Media Centre Installation

[Cowden_harley]

Hi All,

You help would be appreciated. I currently have xp sp2 pro installed and want windows media centre. I have a Radeon 9800 xxl pro and a tv card (poor quality), 3ghz pentium 4 and 512mb ram. DVD re-writer and dvd playback drive.

I was wondering what was the best way to install the media centre. Do i have to re-format my hard drive or can I update the current windows installation????

I have a copy of WMCE ready and waiting.

Thanks For Any Replies Your Expertise Is Appreciated

[evolution400]

if you have another HDD I would copy all your installation files there then format it if not then place all your installation files in e.g. C:\APPS then install fresh but dont format "leave current file system" or somthing like that then it will save your apps dir etc I know the OEM version of MXE will not allow upgrade not usre about the retail.

[Cowden_harley]

cool would it be worth getin another hd fir it

[evolution400]

yes I would get a small hdd for your system 20gb minimum make sure its at least 7200rpm IDE 5400 is unbearable. Then once its all setup use norton ghost to clone your system drive as you may run ino problems at some point and this will save you reinstalling your system.

[lisag]

I haven't tried what evolution400 said, so it may well work out ok, but I don't think I would do it that way.

MCE is very fussy about how it is installed, and I have broken my installation quite a few times by messing up the drivers and codecs.

I would recommened, back up all your data - on to DVD, a second hard drive, an external hard drive, or partition your current hard drive and move all the data to the extended partition.

Then boot from the MCE discs, format the primary partition (the one without the data one) and do a totally fresh install of MCE. You will then have to re-install all your apps, but for a HTPC you want to keep it as 'vanilla' as possible, so only install what you really need. Pay particular attention to getting all the windows updates, and the latest MCE approved drivers and codecs.

lisa

[evolution400]

Originally Posted by lisag

I haven't tried what evolution400 said, so it may well work out ok, but I don't think I would do it that way.

MCE is very fussy about how it is installed, and I have broken my installation quite a few times by messing up the drivers and codecs.

I would recommened, back up all your data - on to DVD, a second hard drive, an external hard drive, or partition your current hard drive and move all the data to the extended partition.

Then boot from the MCE discs, format the primary partition (the one without the data one) and do a totally fresh install of MCE. You will then have to re-install all your apps, but for a HTPC you want to keep it as 'vanilla' as possible, so only install what you really need. Pay particular attention to getting all the windows updates, and the latest MCE approved drivers and codecs.

lisa

No offence Lisa but I have been working wit IT now for 12 years plus and using norton ghost is by far the easyest and quickest method available so take my expert advice set your system up on 2 seperate disks 1 for your system and 1 for all your recorded TV videos etc.
If your not adapt at setting up O/S and I have found MCE to be the most picky O/S I have used getting mine running smooth has taken a while between drivers, hardware issues etc this can be a long winded process or if your lucky you will have a working system just by following the regaular O/S install steps I am used to setting up systems so I would recall what order to install things in, conflicts, what caused what errors etc so how can you say that using a disk cloning program is not the best way of doing things ?
I dont think you understand the process of disk cloning it makes a mirrored copy of your current setup to dvdr or another hdd then when restored is exactly the same nothing is added or goes missing.... fact.
Look at the facts you recently posted you reinstalled your PC and was back up and running in 2 hours I recall, with norton ghost you have your image on DVDR pop in the floppy boot disk or even integrate a boot disk to your image DVDR then restore within 20 mins you have a fully functional all apps installed updates etc MCE if someone can tell me a quicker way to restore your pc feel free an enlighten me oh other than keeping a spare cloned HDD and popping that in of course
Disk cloning is what all major companies use such as dell for thier PC's, IBM, HP etc you dont honestly think that there is a monkey who sits down and installs windows 24-7 do you ?
So if its good enough to install around 200000 pcs a year or more then its good enough for one HDD.

[lisag]

Originally Posted by evolution400

No offence Lisa but I have been working wit IT now for 12 years plus and using norton ghost is by far the easyest and quickest method available so take my expert advice set your system up on 2 seperate disks 1 for your system and 1 for all your recorded TV videos etc.
If your not adapt at setting up O/S and I have found MCE to be the most picky O/S I have used getting mine running smooth has taken a while between drivers, hardware issues etc this can be a long winded process or if your lucky you will have a working system just by following the regaular O/S install steps I am used to setting up systems so I would recall what order to install things in, conflicts, what caused what errors etc so how can you say that using a disk cloning program is not the best way of doing things ?
I dont think you understand the process of disk cloning it makes a mirrored copy of your current setup to dvdr or another hdd then when restored is exactly the same nothing is added or goes missing.... fact.
Look at the facts you recently posted you reinstalled your PC and was back up and running in 2 hours I recall, with norton ghost you have your image on DVDR pop in the floppy boot disk or even integrate a boot disk to your image DVDR then restore within 20 mins you have a fully functional all apps installed updates etc MCE if someone can tell me a quicker way to restore your pc feel free an enlighten me oh other than keeping a spare cloned HDD and popping that in of course
Disk cloning is what all major companies use such as dell for thier PC's, IBM, HP etc you dont honestly think that there is a monkey who sits down and installs windows 24-7 do you ?
So if its good enough to install around 200000 pcs a year or more then its good enough for one HDD.

