HD Format & Fresh XP Install Time

Tweek_1984

Tweek_1984

Tweek_1984

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Joined
11 Nov 2002
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Ok guys, I'm a bit of a newb when it comes to this...

Basically, my lappy is nearly 5 years old and getting a bit sluggish performance wise. I want to format my laptop HD, reinstall xp, and install new ram.

My system is as follows: Compaq Presario R4000, Athlon 64 3500+ (1.77GHz), 512MB ram, 100GB HD, xp home 32bit sp3.

I've got 2GB of sodimm to install and I just want to freshen everything up. What's the quickest and best way to go about this in terms of:

  • Should I slipstream using nLite, or is it wiser just to install XP from the recovery disc and then download sp3, drivers, tweak the registry etc etc?
  • When is the best time to install the new memory? Before formatting, after formatting but before xp reinstall, or after xp reinstall?
  • Is there any point making extra partitions of the HD to increase loading times?


Thanks for any input.
 
You can insert the RAM straight away and make use of it, nlite may well operate faster because of it. I'd suggest using nlite to slipstream sp3 and any drivers into the installation before wiping the computer. It's much cleaner this way, but make sure you download sp3 for IT professionals, available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...A8-5E76-401F-BE08-1E1555D4F3D4&displaylang=en

Extra HD partitons allow seperate space for different uses and means you can wipe the C Drive of your os and still have your data on the system, though reinstalls may be necessary. It does not really help speed as far as I know.
 
With our desktop which has xp home, we have 3 recovery discs that were burned when we first got the pc, do you have the same thing? I take it I cant make 1 xp home sp3 disc out of them?
 
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