Subject:Upgrade to XP-need help plz!!!!

Posted by: luces

Date:7/20/2003 1:58:08 PM

Howdy. I am gonna bite the bullet and finally upgrade to XP (Home). I am hoping this will improve my performance with AP 4.0e and Audiophile 24/96 card. The latency both with audio and midi are just not tolerable. Currently I am using 98se with a primary C drive and a secondary D: drive for data and archiving.

My question is..... will I need to back up my D drive info (which is daunting) or will XP only reformat my C drive? Would I be smart to just physically remove my second drive or will there be some kind of strange install issue if i do? I would REALLY appreciate any help in making the process less complicated and painfull!

Also, if anyone has any other advice or tips that I am just overlooking, PLEEEEEZE chime in. Thanks a LOT!!! luces

Subject:RE: Upgrade to XP-need help plz!!!!

Reply by: dkistner

Date:7/20/2003 2:11:44 PM

Before you do anything else, go here and read about the Standard PC/ACPI installation thing. You will almost definitely NOT want to install Standard PC, but just read it carefully so you'll be informed about what you are doing. And know that if your soundcard requires its own IRQ, you're going to be doing some card-moving for a while.

If your D drive is a physically separate drive, installing the new OS on C should not do anything to it. HOWEVER, things can go wrong. I just had to do a full from-scratch restore of XP Pro and, for reasons that had nothing to do with XP, I wound up having to pull out that second hard drive anyway...but not before I went through some extreme stress over what might have gotten corrupted.

If I were you, I'd just uncable that second drive (powered down, of course) so there's no chance anything is going to happen to it. ESPECIALLY if you do not have that data backed up anywhere else! Then, when you've got XP fully installed on your C drive, turn off the computer, recable the second drive, then boot back up. XP should then recognize the second drive and know what to do with it.

If anyone else has additional technical caveats for luces, please post them.

I've been very happy with XP, by the way. I personally think it's the best Windows OS for music-making.

Subject:RE: Upgrade to XP-need help plz!!!!

Reply by: mortalengines

Date:7/20/2003 8:07:52 PM

I recently got XP after using 98se & used the upgrade version - A guy showed me how to disconnect my d -drive (Just in case there might be a problem) from the mother board but he didn't think that there would be a problem- since, like you said, the operating system is going on the c drive- you may want to try figuring out which drive is d & disconnecting it - in any case if you aren't fully backed up you should probably go ahead & do it now just on general principles.

Subject:RE: Upgrade to XP-need help plz!!!!

Reply by: skagoogee

Date:7/20/2003 9:46:49 PM

Remove the D drive to be safe. Also, be sure that all of your hardware is XP compatible. You can run a hardware check from the CD and it will give you a report of everything that needs a new driver then make sure you check to see if it is available. I have seen this problem from time to time. Also - XP likes alot of RAM. Max out your system and your results will be great. XP is by far the best OS out there.

Subject:RE: Upgrade to XP-need help plz!!!!

Reply by: MyST

Date:7/20/2003 10:28:49 PM

"be sure that all of your hardware is XP compatible"

DEFINITELY!!!
I lost use of my Turtle Beach Montego soundcard and my 3Dfx videocard didn't have any drivers for XP since 3Dfx had gone out of business before XP's release.
So...extra expenses.
M

Subject:RE: Upgrade to XP-need help plz!!!!

Reply by: dkistner

Date:7/21/2003 5:12:06 AM

One of the very best things I did was turn off System Restore in XP (implementing a regular backup procedure instead using Drive Image); also, setting my performance options to favor background processing over programs. My min/max paging file on both my primary and secondary hard drives is set to 1024 (768 might have been enough, but I've got plenty of drive space), and that's seemed to help a lot, too.

Once you get it set up right, you're going to love XP. If you're using something like Drive Image or Norton Ghost, you'd be wise to back up your core system (sans DAW stuff) to CDs (you don't want to have to go through reauthorization if your system crashes); then do one with your core audio programs installed and configured. I love the freedom of being able to try out new programs that might not agree with my system, knowing that if I totally trash things, all I have to do is restore that good drive image. And my data is on the separate drive, so that gets backed up differently.

Another thing you might find very useful, if you also use your computer for browsing and email, is to rename your main hardware profile to something like "Fully Enabled," then copy it to another profile (mine's called "Isolated DAW"). Reboot into the new profile, then disable hardware like your NIC card or modem that might cause problems in your audio work. This is how I managed to get my Mia card isolated onto its on IRQ.

I find having the different hardware profiles reduces my temptation to pull in email and get sidetracked from projects I'm working on. If I'm in the isolated DAW, I can't get the Internet without rebooting. If I'm in the fully enabled mode, I can still work on things (like composition, frequency analysis, and such, which sometimes makes me want to go out and look things up), but the recording/mixing-type work does not go as smoothly. Knowing this helps me schedule my workflow better so I can actually get something done.

Subject:RE: Upgrade to XP-need help plz!!!!

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:7/21/2003 2:48:04 PM

As everyone else says, you should be OK with if you keep your D: drive connected; it's only a data drive anyway. You can disconnect it should you feel uneasy about it. Be sure to check out MusicXP.net as Diane noted. Lots of great tips there.

When you upgrade, you have a couple choices open to you. You can simply upgrade everything to XP without formatting, but this could cause problems down the line. However, if you want to quickly check out XP and know you're going to format anyway, you can use this option as it's the quickest.

Your best bet is to backup your vital documents and format and then install XP clean. (If you install the XP upgrade on a clean drive, it'll ask for your previous version Windows CD-ROM before installing.)

Always backup regardless. You never know when a disaster will strike.

HTH,
Iacobus

Subject:RE: What a difference!

Reply by: luces

Date:7/23/2003 11:17:12 AM

Hey everybody, thanks for the help! The install was a success and AP4.0e has NEVER run sooooooo smoothly! 48/24, with 3 different VSTi's going simultaneosly, and I swear it just sounds better! (probably psychological).

XP seems to be so much more intuitive as an OS!

Well, thanks again!!!!

Luces