Member Avatar for John Pannell

I really do not want to reformat because my burner is acting up and I can't backup anything.I have a PIII@600MHZ w/256 pc133 sdram,40Gig HDD.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by kccomputerdr

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Short answer: yes — you can do an in‑place upgrade from Windows 98 SE to Windows XP, but it’s fragile on old hardware and a clean install usually gives the best, most stable result. is right that wiping and reinstalling is the cleanest route; is also right that an upgrade can preserve files if you really can’t back up first. To perform an upgrade you must start the XP setup from inside Windows 98 (run the i386\winnt32 setup), not by booting the CD. (learn.microsoft.com)

Because your burner reads but won’t burn, don’t assume your data is safe. Priority: get your personal files off the disk before touching the install. Practical, fast options: remove the 40GB IDE drive and attach it to another PC (IDE->USB adapter or enclosure), copy My Documents / desktop / email stores / Favorites; or copy across the network with a crossover Ethernet cable or a simple network share. A cheap external USB HDD or thumb drive will also do — much easier than trying to force an unreliable burner.

If you do an in‑place upgrade, prepare first: run the XP Upgrade Advisor / compatibility check (or winnt32 /checkupgradeonly), uninstall AV and system utilities, run ScanDisk and defrag, disconnect nonessential peripherals, then run setup from the 98 desktop and choose Upgrade. Expect some older drivers or low‑level utilities (VDKs, disk tools) to fail; plan to reinstall or clean‑install later. After XP is running you can convert FAT32 to NTFS without reformatting using the Convert tool — for example:

convert C: /fs:ntfs

Conversion is one‑way and needs free space, so back up first. (ftp.zx.net.nz)

Final note: XP is long out of support and is risky to use online — if this machine will ever see the Internet, plan to migrate to a supported OS or keep it isolated. (support.microsoft.com)

If moving the drive yourself isn’t comfortable, remove the disk and bring it to a friend/PC shop so they can copy your data before you attempt either upgrade or a clean install.

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Member Avatar for just_a_nobody

Yes you can, but your system will run much better doing a clean install. In fact, I would zero out the drive, fdisk, and had xp format the disk to NTFS. What's wrong with your burner? You would loose everything installing XP over 98 anyway.

Zero disk program: http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Member Avatar for John Pannell

Thanks.I figured that would be the best way.My burner will read a cd but will not burn anything.Just old like me I guess.
Thanks for the link too.

Member Avatar for just_a_nobody

What burner program are you using, perhaps that is your problem? Also, maybe the disks you are using aren't ideal for the age of the burner. Maybe go on ebay and find a cheap burner.

Member Avatar for kccomputerdr

Do an upgrade to XP, do not choose new installation. It should run good enough to atleast burn cd's to save your data. Right click on all the files you want to save in xp & send to your cd drive.Do that if your nero or other burning program doesn't work.

After you save everything i'd do a clean install. You will get the best results by deleting the partitions, repartition as a fat32 & format, then when installing xp choose new installation & convert to ntfs. After this 2nd install, install all your software over again & then run a defrag. It is also a good idea to bump up the virtual memory to like 4000.

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