Yes ok, fair enough - hold on
That was a different thread though wasn't it?
I will get around to looking at that soon,
I can do a clean install in 2 hours or so, and creating the ghost clone then restoring to it takes a while, I know you do save time in the long run, it depends on how often you have to do a clean install, which is more often than usual with MCE! So, as I said before, thanks for the info about that, I will give it some more thought at some point....

Anyway, this thread is about how Cowden should upgrade from XP Pro to MCE, and I suggested that I would format the hard drive (after backing up the data) and do a clean install of MCE. The guy can choose how he wants to do it, but I thought that was sound advice?

lisa

EDIT: BTW, I do have 2 HDD's in my MCE machine, One has a small partition for the O/S and a larger partition for data, and the second is data only...

[evolution400]

Originally Posted by lisag

Yes ok, fair enough - hold on
That was a different thread though wasn't it?
I will get around to looking at that soon,
I can do a clean install in 2 hours or so, and creating the ghost clone then restoring to it takes a while, I know you do save time in the long run, it depends on how often you have to do a clean install, which is more often than usual with MCE! So, as I said before, thanks for the info about that, I will give it some more thought at some point....

Anyway, this thread is about how Cowden should upgrade from XP Pro to MCE, and I suggested that I would format the hard drive (after backing up the data) and do a clean install of MCE. The guy can choose how he wants to do it, but I thought that was sound advice?

lisa

EDIT: BTW, I do have 2 HDD's in my MCE machine, One has a small partition for the O/S and a larger partition for data, and the second is data only...

Restoring from DVDR takes 30 mins max and it is the same as a clean install if all was good when you cloned the drive.
From disk to disk it can take 15 mins maximum.
So it does save a lot of time an it is easier thats all I am trying to say as you state yourself you have done a fair few reinstalls I am just warning the guy and telling him to use ghost as it saves a lot of headache.
lol I wasnt telling him to use ghost to begin with as he has no system to clone your advice is sound for a new setup just 2 drives 1 for system 1 for data is the best option.
Yest his is about a new install/upgrdade I was giving advice for after he has set it all up.
Do you use HDD number 2 to store your videos, reciorded tv etc ?
If not I would recomend that because having 2 seperate drives using 1 for system and 1 for video recording etc does improve performance quite a lot.

[Cowden_harley]

wwoooaaaahh im now officially confused. Bickering apart if i copy my current setup to a new hd via norton ghost and then clean install mce on my current hard drive. This will work?? correct?

[lisag]

Originally Posted by Cowden_harley

wwoooaaaahh im now officially confused. Bickering apart if i copy my current setup to a new hd via norton ghost and then clean install mce on my current hard drive. This will work?? correct?

Yes it will, but.... what is the point of cloning your XP pro installation unless you plan to dual boot? You really just need to back up your data, (IMHO!)
lisa

[evolution400]

Originally Posted by lisag

Yes it will, but.... what is the point of cloning your XP pro installation unless you plan to dual boot? You really just need to back up your data, (IMHO!)
lisa

Es I agree for your 1st and hopfully lst installation copy all you installation files to another drive or DVDR etc
Then do a fresh install on disk 1 which will be your system drive then after you have set it all up and are happy with your setup you then clone your MCE system drive to DVDR using norton ghost unless of course you want dual boot as lisa says although thats a waste of time as MCE is exactly the smae as XP just no networking domains.

[lisag]

Originally Posted by evolution400

Es I agree for your 1st and hopfully lst installation copy all you installation files to another drive or DVDR etc
Then do a fresh install on disk 1 which will be your system drive then after you have set it all up and are happy with your setup you then clone your MCE system drive to DVDR using norton ghost unless of course you want dual boot as lisa says although thats a waste of time as MCE is exactly the smae as XP just no networking domains.

Glad the boss agrees

[evolution400]

Originally Posted by lisag

Glad the boss agrees

lmao at least you know your place

[lisag]

Originally Posted by evolution400

lmao at least you know your place

Of course... covering up your mistakes, but you don't need to thank me, I am nice like that

Originally Posted by Cowden_harley

wwoooaaaahh im now officially confused. Bickering apart if i copy my current setup to a new hd via norton ghost and then clean install mce on my current hard drive. This will work?? correct?

You may as well have my 2p worth as well!

If you are prepared to install a second hard drive then I would go that route. Install it as drive D:

When you start the MCE installation it will recognise your current installation on the C: drive and will initiate a dual boot facility so long as you chose to install to the D: drive.

Doing it this way will enable you to keep your existing applications and data until such time that you are happy that you have everything on the new MCE installation. Then you can wipe the D: drive and use it for your TV recordings and other media files etc. Or you can keep your dual boot setup and maintain a very clean MCE installation.

That's what I did. You can still install Ghost and put the image files on the opposite disks: MCE on the C: drive and the XP files on the D: drive. Your restore will then be very quick indeed, should you have need to do it!

Dave