New old computer:: Advice and input needed.

[kgun]

Now I start to build my new old computer. Have done this two times before, and when finished it is as new and very fast. I have some problems and need some input, advice and are open to other proposals and suggestions.

1. Minimalism.

This time I will not install everything I click on. The configuration will be minimalistic and very foccused at making web pages and semantic link collections. The c-disk where the system is, shall be kept to an absolute minimum, since my experience with adding software that is not absolutely needed is that it gradually slows the computer and in a year or two you have a much slower computer. I will avoid that as much as possible. For that reason only system software / tools will be installed on the C-disk. Do you install programs like Word, Adobe, Dreamweaver on the same disk as the operating system? Is there any implementation gain in partitioning the C-disk in additional logical disks or install this software on the D or E disk?

2. Problems.

I have tree hard drives where I installed Windows Vista Beta on one. I do not need it any more. The problem si that I am not allowed to format the D-drive from Windoes XP? It was no problem to format the drive before Vista was installed on it. I have not tried to deinstall Vista first and then format. Can partition magic or more advanced formating software be used? May be it is enough to use the system restore disk. This is as you understand written before I start.

3. Organizing information.

Years and Gb of backup (mostly text files, source code and tools) that is stored on three drives and x Cd's shall be better organized. Today I bought 50 4.7 Gb dvd's. Is that the best medium to store backup information. Everything will be reorganized and outdated information deleted. I will not use tape streamers. This is an old computer that may last to 2010 and I will not buy more hardware to it.

4. Tools

Here is where minimalism will take place. Only tools that are needed. The most important will be my IDE. I have Dreamweaver MX 2004. I may upgrade to the last version with better XML functionality. Here I am open to other proposals.

Since I am collecting links in my favourites folder, various link / favourite management software will be used. What are your best broken links checker? Will it report a link that is not broken, server down or too buisy etc. as broken? I know there are many. Any other proposal for link / favourite management software?

5. Other important tools.

Nero Cd' burner etc. for backup, Adobe Acrobat reader professional and Word is standard. Through the years I have used various intrusion protection software, spyware blockers, av, register cleaners etc. without being impressed. Some that you can highly recommend that run on Windows Xp home editon and are free. This is not the time for buyning expensive new software unless it is absolutely needed. I have Office 1997 professional (very good) and should prefer Ocffice 2007 professional if I need it. May be I don't. How good are Open Office? Good enough if I need it to 2010? Are the files compatiblw with Ms Office (e.g so easy as savning as)? Any input, suggestion or advice will be read with interest and may be realised. I tried Process Explorer some years ago. It was good, but I did not learn all its functionality and options. Will it report new software like viruses? Is there a better process explorer for Windows XP home?

6. Not UNIX / Linux.

Don't fill up WPW's server with linux proposals. I have no time to learn a new operating system. Xp is good enough for me if this computer lives until 2010.

[wige]

1. Minimalism is a good thing. Since you have multiple hard drives, I would recommend using your primary hard drive for your OS and data files, your second hard drive for applications, and your third hard drive for backups. You can get a speed increase, especially on an older computer that is, I presume, not using high speed SATA drives. By having the apps on one HD and files on another, you speed up data access significantly, because you halve each drives workload at any given time. You won't get this benefit if you are simply using another partition. I recommend using the third drive for backups because hard drives do fail - its not a question of if, its a matter of when.

2. If you are unable to format the drive that you installed Vista on, the file system on that hard drive is probably different. It has been a while since I installed Vista, but I think it used a modified (and supposedly more secure) version of NTFS, which older operating systems can not overwrite. Basically, if Windows XP can't read a drive's filesystem, it won't attempt to format it. You can try to force a reformat from the "Computer Management" utility located in the Administrative Tools folder of the Control Panel. Look for a section called "Disk Managenent." If that doesn't work, a live Linux disk might also be able to reformat the drive.

3. CDs are good for permanent backups, external hard drives, in my experience, are good for temporary (daily/weekly) backups.

5. AVG has been my favorite antivirus since I worked in tech support. It works on my seven year old laptop without slowing it down, and I have never had an infection. I also like Avast. Both are free, but I have only recently started using Avast (there was no version of AVG for Vista x64 when it came out) so I can't speak to it's reliability yet, however it does have some nice scans that I do not believe exist in AVG, such as the on-demand boot scanner.

[kgun]

Thank you very much for good advice as usual.

Originally Posted by wige

1. Minimalism is a good thing.

Agree, and the more you learn, the more minimalistic you may get.

Originally Posted by wige

2. Basically, if Windows XP can't read a drive's filesystem, it won't attempt to format it.

Xp can read the drive, but not format it like format:d that it could before I installed Vista Beta on it.

Originally Posted by wige

3. Linux disk might also be able to reformat the drive.

Seems difficult. Tried Linux some years ago, but it was not learned in a hurry. I hope your and mine other options solve it before that is needed.

This may take days or weeks, since I have so much information to reorganize (have thought of it for a long time) so I do not know when the reformatting starts. Everything shall be reorganized and backed up on CD's before I start. So additional proposals and solutions are welcome.

One important reason that I will not install linux / vista is that I have an old Matrox Millennioum G550 graphics card for 2 screens that is fairly expensive in Norway about USD 1 000. The next time, I will buy a computer with at least three screens. Don't ask me why? I have mine very important reasons for that configuration. Neither nor are the new computers so impressingly fast compared to my old one. I am unsure about drivers to this good old card for other Os's. It did not function on Vista Beta.

[wige]

There is a driver for your graphics card under Vista (Matrox Graphics - Support) but I didn't check Linux. As far as I know, the defrag issue is that XP does not fully understand the permissions system that is enabled in Vista's version of NTFS. As a result, it doesn't risk trying a reformat. "sometimes" doing the reformat from the Control Panel instead of from My Computer > Drive > Properties will let you reformat, but it doesn't always work. I think it has to do with the formatting options you selected when installing Vista.

[kgun]

Filesystem of D is like the other two NTFS.

Tried to uninstall Vista from Vista, but of course the license had expired. And Ms is not always good:

Options:

1. Re enter key. Where is that? Fortunately I have two additional beta versions, so I can install one of them if it is not possible to reformat in another way.
2. Buy new version.
3. Where is the option to delete the Beta version MS?

Now defragmenting D. But not possible to reformat it from the Control Panel either. Locked from reformatting. Have not tried the system restore disk yet or bios setup.

[wige]

Supposedly, if you had the Beta MS sent everyone a free key to activate the final version of Vista. But I am not sure how to activate or access that key now. If you run the install CD, and select the option to reformat the hard drive, you may be able to select a different file system and cancel the install once the partition is complete. I know most linux installs have that capability.

[kgun]

Good.

Thank you, found the key, but have to complete defragmenting before I shut down the computer and try that option on D (multiboot).

Learn much from this.

[kgun]

I will soon go to bed now, but have some additional questions first, that I hope someone has answered until I awake tomorrow.

1. My version of Nero is version 5.5.5.6.
2. There is a new version 8 on the internet that I am offered to upgrade to for Euro 47?
3. I have had no problem burning Cd's of 700 Mb. These new ones are DVD-R 16 Traxdata of 4.7 Gb.
4. Seems that there are problems burning now. I can give them as a gift to my son that has a new computer.
5. So the question is, can I buy a new packet of the traditional Cd's or will an upgrade to the last version of Nero fix it?

And I was not able to activate Vista Beta either. Got the following message repeatedly:

"Your windows license is expired and has stopped working.

---> Buy a new product key online.

----> Retype your product key. Did that two times, but get the same message. Microsoft

----> Activate Windoes online. Did that but returned to the menu. Microsoft".

And it was not possible to install the software again.

In Windows Xp, I am able to delete all files on the C-drive, aside from the Vista files, but I want, prefer them deleted too.

Have not yet used the restore disk, since that involves configuring reading from the Cd in Bios if I want the C-disk formatted and restored. Can not remember wheter it is possible to format the D-drive from there. If it is not, I have to live with the few Mb of old Vista files on the D-drive.

