Upgrade help, please

[hgblade]

Here's a situation I haven't previously encountered, so a little advice would be appreciated please.

Finally, my new motherboard with i7 processor, and the ability to take my new GTX 295, has been shipped. This mb is to replace a 'dead' mb in a system that I had earlier 'downgraded' a few months ago. Before the mb died on me the drives had been periodically backed up, but it's possible there are some files not backed up that I could find a use for. The OS (Windows XP) is on an ATA drive, with 2 SATAs keeping it company. First question - can I re-install the OS on the ATA drive, without losing any data files on that drive? Second question - if the answer to the first question is 'yes' can I also recover emails from that drive?

Final question - I will eventually, and perhaps almost immediately, want to upgrade the OS to Vista. What advantage, if any, from a BOINC viewpoint would be gained going 64-bit instead of 32?

[UBT - Mikee]

Here's a situation I haven't previously encountered, so a little advice would be appreciated please.

Finally, my new motherboard with i7 processor, and the ability to take my new GTX 295, has been shipped. This mb is to replace a 'dead' mb in a system that I had earlier 'downgraded' a few months ago. Before the mb died on me the drives had been periodically backed up, but it's possible there are some files not backed up that I could find a use for. The OS (Windows XP) is on an ATA drive, with 2 SATAs keeping it company. First question - can I re-install the OS on the ATA drive, without losing any data files on that drive? Second question - if the answer to the first question is 'yes' can I also recover emails from that drive?

Final question - I will eventually, and perhaps almost immediately, want to upgrade the OS to Vista. What advantage, if any, from a BOINC viewpoint would be gained going 64-bit instead of 32?

I'll do 1 & 2!

Best thing is to try to save the emails first just in case- see below.

You should be able to install a new OS over the old one without losing data, but just in case try to backup everything using the old OS first.

If you start the system with the OS on the drive and ignore windows nags you should be able to back up the emails. If it's Outlook Express then file>export>messages, other email programs will be similar, backup to a separate drive or optical drive, file>import to recover emails. Repeat with address book. There was an issue with importing Outlook Express, but it's probably fixed now.

[Joshrandom]

If it's Outlook Express then file>export>messages, other email programs will be similar, backup to a separate drive or optical drive, file>import to recover emails. Repeat with address book. There was an issue with importing Outlook Express, but it's probably fixed now.

I'm not too sure, but everytime I've tried to backup emails from Outlook Express, I've ended up finding the actual data files, and manually copying them over. I think you need Microsoft Outlook if you want to go down the export/import route, at least you did back when I tried it. From what I remember, OE can't import emails that have been exported from OE...which is kinda weird when you think about it.  :?

[Temujin]

The OS (Windows XP) is on an ATA drive, with 2 SATAs keeping it company. First question - can I re-install the OS on the ATA drive, without losing any data files on that drive? Second question - if the answer to the first question is 'yes' can I also recover emails from that drive?

I don't know the answer I'm afraid but why not install your new OS on one of the SATA drives, then just copy everything from the ATA drive?

or

install all your drives the same as your old machine, boot from the ATA, copy everything you need to one of the SATAs, then re-install the OS on the ATA and copy back?

[Ben]

Final question - I will eventually, and perhaps almost immediately, want to upgrade the OS to Vista. What advantage, if any, from a BOINC viewpoint would be gained going 64-bit instead of 32?

Going from 32-bit to 64-bit immediately increases the speed and responsiveness on the system (i find). It allows you to have more then 3.5GB ram and most importantly, projects which have the 64-bit app such as ABC complete in a fraction of the time it takes to do the same work unit on a 32-bit processor. Just take a look at some of the ABC results  :shock: