Is There A Way Of Keeping 8gb Of Music & Re-Installing Windows?

I received a new motherboard today for Christmas and have been told that I needed to buy a new Windows XP disc as I'll need to reinstall Windows when attaching my current HDD to the new mobo.

I've bought the Windows XP disc but I currently have 8gb worth of music on my HDD that I really want to keep and I've no idea how to if need to reinstall Windows (which I'm assuming will wipe off all current data on the HDD).

The only thing I can think of is to transfer the music over to blank CD's 700mb at a time. I don't have any blank CD's at present and the shops don't open until after boxing day but I really want to start upgrading my PC today.

Is there an easier way of keeping the 8gb worth of music and reinstalling Windows XP?


HK

 

What resources are available to you? Do you have computers networked that you could transfer files to? Do you have a spare hard drive that you could install as slave temporarily? Any partitions on your hard drive?

What about your existing copy of XP? Is it retail or OEM? Depending, there may be ways of performing a non-destructive install, IIRC...but, you'd have to wait for someone less "blast and repave" than myself...

I'd have to say burning to a dual layer DVD would be easiest, but I'm just fortunate to have a burner

 

I have a 2nd PC and a wireless card in both PC's


HK

 

Well, you could set both wireless cards into ad-hoc mode, connect the two machines, and transfer files that way! Post back for more detailed instructions...

 

I'd suggest that you back those music files up to DVD data discs just for safety... thats a lot of music to lose if something ever does go wrong. Forget about those old CD discs too for data.. As I've eluded to, try DVD data discs, I use HP DVD+R's and they have 4.7 GB's of storage compared to the 700 MB you are used to. Hope this helps. Imagine having ALL that music on just 2 discs...

 

It appears that it's also possible to network 2 PCs together using firewire.
Here's a link to the thread.

http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1628332&highlight=firewire#1628332

Other than that, there is a way to install a new operating system on the same partition as an existing OS (**using a different folder **). This will only work if you have a full install disk, not a restore one. I don't know the correct term for it, as I discovered it by accident when one of my old computers crashed and wouldn't boot. It had loads of unreplaceable stuff on there and I guessed there must be some way to do it. This was before I knew that I could have simply put the hard drive into another windows XP computer and set it as slave to access all the data.

Anyway, you could try to do it the way I did, but please be aware that I accept no responsibillity if it goes wrong and you lose data.

Warning - Do Not at any point allow Windows Setup to format the partition)
Set the pc to boot from the CD. Wait while it goes through the windows set up screen, hit Enter to set up windows.Press the usual F8 to accept the EULA etc, Next, you should get a screen that says, "To repair the selected Windows XP application, press R. To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP, press ESC".
Press ESC
At the next screen, it should have a partition highlighted. And it will probably say, "To set up windows on the selected item, press ENTER".
Hit Enter.
Next sreen will warn you as follows, "You chose to install Windows XP on a partition that contains another operating system. Installing Windows XP on this partition might cause the other operating system to function improperly.........."
and "To continue setup using this partition, press C".
Hit C.
At the next screen, (VERY IMPORTANT - GET THIS BIT WRONG AND YOU WIPE THE LOT !!!) use the last option, which is "Leave the current file system intact (no changes)".
Next screen tells you that a folder already exists that contains or may contain a Windows installation. There should be 3 options here, and the important one (on mine it's the second one), is "To use a different folder, press ESC".
Press ESC.
In the highlighted box on the next screen, it will already say, "\ WINDOWS". Use the backspace or delete button on your keyboard to get rid of the word Windows, (leave the "\". Make up a suitable folder name (I used SYSREC). Type it in, hit enter and setup should start.

When installation is complete, you should find your original files under c/documents and settings as in . . . .




Good luck.