure the stuff you moved/copied over can be used by the xp-64 bit windows. The answer is it depends. Sometimes things need to be installed with entries in the registry. Other times they simply need to be "unpacked".

Thank you for your very informative response.

I have XP Pro and simply wanted to experience the glory of a 64 bit system. I was hoping it would be a worthwhile endeavor. It wouldn't cost me anything. But it sounds like the XP 64 experience is not so glorious, hence I will likely use part of my tax refund and install Win 7 64 bit.

Considering today's Tom's Hardware article "Win XP Still Dominant" I didn't think it would be such a bad thing to continue with XP. Apparently, if i'm going to hang around the TH forum then I need to make sure I'm using the current generation of everything. *don't tell anyone that I drive a 1980 Old Cutlass* 😀

I will likely go with your option 2. When I do the make the Win 7 upgrade, I'll unplug my two current HD's then install Win 7 64 on the new HD. Then plug my other Hitachi and Seagate HD's in and see what happens.

Finally, I'm not sure what you mean by "will the Hitachi HD with the Win XP 32 bit files and system formatting plug and play on the 64 bit XP system?" As I understand that, you want to make sure the stuff you moved/copied over can be used by the xp-64 bit windows. The answer is it depends. Sometimes things need to be installed with entries in the registry. Other times they simply need to be "unpacked".

I was thinking just as your option 2 described except with the Win XP 64. But, you have effectively talked me out of that experiment. I'll just move on to Win 7 and then look forward.

Thanks again.

 

[geekapproved]

Win XP still dominent, maybe with Grandma and Grandpa's and 3rd world countries, but I don't know a single person still running XP. And XP 64 is horrible.

Hell I have been running Vista64 for over 5yrs and love it, best os since Win95 imo.

You would be much better off getting a 955/965BE than a 1055T

 

[toddstew]

Best answer selected by toddstew.

 

[toddstew]

Win XP still dominent, maybe with Grandma and Grandpa's and 3rd world countries, but I don't know a single person still running XP. And XP 64 is horrible.

Hell I have been running Vista64 for over 5yrs and love it, best os since Win95 imo.

You would be much better off getting a 955/965BE than a 1055T

Thank you. I'll stop considering an XP 64 trial to Win 7. I appreciate the 955/965 BE suggestion.

 

[geekapproved]

Newegg has the 975 for $145

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103923&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=404255&SID=s_google

 

[toddstew]

Newegg has the 975 for $145

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103923&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=404255&SID=s_google

my mobo doesn't support the 975. 🙁

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey