XP HOME vs XP PRO [Archive]

Bromy

07-06-2003, 09:47 AM

A few questions for the computer experts. I admit I am not, I know enough to get by and repair things and install hardware but that's about it so bear with me.

Currently I am running XP Home on my computer

AMD XP 2100 cpu
SB Platinum sound card
Geforce 2 pro 64 meg video card
512 meg of ddram

Now I am needing to format this thing as I have some issues that are starting to affect this computer from running smoothly and lop.com spyware I can't get rid of

But what I am thinking of doing is buying XP Pro and installing it on this computer and using my current copy of XP Home on my old computer which is

P 2 400 Intel 440 bx mobo
Elsa Victory II video card not sure if its compatible with XP
SB Live Value sound card
384 megs sdram

I am thinking of buying a new video card for my current computer maybe a gforce 4 and taking the card i have in here now and putting it in the old computer. As well as adding about another gig of ram to the AMD.

So my questions are

If I take my current copy of XP Home and put it on my old computer will I have to call Microsoft to get it activated since it's a completely different system than what it's currently on. Will they give me a hard time over it? Does anyone know if the Elsa Victory card is compatible with XP, currently the computer is hooked up but with no net connection so I have no way to download the compatibility test. What are the difference in XP Home and XP Pro? I have two 60 gig hard drives in this computer and I should be able to do a backup of this drive onto the second drive correct? I have some stuff that I don't want to loose. What is the procedure for that? If I buy a new video card should I install it 1'st then format?I think that's it. If I decide to upgrade this computer with a different video card and ram it's only going to be until this time next year when I buy a new computer.

Ash

07-06-2003, 09:54 AM

Wait, you're only going to have xp home running on one machine? It shouldnt be a problem (use the same code).

Bromy

07-06-2003, 10:00 AM

yeah but it's a totally different machine with different hardware so I wonder if they will be a problem with activation. XP scans your computer to check for changes in hardware.

Ash

07-06-2003, 10:08 AM

There shouldn't be. Try and see.

Bromy

07-06-2003, 10:16 AM

will be shortly probably next week or so. Kind of holding off till I get a new video card and do a backup

Morning Cabbie

07-06-2003, 02:27 PM

Hehe I will attempt to answer some of your questions Bromy:

If I buy a new video card should I install it 1'st then format?

Answer: Do the format first so it wipes out all traces of the previous video card and will prevent setup conflicts.

If I take my current copy of XP Home and put it on my old computer will I have to call Microsoft to get it activated since it's a completely different system than what it's currently on. Will they give me a hard time over it?

Answer: If memory serves me correct you are allowed to install it twice. If for some reason it doesn't just call Microsoft and explain what you are doing.

I have two 60 gig hard drives in this computer and I should be able to do a backup of this drive onto the second drive correct? I have some stuff that I don't want to loose. What is the procedure for that?

Answer: How much stuff is on the primary drive? From what I recall P.H. he just creates a backup file and sends it to the second drive like you would say um sending a picture to a floppy disc. For more info click here Bromy:http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/howto/story/0,24330,3316458,00.html

I only answered the question where I felt I could help maybe somebody else can mention something.

Jim

07-07-2003, 08:30 AM

If I take my current copy of XP Home and put it on my old computer will I have to call Microsoft to get it activated since it's a completely different system than what it's currently on. Will they give me a hard time over it?

No they are fairly reasonable when you call. Just explain the situation to them.

Does anyone know if the Elsa Victory card is compatible with XP, currently the computer is hooked up but with no net connection so I have no way to download the compatibility test.

No idea..Its not that old is it?

What are the difference in XP Home and XP Pro?