Anybody know partitition magic that I mentioned in my first post? Can that program solve the problem?

[mikmik]

Have not yet used the restore disk, since that involves configuring reading from the Cd in Bios if I want the C-disk formatted and restored. Can not remember wheter it is possible to format the D-drive from there. If it is not, I have to live with the few Mb of old Vista files on the D-drive.

Yes you can, it's what i'd do first, just make sure the boot.ini file is safe, or you will have to go into recovery console (pick 'repair' instead of install on first screen) and use the >bootcfg /rebuild command. It isn bad, just wierd at first if you haven't used it

Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.

It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on.
This will replace any Dos bootdisk in no time!
Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD


You can go into Administration tools and use computer management and format the partion, or even in my computer, right click on the drive or partition and format it.

Get this, it is nice partition manager, works with many file system types, linux and ntfs and fat, cda2, cda3 whatever:

Get image Iso, check out the free downloads, there is some powerful stuff: BootIt Next Gen Here is main program, I use it lots, it is good: BootIt™ NG Features

If you don't find a solution here, I can get you NT Reader and dirctly edit your hard drive, make images etc. It is scary, but powerful. I actually use it for data recovery, but one time I was in windows and just stared deleting whole swaths of my Winows partition. It wrote driectly to the hard drive, and after a few minutes, windows started screwing up, then crashed. I mean you can delete system files while the system is running. It is easy to use, but fun!

I have it on a back-up and will get it to you if you want.

[kgun]

Originally Posted by kgun

And it was not possible to install the software again.

While I wrote that, I thought that it should be possible to reinstall Vista while in Xp and it was, but got the same message after finishing. So I can not find a method to delete Vista Beta while running Vista Beta without buying a new key or the final OS. Microsoft, you do not own my computer, but of course you have written about this in the license agreement, so it is my error

Originally Posted by mikmik

Yes you can, it's what i'd do first, just make sure the boot.ini file is safe, or you will have to go into recovery console (pick 'repair' instead of install on first screen) and use the >bootcfg /rebuild command. It isn bad, just wierd at first if you haven't used it

That has been no problem before. There is an option on the system disk to reformat before installing, so I do not have to care about boot.ini. The other two times I have done that I have had a new old computer after I was finished. Took a few hours to only do that. This time it takes more time because of Vista and complete reorganizing information. I shall have a better computer after the attack. Overall I aim at turning the attack to my advantage.

(And if this was a virus attack, It was not possible to use system restore either. Tried that three times with different restore points. Dreamweaver functions in a minute or two, but then shuts down. But now I want a new old computer so that is not the problem unless it pop ups after the reformatting.)

Originally Posted by mikmik

Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.

It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS filesystem support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on.
This will replace any Dos bootdisk in no time!
Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD


You can go into Administration tools and use computer management and format the partion, or even in my computer, right click on the drive or partition and format it.

Get this, it is nice partition manager, works with many file system types, linux and ntfs and fat, cda2, cda3 whatever:

I may try BartPE if the old method does not solve it. The biggest problem now is backing up the new DVD's using my old version of Nero and figure out what software is absolutely needed. Did I damage the Cd rom drive where I burn CD's?

I think I share Wige's view on only installing Xp on the C-drive and applications on D and use E: for temporary backup. These drives have been excellent. The computer started to malfunction a year ago, but then I cleaned it with high air pressure and vacuum-cleaning, and after a while, it started to function normally. I think I bought it in may 2002 or earlier. Very stable and great experience with Xp.

Originally Posted by mikmik

Get image Iso, check out the free downloads, there is some powerful stuff: BootIt Next Gen Here is main program, I use it lots, it is good: BootIt™ NG Features

If you don't find a solution here, I can get you NT Reader and dirctly edit your hard drive, make images etc. It is scary, but powerful. I actually use it for data recovery, but one time I was in windows and just stared deleting whole swaths of my Winows partition. It wrote driectly to the hard drive, and after a few minutes, windows started screwing up, then crashed. I mean you can delete system files while the system is running. It is easy to use, but fun!

I have it on a back-up and will get it to you if you want.

mikmik, thank you very much. May be I need it.

