Technically combining the partitions would not uninstall XP.

So using the recovery disc would give me like a clean install of the machine with everything as new out of the box?
Will i have to individually install the programs to get the camera etc working again?
What I really want to know is what exactly happens when you use the recovery disc, bit of a cheat I suppose not to try it out myself, but just checking.

[quote author=“Mrs Gadget”]

Technically combining the partitions would not uninstall XP.

So using the recovery disc would give me like a clean install of the machine with everything as new out of the box?
Will i have to individually install the programs to get the camera etc working again?
What I really want to know is what exactly happens when you use the recovery disc, bit of a cheat I suppose not to try it out myself, but just checking.

If everything works correctly it should be just like the first time you turned it on.

Erik

Just to clarify: Just use the XP retail CD if Partition Magic or some other utility screws up your boot sector. It’s bootable and has a few useful command line utilites on it.

Problem here is i don’t have a windows xp disc as the cheats don’t sell you one with new computers any more!!!
I remember a post early on saying that the recovery disc doesn’t have win xp on, is that right? I can see some windows files on it and sp1 , but is it enough.
IN the good old days when you got a copy of the operating system there was no problem, just as you say, boot from windows, format drive and off you go. ( apart from the small problem of getting a few of the sony gadgets to work). Now i am not sure i want to fork out £150 + for a copy of win xp.

Sorry previous post came out a bit wrong.

Just to clarify: Just use the XP retail CD if Partition Magic or some other utility screws up your boot sector. It’s bootable and has a few useful command line utilites on it.

Problem here is i don’t have a windows xp disc as the cheats don’t sell you one with new computers any more!!!
I remember a post early on saying that the recovery disc doesn’t have win xp on, is that right? I can see some windows files on it and sp1 , but is it enough.
IN the good old days when you got a copy of the operating system there was no problem, just as you say, boot from windows, format drive and off you go. ( apart from the small problem of getting a few of the sony gadgets to work). Now i am not sure i want to fork out £150 + for a copy of win xp.

Perhaps the recovery disc just sets the computer to a restore point before one has used the computer?

I think you’re confusing two different issues. jeo4long said that he had a problem with Partition Magic due to the way the TR2 is formatted. You have a TR1MP, IIRC, so this issue won’t affect you. My suggestion was specifically for the type of issue jeo4long had.

I’m totally with you about XP and Microsoft’s ridiculous licensing/activation schemes. I can’t tell you how much grief it’s caused me for doing silly things like replacing a bad system drive.