Vista BETA query

CurlyWhirly · 2 Jul 2006 at 00:07

I don't really want the hassle of dual booting it with XP so I am just wondering if I could carry out the following?

Format over XP, install Vista and then when I've finished get everything back to how it was by restoring my Drive Image 7 backup off an external USB 2 hard drive?

I'm just checking that this would, in theory, work?
I'm not sure as I've never had anything to do with Vista before and when I activate Vista BETA with the product key that I received off Microsoft, I'm not sure if it will mess up my XP installation?

I don't think it will but I just wanted to check first

n3vrmind · 2 Jul 2006 at 01:03

Im taking this to mean you'll create an image of the drive, wipe and try vista, then restore the image removing vista yes, if so then not a problem

if i were you id look at all the important hardware and download drivers and save them on your usb disk too, e.g. ide/sata/scsi controllers, chipset, network and video drivers, might be a pain to get them if your not going to have the ability to nip back into XP and download them

CurlyWhirly · 2 Jul 2006 at 08:47

n3vrmind said:
Im taking this to mean you'll create an image of the drive, wipe and try vista, then restore the image removing vista yes, if so then not a problem

Yes that is exactly right and I'm pleased to hear that it should, in theory, work.

I don't want to go down the dual boot route as my C: drive is all one partition and I don't have Partition Magic so I can't create a second partition for Vista.
Also I'm not sure whether shrinking the partition size would affect the ability to get back my Drive Image 7 images :confused:

n3vrmind said:
if i were you id look at all the important hardware and download drivers and save them on your usb disk too, e.g. ide/sata/scsi controllers, chipset, network and video drivers, might be a pain to get them if your not going to have the ability to nip back into XP and download them

Very good advice and I'm glad you brought this up.

I will download and save them to my external hard drive just in case I run into problems.

Thanks for your advice

n3vrmind · 2 Jul 2006 at 10:27

Same advice i give everyone rebuilding a machine.. i work in an IT dept and i wish i had a pound for the number of times i've seen one of our helpdesk get stuck after wiping a machine and then not knowing even what hardware is inside to get drivers

CurlyWhirly · 4 Jul 2006 at 00:36

Your advice worked, thanks

I installed Vista yesterday and had a 'play' with it for a few hours and then I got XP back on here again.

At least I know what all the fuss is about now!