Windows XP Home Edition:
Contains basic support for security among multiple users.
Built-in support for peer-to-peer networking, but only for up to five computers.
The backup utlity is not installed by default, but is included on the CD.
Windows XP Professional Edition

Includes extended support for security between multiple users on the same machine.
Better support for peer-to-peer networking, plus support for joining a "Windows NT domain."
The backup utlity is installed by default.
The Professional edition includes the following components not found in the Home edition:
Administrative Tools (in the Start Menu and Control Panel)
Automated System Recovery (ASR)
Boot Configuration Manager
DriverQuery
Group Policy Refresh Utility
Multi-lingual User Interface (MUI) add-on
NTFS Encryption Utilitiy
Offline Files and Folders
OpenFiles
Performance Log Manager
Remote Desktop
Scheduled Tasks Console
Security Template Utility
Taskkill
Tasklist
Telnet Administrator
Provides support for multi-processor systems (2 or 4 CPUs), Dynamic Disks, Fax.

I have two 60 gig hard drives in this computer and I should be able to do a backup of this drive onto the second drive correct? I have some stuff that I don't want to loose. What is the procedure for that?

You can use Windows backup feature to backup your data and any other files you want to the second drive.
If its not installed you can find it on the XP CD in \VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP directory

If I buy a new video card should I install it 1'st then format?

No reason to do that.
Format> Power down > Switch cards > Power up > Boot from CD and off you go

Bromy

07-07-2003, 09:51 AM

thanks everyone sounds easy enough.

The elsa video card is about 5 years old, getting a driver for it is even kind of hard now.

deb

07-07-2003, 11:45 AM

I have two 60 gig hard drives in this computer and I should be able to do a backup of this drive onto the second drive correct? I have some stuff that I don't want to loose. What is the procedure for that?

You can use Windows backup feature to backup your data and any other files you want to the second drive.
If its not installed you can find it on the XP CD in \VALUEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP directory

I just did a copy for my sis's files and folders to the second hard drive.... is using the backup feature faster?

Bromy

07-07-2003, 01:03 PM

Jim

07-07-2003, 02:20 PM

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I just did a copy for my sis's files and folders to the second hard drive.... is using the backup feature faster?

No not really.
Advantage of using MS Backup is that it does something called "Shadow backup"
Basically if a file is in use by the system or another user it will still back it up

Jim

07-07-2003, 02:31 PM

Will let you know tomorrow lol

I just installed the backup utility and went to run it and it asked me to insert a floppy so it can create a system restore disk....and all my floppies are in the other room and I am not getting out of bed to get one lol

and an added question I just thought of.

After I have formatted and begin to reinstall programs am I able to install a program right from the backup? The reason I ask take my Bryce program for example. I have a lot of custom skys, materials and objects that I have added to Bryce's menu, I am hoping I can just reinstall the backup back onto the newly formatted drive without having to start all over again in regrards to all my custom stuff in Bryce.

As well as I have a bunch of freeware apps that I may not be able to find again, some makers of them are gone completely...

This may more of a nightmare than I was hoping lol

I'd backup everything, reinstall Bryce on the new drive and then extract just the stuff you need from the backup.
Much cleaner :)
Not familiar with Bryce but you may be able to find these customizations in the program somewhere

Never had much luck if any restoring a full working program from a backup. Remember that although you may have a folder called Bryce in your Program files....there is all sorts of stuff elsewhere relating to the program (In the registry for example)

Bromy

07-07-2003, 03:20 PM

Thanks Jim

I think I know how I can get around it. In the bryce directory there are several folders for skys, materials, objects and I should be able to do the backup to my 2'nd hd then after I have reinstalled Bryce go into the backup and just copy the folders and place them in the new install overwriting the default ones....should work I think, now that I think of it I did that with Poser last year. I had 6 gigs of custom stuff that would have taken me an eternity to reinstall.

thanks again

Jim

07-07-2003, 04:31 PM

Yup. that should work :)

-mander-

07-10-2003, 08:40 AM

Does anyone know if the Elsa Victory card is compatible with XP, currently the computer is hooked up but with no net connection so I have no way to download the compatibility test

I believe it is compatible. Try one of these drivers here.

http://www.windowsxp-drivers.com/companies/4/362.htm

Bromy

07-10-2003, 09:06 AM

thanks -mander-

will know by next week when I have a go at these 2 computers lol