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Selecting specific harddrive or partition to install Windows XP

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by Member 32846697 1 view

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How do I specify which harddrive or harddrive partition to install or reinstall Windows XP Professional on? From past experiences, the installation process appears to be tottally dependent on the install to decide where the installation will take place and there is no hint of where its chosen to place the operating system until the install is finished. This won't do especially if one's intent is reinstall on the original drive or partition the operating system was located originally.

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by nepenthe0

I believe that Windows will automatically install to a 'bootable' primary partition. You will only be offered a choice if there are 2 (or more) partitions configured as 'bootable' or primary partitions. To create a 2nd bootable partition, I recommend Partition Magic (Symantec).

If you are installing a new OS into a single bootable partition, I suggest you 'format' the partition to eradicate all traces of code left behind by the prior OS. Obviously this is an irreversible step, unless you have 'cloned' the status quo with a backup utility (such as Norton Ghost) to an external HD or spanned CDs.

If you have any doubt about formatting a single primary partition, create a complete backup with a utility such as Norton Ghost. That way, if you don't like the result, you can reinstall the working OS that you obliterated during formatting.

Hope this helps.

Rick/Portland, OR

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