Reload XP- should I re-format?

geno368 · Mar 31, 2009, 03:58 PM

I have a trashed system on my hands from a cousin. He has his XP cd and wants me to reload...Should I reformat or what? Thanks

GigaWatt · Mar 31, 2009, 04:11 PM

first, transfer all needed data on some other partition, then reformat and install XP on a nice clean partition...

WxMan1 · Apr 7, 2009, 11:53 PM

Yup.

Very good idea is to Ghost image the "trashed" drive to another HDD. This'll allow recovery of various sundry items that are a pain to track down. Valuable stuff accumulated over time includes:

Custom.dic
eMail dbx files (after recreating identities, overwrite defaults with backups - Windows never'll know the difference)
address book (WAB & WA~ files)
favorites - major league bummer to lose those
cookies (if you have lots of websites with autologins you'd rather not lose)
sounds (\windows\media)
theme files - *.theme - save current scheme as CUSTOM_SCHEME and then search for it.

Export:

HKCU\Control Panel\Cursors\Schemes

You'll need to be able to restore any custom cursors from Windows\Cursors though. Importing the above Cursors/Schemes.reg file will save having to manually having to reconfigure each custom cursor that may exist.

Restore wpa.dbl from original WINDOWS\system32 folder to the new install (it will prevent needing to re-active the installed copy of Windows).

There's a bunch of stuff that can be salvaged from an image backup even if the original system is un-bootable. With Ghost Explorer one can restore items piecemiel akin to copy and paste via Windows Explorer.

Judas · Apr 8, 2009, 12:32 AM

i find a low level format a nice thing to do if the machine is a number of years old... just to get every nitty critty little thing sorted for sure

jrdnthms · May 11, 2009, 12:14 AM

I'm having problems with a reformat, its not letting me reformat from disc

Mar 31, 2009, 03:58 PM	#1
geno368 HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 50 Rep Power: 0	Reload XP- should I re-format? I have a trashed system on my hands from a cousin. He has his XP cd and wants me to reload...Should I reformat or what? Thanks

Mar 31, 2009, 04:11 PM	#2
GigaWatt Now In Color :D Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Macedonia, Skopje Posts: 2,116 Rep Power: 81 System Specs	Re: Reload XP- should I re-format? first, transfer all needed data on some other partition, then reformat and install XP on a nice clean partition... __________________ It's not schisophrenia... it's just a voice in my head...

Apr 7, 2009, 11:53 PM	#3
WxMan1 HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 221 Rep Power: 40	Re: Reload XP- should I re-format? Yup. Very good idea is to Ghost image the "trashed" drive to another HDD. This'll allow recovery of various sundry items that are a pain to track down. Valuable stuff accumulated over time includes: Custom.dic eMail dbx files (after recreating identities, overwrite defaults with backups - Windows never'll know the difference) address book (WAB & WA~ files) favorites - major league bummer to lose those cookies (if you have lots of websites with autologins you'd rather not lose) sounds (\windows\media) theme files - *.theme - save current scheme as CUSTOM_SCHEME and then search for it. Export: HKCU\Control Panel\Cursors\Schemes You'll need to be able to restore any custom cursors from Windows\Cursors though. Importing the above Cursors/Schemes.reg file will save having to manually having to reconfigure each custom cursor that may exist. Restore wpa.dbl from original WINDOWS\system32 folder to the new install (it will prevent needing to re-active the installed copy of Windows). There's a bunch of stuff that can be salvaged from an image backup even if the original system is un-bootable. With Ghost Explorer one can restore items piecemiel akin to copy and paste via Windows Explorer.

May 11, 2009, 12:14 AM	#5
jrdnthms DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: Reload XP- should I re-format? I'm having problems with a reformat, its not letting me reformat from disc