Windows ME to XP

[seb brown]

I've got Windows ME on my computer. It constantly crashes and goes wrong, i'm told it's ME's fault. I know someone who can put Windows XP on for me. But by doing the upgrade, is there lots of potential for losing documents and files etc? I've got a lot of vital stuff like my dissertation saved on there etc. Basically if i make the change to XP, will it cause a lot of problems in being able to access programmes and files i installed and saved using Windows ME? Is there any particular things i should be aware of?

[shybearuk]

My personal recommendation would be to install a secondary hard drive (not as difficult as it sounds) and put all of your important information and files on that prior to installation. You won't need a large secondary HD unless you have lots of large files (music/videos/etc).

And rather than an upgrade from ME to XP, get yourself a full copy of XP. At Amazon.co.uk you can buy the upgrade for �83.95 and the full version for �84.99, so there's not really much of a difference in price, and with the full version, you'll know that only what is necessary is on your system, rather than any left-over Win ME files. It'll also make re-installing at any future point simpler, because you'll only have to install XP, as opposed to ME then the upgrade.

[j2buttonsw]

If you put your data in a seperate folder to the OS system (eg C:\my data) it will not be touched during an upgrade. My documents (which is C:\windows\my documents) can get deleted. If you get the Win XP CD and run D:\winnt\win32.exe with the /checkupgradeonly string (assuming D: is your CD drive) it will tell you what applications are incompatible (unlikely) or what device drivers you need (more likely, especially modem drivers) in order for Windows XP to run.

[j2buttonsw]

Not concentrating: it is D:\i386\winnt32.exe /checkupgradeonly

[bluedolphin]

How about creating a new folder on your computer then copy all your VITAL stuff into that folder. Use copy as opposed to move ..cos that way you will have a backup in the original place....then see how big the folder is in megabytes and then organise a to copy them onto another type of media eg: floppy disc...cdrw, cdr, or even one of those really nifty mini usb drives (they are the size of a large key!!!! That way all your VITAL stuff is safe from deletion by mistake and then you can go along with upgrading....btw...will your pc be able to handle the heavier XP eg: hdd, processor, ram? Good luck...btw I am still suffering with ME.