Win2000 question

[Guest]

I am considering putting win 2000 on my system currently running 98 se. I was told that i will need to format my hd (something i really dont want to do). Is there a way to install Win2000 and keep all of my existing applications and data?
Oh yeah and is Win2k really that much better to go through the trouble?
Thanks

 

[Guest]

Any new system build.. Write ZEROS on the entire drive. Western digital's utilities disk has a program that will do this. No reason to be afraid. In fact, this is the best way to really start fresh.

Seagate has a nice formatting utility on the disk (CD-ROM) that ship with their new drives. Use it.

Back up yer stuff and do it right. This extra effort will give you a really new system. If you goof up, you can always do it again.

This is how you learn.

note: you can also put the Win2000 upgrade CD-ROM into your computer and follow the instructions. The former method will work. The latter method will probably work (and you might not end up with any weird glitches!)

 

[Booky]

Just suroius as to why you want WIN 2000? I ask because im trying to way it out for when I build my system. I have heard by many that since I mainly play games that WIN98SE is best. Whats your thoughts? As far as your question, I have always formated when reinstalling. Not that it is necesary I just like to start completly fresh.

Someday I will stop asking all the questions!

 

[Guest]

Say I buy a second hd and put it in my system then install win2k on it. Would i be able to boot off the new hd and still have all the stuff on the old hd?
Would there be a problem between the different file systems that win98 and 2000 use?
What is bothering me is that even if i backed my hd up would i be able to use the data because it is FAT32 and Win2k uses NTFS (not sure of name but a different file system anyway)
I definetly want a clean, new install cause my computer seems sluggish these days. Its just that i've spent 6 months filling up a 40 gig hd and i dont want to lose it all.

Athlon 800
Abit KA7-100
Maxtor 40 gig
Elsa Gladiac gf2 gts
SB live value
12x hitachi DVD
some 10/100 network card
Generic (big mistake) PC 133 SDRam 256meg

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by swampy on 02/26/01 11:20 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

oh yeah do play a lot of games and i use my computer for just about everything else too. FLask Encoding, sharing 35 gigs on UCONN's network,... lots of school work type stuff
I mainly want win2k cause I'm sick of win 98 crashing.

 

[Guest]

I use 98SE for gaming, and Win2kPro (NT5) for work. Others say Win2K is OK, but I don't know. One advantage is IDE66 if your hardware supports, but I don't know if this is SO important.

NT5 has been good for me so far. I bought (yes, bought) a license recently and was amazed to find that it ran my business applications with NT-stability, yet ran my games perfectly, including old.. 4year old 16bit games..perfectly (No surround on DVDs, I'm told, though). I was really surprised.

I think I'll eventually move all of my computers to NT5.

 

[Guest]

A second new HD with clean Win2k install will have no problem accessing the 'old' fat32 file allocation table on your new/old "D" drive. No problem at all. Your old programs would probably run with some glitches for sound perhaps or losing track of some files (games only..and some will actually be just fine). But as far as Word docs, addresses, your old bookmark file, etc. ALL will be there for you to access.. transfer.. etc.

 

[Guest]

Clue, simplify your Win2K install on the new drive by leaving the old C drive disconnected until you are done with the system install. You'll still have to load drivers and the critical software that you need on the C: drive.. video and sound (of course), modem, network, etc. You can replace older versions of things like Netscape, LViewPro, etc. Then reconnect the drive as a slave (not as primary IDE master, at least...it will be D: or E: now, depending on how it lands in Win2K). Then begin customizing the new system.

When you are satisfied that you have all you need from the old drive.. WRITE ZEROS on it. You'll then have two new drives.

Sweeet.

