MCE Software 2005 Install ?

[chiefy-2]

I have got MCE 2005 software, I am presently running XP pro, do I have to reformat my hard drive or can I load it straight on ?


cheers chiefy

[lisag]

It is a completely new OS, it is possible that it may work as an upgrade, not too sure, BUT would strongly recommend that you format your hard drive and do a clean install. I know its a pain but it might save a lot of messing about in the long run.

[Skunkpipe]

or you could dual boot it, keeping your current install and adding an option to choose which OS to load at start up

[stuartmc]

MCE2005 is designed for OEM use on a new install. Many people have found the hard way that an "Upgrade" is not recommended.

[chiefy-2]

[ lisag, u-SM, & gigtek

Thank you all for your feedback,

My computer is from Mesh, which has a restore on it, can you please tell me if I format my hard drive with it remove the restore / factory settings.


Chiefy.

[-Hitman-]

A clean format will remove everything!

If your worried and need a good backup first, i would suggest you use acronis true image.

I would also strongly suggest storing the image on a second hard drive, when you have installed MCE you can access the image and create a vertual hard drive so you can copy over any files that you need to the new install ie, stored images, work docs etc...

If you have games etc.. with saves etc you can install the game on the new installed MCE and copy over the saves folder from the old disk image etc..

If you see what i am getting at.

I would also move your emails to a folder so that you can later import them into your new mce install and copy down or export your email settings to a file and also copy any other relivent settings and passwords!

If using a second hard drive is a bit beyond you, you can store the image onto DVD's but i don't know if you will be able to create a vertual drive i mentioned above as i have always used a the hard drive option, i don't think it will be a problem though.

[lisag]

It is possible that the restore function on the Mesh PC is actually stored on a separate hard drive partition. When formatting and installing MCE if you ignore the small partition and format the large partition only you may find that the Mesh restore image is still there. However, this may not be much help to you after you have switched to MCE, so you may want to use HTPC advice to get yourself another back up image for emergency use later on.

It is a good idea to create a separate partition (or have a separate drive) to contain your data. In fact probably essential for MCE as you are likely to acquire lots of media files that you will not want to risk losing if the OS install becomes corrupt.

Of course, you should manually back up everything important to you periodically anyway, either to another pc/hard drive or to dvd.

As a tip, as you are going from one version of xp to another you could use the files and settings transfer wizard. This is a very good way of copying across your e-mail and internet settings, favourite, desktop settings etc..

lisa

[-Hitman-]

Hi,

In my experience the backup file will usually be on the same partition as your operating system files, they do this as to preserve any problems with an additional partition become corrupt and the backup file is usually a norton ghost format.

[windfall]

Hi All

I have two copies of XP on my machine in a dual boot scenario. My XP Pro is my main PC with games and apps. I decided to keep my MCE installation on a seperate partition so that I did not have a load of other services and applications sitting in the background taking up valuable resources!!
This way it remains clean and quick to launch!

My 2 cents worth!

Tone