Re: Re-formatting from Vista to XP

[J R FOX jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

--- Harry Binswanger  wrote:

> So, do any of you know how feasible and easy it
> would be to buy a laptop
> that has Vista installed, re-format the drive and
> install XP from discs?

Harry,

Given the right tools and a reasonably good idea of
what you're doing, it should be quite feasible. I
would first store a complete "snapshot" of the hard
drive, as delivered, using something like Acronis True
Image or DFSEE. That would include any hidden
"Recovery" partition put there by the mfr. This is
because one always wants a sound path of retreat back
to where one started, in case things go seriously
wrong.

Then, using a partitioning program and perhaps some
other tools, plus your XP install CD, you should be
able to tailor the hard drive to your liking. The
Recovery partition, if any, is going to be more
problemmatical, since it is bound to be largely a
replica of your Vista, as delivered on the machine.
So, you might not want to put that back. I believe
that the ThinkPads (for example) also have a bunch of
custom utilities for the laptop, and I don't know
exactly where they reside. (The last laptop I owned
weighed 17 lb.s, had no HDD, and used a small B&W LCD
! It ran Xy3 quite well, though.)

None of this really reaches the "wizard" level, IMO,
but whether or not you feel up to this, or care to
mess with it, only you can say.

There is one other thing. A lot of people are
complaining about all the "junk" -- or pre-installed
*trial* programs that mfr.s are now providing on their
systems . . . because they are paid to do so. The
reports are that this stuff increases bootup and
shutdown times, impacts system performance, causes
clutter, and just generally gets in their way. There
seems to be a small cottage industry developing for
_removing_ it. One advantage of rolling your own
setup is that all this stuff never gets on there in
the first place.


 Jordan