 

[Guest]

Thanks clonan. Thats exactly what i wanted to hear. I could handle having to reinstall a few games(which i have the CD's for) but i didnt want to reinstall all the school related apps which i dont own.
I'm thinking of buying an IBM GXP and,if i'm feeling ambitious, start messing around with a RAID setup

 

[Atolsammeek]

Why dont you install it on the a diffent drive. Frist find a program that when you start up you can hit one for windows 98 or 2 for 2000 untell you find what will work on 2000

 

[khha4113]

Win2000 can be installed in either FAT32 or NTFS. I have 2 of systems .
1. Abit KT7-RAID w/ TB 700@850. Dualboot Win2000 and Win98 (installed in FAT32, different partion other than Active Partition C:\).
2. Asus A7V w/ TB700@850. Dualboot Win2000 and Win 98 (NTFS).
I just want to experiment to see how stable it is on FAT32, and it's indeed very stable. However, you have to reinstall all software if you want your comp to be Dualboot.

 

[slvr_phoenix]

I don't even want to comprehend the amount of hard drive space it would take to set up a dual-boot Win98SE/Win2K system. Ugh.

- Sanity is purely based on point-of-view.

 

[doczenith1]

You should be able to install the new drive as the second drive in the system (drive d:, for expample), then run the win2k setup program and have it install itself on the new drive. You can then dual boot and choose which os you want to use. I would use fat32 for the win2k system unless you really need the added security of ntfs. This allows your win98 os to access files on the win2k drive.

The previous setup only applies if you still want to be able to use win98 because you can't reinstall (don't have the installation files) the apps on the win2k os. If you have the ability to install all your apps on win2k then I would agree with the post that suggest hooking only your new drive up and installing win2k, then hooking up the old drive and transferring data. The IBM is an excellent choice for you new hard drive. Just make sure you either have it hooked up to an ata66 controller or switch the drive to ata66 before you attempt the install. I installed (barely...3 attempts) win2k with my wd set to ata100 on a 686b ata100 controller and it was all messed up. I had to reformat, switch the drive to ata66, and then win2k installed fine. The reason I had to switch the drive to ata66 is because my system had no ata66 controller, just the ata100 controller.

 

[doczenith1]

>I don't even want to...the amount of disk space...dual boot...

You can dual boot easily with a 20gig hd...$100!! or a 40gig...$150!!!

 

[Guest]

I really dont want win98 but i'm kind of stuck with it until I can get a hold of a bunch of discs. I already listed my system above, do you see any major hardware incompatibilities? And have you had any expereince with games in WIN2k. I hear different things but many people tell me that a lot of games wont run or run worse under win 2k.
thanks for the info.

 

[doczenith1]

From what I've read, win2k works fine with most games, excluding dos games. You might lose a couple of fps, but that's worth it for win2k's stability.

As far as your system, it looks fine. Mine is:

Athlon T-bird 1000
Soyo SY-K7VTA-B
Western Digital 400BB
Guillmot GeForce 2 MX
On-board audio - MX300 won't work with via/win2k (temp condition)
Plextor 12/10/32 atapi
generic 10/100 nic
memman.com 2 x 128 CAS 2 PC133 Mosel chip SDRAM

My system runs great...15 days w/o reboot...would have been longer but ComEd's power went out!! and no batt back up

P.S. Why do you say generic ram was a mistake? I've used it in the past, worked ok, then went to Corsair PC133 CAS 3, then when putting together new system went with the memman ram, which might be classified as generic but has good chips.

 

[Dudeman]

I found that my old DOS games can often run more reliably on Win2K(and even WinME) with DOS emmulation than real-mode DOS on Win98SE. Especially games that want EMS memory... on 98SE I had to reboot into pure DOS mode while Win2K is able to emulate EMS memory.

 

[Guest]

I have some really random crashes with my system and I think the RAM might be part of it. But its probably due also to win98. My system especially likes to crash when i'm in some great counterstrike server or am halfway throuhg downloading a huge file. Yeah i could live with losing a few fps.
THe other thing the bugs me is the RAM prices. I guess i shouldnt complain about cheap prices but i paid $235 in August for a chip that is $45 now. oh well