Changing hard drive, how to reinstall Windows XP MCE?

[Michael]

Hi all,

I have an HP Media Center PC m7170n. I want to change the 250GB hard drive
with a bigger one.

How am I going to be able to re-install Windows XP Media Center Edition? I
did not get the CDs for that; it is in a recovery partition on my 250GB hard
drive.

Thanks in advance.

[Frankster]

Your hp Media Center PC should have a program to make a recovery set of
DVDs/CDs. Use that. It is basically a copy of the hard disk recovery
partition but is designed to work from DVDs/CDs. Should be available from
the Start menu | Programs | Whatever... can't remember the exact path.

-Frank

Post by Michael
Hi all,
I have an HP Media Center PC m7170n. I want to change the 250GB hard drive
with a bigger one.
How am I going to be able to re-install Windows XP Media Center Edition? I
did not get the CDs for that; it is in a recovery partition on my 250GB
hard drive.
Thanks in advance.

[Michael]

Thanks!

Post by Frankster
Your hp Media Center PC should have a program to make a recovery set of
DVDs/CDs. Use that. It is basically a copy of the hard disk recovery
partition but is designed to work from DVDs/CDs. Should be available from
the Start menu | Programs | Whatever... can't remember the exact path.
-Frank

Post by Michael
Hi all,
I have an HP Media Center PC m7170n. I want to change the 250GB hard
drive with a bigger one.
How am I going to be able to re-install Windows XP Media Center Edition?
I did not get the CDs for that; it is in a recovery partition on my 250GB
hard drive.
Thanks in advance.

[Michael]

BTW, if I replace my graphics card, is that going to be a problem? I believe
the recovery CDs will reinstall all software and drivers configured the way
the PC was originally built when I bought it, isn't it?

Thanks again.

Post by Frankster
Your hp Media Center PC should have a program to make a recovery set of
DVDs/CDs. Use that. It is basically a copy of the hard disk recovery
partition but is designed to work from DVDs/CDs. Should be available from
the Start menu | Programs | Whatever... can't remember the exact path.
-Frank

Post by Michael
Hi all,
I have an HP Media Center PC m7170n. I want to change the 250GB hard
drive with a bigger one.
How am I going to be able to re-install Windows XP Media Center Edition?
I did not get the CDs for that; it is in a recovery partition on my 250GB
hard drive.
Thanks in advance.

[Frankster]

You are right about the new graphics card. So... have the correct driver on
hand before you start. And... not to worry too much. You can always set it
to plain VGA and work with it until you can get the correct drivers
installed.

-Frank

Post by Michael
BTW, if I replace my graphics card, is that going to be a problem? I
believe the recovery CDs will reinstall all software and drivers
configured the way the PC was originally built when I bought it, isn't it?
Thanks again.

Post by Frankster
Your hp Media Center PC should have a program to make a recovery set of
DVDs/CDs. Use that. It is basically a copy of the hard disk recovery
partition but is designed to work from DVDs/CDs. Should be available from
the Start menu | Programs | Whatever... can't remember the exact path.
-Frank

Post by Michael
Hi all,
I have an HP Media Center PC m7170n. I want to change the 250GB hard
drive with a bigger one.
How am I going to be able to re-install Windows XP Media Center Edition?
I did not get the CDs for that; it is in a recovery partition on my
250GB hard drive.
Thanks in advance.

[need help]

Post by Michael
Hi all,
I have an HP Media Center PC m7170n. I want to change the 250GB hard
drive with a bigger one.
How am I going to be able to re-install Windows XP Media Center
Edition? I did not get the CDs for that; it is in a recovery partition
on my 250GB hard drive.
Thanks in advance.

With the hard drive, you'll typically get a CD that will include a
copying utility. Simply use that CD to copy MCE2005 from the old drive
to the new one, and then you can put your 250 into the slave/secondary
position, and use it to store photos, music, or other things.

Any updates or changes, naturally, will be copied as well - it will be
an exact, perfect copy.

[ASAAR]

Post by Michael
I have an HP Media Center PC m7170n. I want to change the 250GB hard drive
with a bigger one.
How am I going to be able to re-install Windows XP Media Center Edition? I
did not get the CDs for that; it is in a recovery partition on my 250GB hard
drive.

