XP reinstall saves files?

bobber · #1 09-11-2002, 07:11 PM

My XP Pro become corrupted and the restore function made it even worse (boot stays dark). It looks like I need to reinstall from the CD. Question: I have a directory of JPEG files I want to grab. Will the reinstall mess with this directory in any way if I do not reformat the partition? Ie, will I have the right permissions to get access to these files and will they still be there?

Xanex · #2 09-12-2002, 12:47 AM

If you load the xp disc, assumming that u have boot cd capabiltys, you are able to do a repair install of Xp. you should find that option somewhere in the install section

bobber · #3 09-12-2002, 02:27 AM

Assuming that I can't get the recovery console to fix the disk for me, I'm asking if I can just do a new install of Win XP Pro ove rthe old one and still have access to the files that were on the disk. What do you think?

shadow_man · #4 09-12-2002, 12:28 PM

Are your files on the same drive as the OS? When you reinstall XP, it erases all files on your system drive.

shadow_man

augie2 · #5 09-12-2002, 12:54 PM

Don't do a new install. It will reformat your drive. Lose all. Try to reboot w/ repair. If you can't, do a backup every so often., so that you won't freak next time.CD's are cheap as are CD-RW
drives. Maybe some else can help more. Backup always. Freeware all over the place for progs to do this. Check with search engine. maybe boot to DOS? not sure. Good luck

Grendel · #6 09-13-2002, 05:26 PM

If you boot from the XP CD.

Press ENTER to install Windows.
The next screen is the EULA; F8 to get past that.

The next screen should have a "Press R to Repair" choice.
If you chose that, your files, data, apps,etc, will NOT go anywhere.

If you chose to press ESC to install a fresh copy.
You can do this for a Clean install of XP.

If you go this route, you can chose to format or not.
To NOT format, just chose the default drive to install to.
Then on next screen chose "Leave current file system intact."

The down side of this route is that you WILL have to reinstall your apps, but the data stays there. The My Documents folder may be over written this way, so DO back up that folder. The only time that folder is over written is, when setup has finished and you make another user account with the same name that was on it before.