Re: OS install or versions ?

Grinder wrote:
L wrote:
Thanks for the info. Is it possible to install OS in one
participation and all the other including applications in another
participation or second drive to overcome the problems of using the
restore CD.

I'm not really certain of what you're asking here.

I think participation = partition. ;)


PCs that come with an authentic install of XP, will have a Certificate
of Authenticity (COA) that identifies the product, and a 25 character
product key. That is essentially your license to use one install of
that software. If it's installed on two different machines, or even a
single, entirely different, machine, Microsoft will know when you go
to activate the product.

Somewhat separate from that is the type of discs that will come with
your machine that will allow you to reinstall your operating system
and applications. There are basically three types:

1) Full system restore. This is a disc, or series of discs, that will
automatically, in one shot, restore your computer to its factory-fresh
state. Since many PC vendors choose to pack your new computer with
tons of trials, limited editions and shoddy in-house
applications--crapware in a word--full system restores generally suck.

I'm not sure who is still doing this. The most recent one I've seen
is a Media Center PC from HP. Overall it wasn't that bad of experience
because I only had to uninstall about a half dozen turds after the
restore to put the system in good condition. Still, I wish they had
just gone with option 2...

2) Seperate Operating System, Driver and Application discs. This is a
fairly common practice amongst PC vendors. One disc is a standard (or
nearly so) Windows XP installer, so with the addition of some drivers,
you can start with a baseline system. The application disc will
generally let you pick and choose which applications to install.

Gateway chose this method for a long time, and I have also seen Dell
do the same thing. Custom PCs from system builders will almost always
have a standalone OS disc, and possibly a slew of other driver and
application discs. Make sure you get everything you need from those
guys.
3) Hidden Restore Partition. With hard drive space as cheap as it is,
it's not uncommon for a system to have a restore kept on a hidden
partition. In some cases you can run the restore right from the
partition, or you might have to burn discs from it first. The
practical operation can be either type 1 (full system restore) or
type 2 (seperate discs,) although I would say more often the former.

The aforementioned HP Media Center had a hidden partition that was
supposed to allow me to restore by hitting a key during the BIOS load.
It would have been cool if that had worked. It didn't.

- - -

Sometimes your restore discs are disc images stored on your PCs hard
drive. Be sure to burn copies of as soon as you can--before the
mechanism gets screwed up and you're left out in the cold.

Ok, if you're the victim of a full system restore, there's still
something you can do. You can get your system set up exactly as you
like, and burn a full back of your system. This will enable you to
make a full system restore as you wish it to be. There are a lot of
products out there--Acronis gets a lot of good press.

If you have a separate operating system disc, you may want to look
into slipstreaming updates into a copy of your disc, and burning a new
installer. This can save you some time, and theoretically make a
reinstall more secure, buy starting you out with the most recent
updates. Google for more information.

what is the purpose of COA ?.

The COA (Certificate of Authority) is basically your sales receipt for
XP. It proves that you've paid/licensed the copy of the software that
you're running.


.

Loading