Any proposal on good link / favourite folder management software and better process explores etc??

[kgun]

Finally found it online. You can not uninstall Windows Vista, but you can install the old OS and then delete Vista and the files.

Originally Posted by wige

Minimalism is a good thing. Since you have multiple hard drives, I would recommend using your primary hard drive for your OS and data files, your second hard drive for applications, and your third hard drive for backups. You can get a speed increase, especially on an older computer that is, I presume, not using high speed SATA drives. By having the apps on one HD and files on another, you speed up data access significantly, because you halve each drives workload at any given time. You won't get this benefit if you are simply using another partition. I recommend using the third drive for backups because hard drives do fail - its not a question of if, its a matter of when.

My bolding.

The following disk that I have never used followed with my computer:

abit Sata Driver disk. Among other things it includes the following file:


File TxtSetup
; This disk include Intel-RAID, silicon-RAID 3112 & 3114, VIA-RAID driver for windows XP
; and windows 2000


[Disks]
disk1 = "Silicon Image SiI 3114 SATARaid Driver Installation Disk", \silicon\3114\Si3114r.sys, \silicon\3114\
disk2 = "Intel Application Accelerator driver", \intel\iaStor.sys, \intel\

............................. Rest of text deleted.

Is this something that can speed up the C-drive? Is it possible to get a faster old computer than the new one I bought in 2002?

Related Norwegian site: Universal abit > Motherboard, Digital Speakers, iDome, AirPace, Multimedia

In addition there is a ABIT Guru disk with user manual and ABIT Utility. Installed ABIT GURU to see what it is. It is a tool to monitor, Voltage, Fan and Temperature and options for

1. Warning by email.
2. Error log recording.
3. Run ABIT EQ when system start up.

This is on a lower level than I use to bee. Interesting.

I used the Product Recovery CD-Rom for Windows Xp on reformatting and reinstalling before.

Here is a tool that follows with the computer:

ABIT FlashMenu Download

[mikmik]

These guys wrote these apps, they are serious microsoft programmers. Thay have always been my favourites, it is freeware, their processExplorer is fantastic, start up called 'Autoruns' is my favourite, lots of good registry montoring apps and networks monitoring, I think 'TdiMon' is one. It is all real time, and I remember when my computer was hacked, I could watch all the requests and changes to registry in real time. You should have seen the buffer overflows and changes being made! In any event, here is the sight, now owned by microsoft, but the same programs. Oh yeah, they all run from folder, which means you can run from floppy or any portable thing like cd or flash drive, and they do not install dll's or change registry.
There is also one that will 'erase on boot'
SysInternals

Here is another that will delete on boot, I always use it to delete files, you will see why, it ia always my first install when I set up my or clients computers: Eraser

Oh yeah, it is NTExplorer I have it, can't find it but I have all my old links, and anyways, I have a version.

File management, hmmm....
This is one of my all time favourite download sites, by far. Here is the freeware section for 'File Managment' . I use this: FreeCommander
There are editor and user reviews, links to home page, never spyware. it is good, called Snapfiles Freeware

[wige]

My point with that quote was that the SATA standard allows for data throughput of 1.5 or 3.0 Gbps, however your hard drives are older, probably 7200RPMs max. They can only read or write at less than 1Gbps. Higher speed hard drives like the new Western Digital Raptor drives are able to read and write at the same speed SATA talks to them, which exceeds the speed applications need, and removes the benefit of using multiple drives. On your system, if you do graphics, gaming or video editing, you would benefit from using two hard drives (one for the OS/applications/caches and one for the files being edited) so that as you read data from one drive you can write to the other etc. It is not a major increase in most cases, but with hard drive-intensive operations it may be noticeable.

[mikmik]

Yeah, and I also like to put the pagefile on another drive as well. I shut down most start-up services, or make them 'manual start' and only have 15 processes running in XP, plus bloody anti-virus precesses that number 5 or so! I am only on a celeron 1.1 gig, with 256+128=384 meg pc 100 ram! It is still not bad at most things, it is a matter of minimalist, for sure, but these ideas with another HD are very good.

[mikmik]

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