reinstallation question...

BOD

my laptop is in serious need of a reinstallation, explorer crashes several times a day, theres never any free ram, the hdd is defragmented to shit (i put it on continouis defragement for 48hrs) and the hdd is full.

my question is, if i remove as much as possible from the hdd (about 8GB) and then make a partition in that free space, will i be able to copy the windows 2k3 install files across, install so ive got a dual boot then remove the windows XP installation?

if not it looks like im gonna have to get a USB drive caddy...

Thump

BOD wrote:

my laptop is in serious need of a reinstallation, explorer crashes several times a day, theres never any free ram, the hdd is defragmented to shit (i put it on continouis defragement for 48hrs) and the hdd is full.

my question is, if i remove as much as possible from the hdd (about 8GB) and then make a partition in that free space, will i be able to copy the windows 2k3 install files across, install so ive got a dual boot then remove the windows XP installation?

if not it looks like im gonna have to get a USB drive caddy...

Yeah, I just helped someone do that but we had plenty of room.
You have to have a primary partition as big as both XP and 2000
and then make an extended partition to lock the size of the primary.
Then after the extended partition is installed, shrink the primary
partition enough to make another primary partition as big as it has
to be for 2000 and install.
I don't know what you meant by copying the 2000 files across.
After you've installed 2000 you can delete the XP primary partition
and then expand the 2000 primary partition to use all the primary
room.
I think it'll work if I understood correctly. Good Luck.
Thump

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

BOD

i cant just install windows 2003 due to my laptop having no CD drive. ive alredy backed up all my data to my server.

Thump

Oh, I think I see what you mean now. Just use a boot loader
like Boot Magic to set the second primary partition as active
and the XP partition will be hidden. I think that'll do it.
Or set the second primary partition as active with Partition
Magic. You'll probably have to put your 2000 install files on
a logical partition
Thump

wingzeroismine

maybe you should get a USB cd drive.... does your laptop support booting from usb?

Slash

Or, try to contact USB hard drive.

BOD

it doesnt support booting from USB i think, it might if i upgraded the BIOS, but thats a different story.

looks like partitioning is the answer

Bash

hmm, why not copy the I386 folder of Win 2k3 onto another partition, then get a DOS bootdisk, and walla, type *:\I386\winnt.exe

Slash

HaH! That's the eastest method How I forgot about it?