It may be that only a larger drive will work for you, but have you
considered adding a second hard drive? I don't know if your
computer has a bay for a second internal SATA hard drive (which my
m7470 has) but I chose to add an external Seagate hard drive because
it was less expensive and adds no additional internal heat. The
Seagate drive has both USB 2.0 and Firewire ports and although I
haven't tested it, seems as fast as the m7470n's original 300GB hard
drive. If nothing else, it will spare you the annoyance of having
to reinstall Windows. If you really need to swap hard drives, you
might be able to get by without using the recovery set of DVD disks
if you first use a program such as Ghost to clone the original
drive's files to the new drive and then replace the original drive.
My original drive, BTW, now that I've shifted some of its files to
the new drive, has 250GB of free space, and if I ever need more I
can simply plug in another drive. :)

[Michael]

Thanks for your post.. The HP m7170n has only one internal bay for the hard
drive. I guess HP is hoping people will buy the very expensive HP personal
hard drive (external) that fits in the desktop PC. I don't mind
re-installing Windows. Actually I want to. Windows just gets slower and
slower with time, and a yearly full re-install is a good idea in my opinion.

Post by ASAAR

Post by Michael
I have an HP Media Center PC m7170n. I want to change the 250GB hard drive
with a bigger one.
How am I going to be able to re-install Windows XP Media Center Edition? I
did not get the CDs for that; it is in a recovery partition on my 250GB hard
drive.

It may be that only a larger drive will work for you, but have you
considered adding a second hard drive? I don't know if your
computer has a bay for a second internal SATA hard drive (which my
m7470 has) but I chose to add an external Seagate hard drive because
it was less expensive and adds no additional internal heat. The
Seagate drive has both USB 2.0 and Firewire ports and although I
haven't tested it, seems as fast as the m7470n's original 300GB hard
drive. If nothing else, it will spare you the annoyance of having
to reinstall Windows. If you really need to swap hard drives, you
might be able to get by without using the recovery set of DVD disks
if you first use a program such as Ghost to clone the original
drive's files to the new drive and then replace the original drive.
My original drive, BTW, now that I've shifted some of its files to
the new drive, has 250GB of free space, and if I ever need more I
can simply plug in another drive. :)

[Ben Myers]

If overcoming the sclerotic nature of an aging Windows software installation is
the objective, some cleanup procedures can keep a Windows XP system in decent
working order and not too slow.

1. CCleaner gets rid of useless registry entries, and cleans up useless files
better than Windows' own Drive Cleanup.
2. PageFileDefrag defragments the registry and other Windows system files.
3. Windows Defrag does a decent, albeit not too thorough, job of defragmenting
files.

What one cannot overcome, though, is the steady erosion in available system
memory due to the installation of more and more software which forces more and
more memory resident processes. Examples: most any modern cheap printer, any
anti-virus software... Ben Myers

Post by Michael
Thanks for your post.. The HP m7170n has only one internal bay for the hard
drive. I guess HP is hoping people will buy the very expensive HP personal
hard drive (external) that fits in the desktop PC. I don't mind
re-installing Windows. Actually I want to. Windows just gets slower and
slower with time, and a yearly full re-install is a good idea in my opinion.

Post by ASAAR

Post by Michael
I have an HP Media Center PC m7170n. I want to change the 250GB hard drive
with a bigger one.
How am I going to be able to re-install Windows XP Media Center Edition? I
did not get the CDs for that; it is in a recovery partition on my 250GB hard
drive.

It may be that only a larger drive will work for you, but have you
considered adding a second hard drive? I don't know if your
computer has a bay for a second internal SATA hard drive (which my
m7470 has) but I chose to add an external Seagate hard drive because
it was less expensive and adds no additional internal heat. The
Seagate drive has both USB 2.0 and Firewire ports and although I
haven't tested it, seems as fast as the m7470n's original 300GB hard
drive. If nothing else, it will spare you the annoyance of having
to reinstall Windows. If you really need to swap hard drives, you
might be able to get by without using the recovery set of DVD disks
if you first use a program such as Ghost to clone the original
drive's files to the new drive and then replace the original drive.
My original drive, BTW, now that I've shifted some of its files to
the new drive, has 250GB of free space, and if I ever need more I
can simply plug in another drive. :)