How much space does XP Pro SP2 reqire on the hard drive? I'm trying to load it on a 3.9 Gig harddrive and it stalls when I get to the page that has the time zone on it. And yes I meant 3.9 NOT 39 Gig. I have a feeling that XP doesn't check the size before it starts and it's running out of room? If it's of any importance, the computer is a Panasonic CF27 with the factory CD drive installed. It had 2000 on it and I put in an XP CD and away we went! It has gotten to the Time Zone page 3 times and just stops, no warning, no comment. John C.

Did you clean format the harddrive prior to starting the installation? If not, then I'd recommend backing up any important data, then use the format built into the XP setup to wipe the drive clean. 3.9GB should be more than enough for XP alone. Office on the other hand takes up a lot of room if you leave the installation files on the computer.

The locking up during setup could be another problem altogether. I've seen bad CDs (scratched or damaged somehow) not work and crash/lockup the XP install. Bad, dying harddrives also can do that too.

Well, I did the NTSF(?) not-quick Format, figuring that would be the better choice. There was nothing on the drive that I desired, I bought the 'puter used and I'll load my own software. That way I'll KNOW what's on there! Tried 2 different CD's that have no apparent defects (Scratches, etc) from 2 different sources, not copies of one-another. Both used successfully before. Isuppose it's time to reove the hard-drive housing and open it. See what type it is and start looking for a new one! Might as well get a 40-80 Gig drive, while I'm at it.

One of the requirements for sp2 is 1.8GB of available hard drive space!

Well then, I guess space is not the problem.

Three things: bad CD, bad RAM, incompatible BIOS. The BIOS could be reporting memory locations to XP which are invalid causing the hang. Way back when XP was new we had to re-flash an updated BIOS on many machines to get XP loaded. I'd look for a more recent BIOS if there is one. If the CD is a copy, try another CD. One thing for sure, if you do get it going never install SP3 as you will not have enough disk space. Clean installs with SP3 typically use up about 2.8 GB and the updates can add another 400MB.

Just looking at this thread and thinking, '2 new windows OS's and XP gets the most action', even though it's 8+ (?)years old.
That said, anybody know what kinda specs I'm going to need for this Panasonic CF-27 harddrive. And what's in the little 'earthquake proof' box, anyway. And how hard is it going to be to replace the actual drive. I've worked on towers and a Compaq 286 LTE and a couple of other laptops, so the mechanics of it don't scare me. (Too dumb, I guess )

John,
Did you notice the particulars regarding the format stage, what was the partition size you created? Is it letting you format the entire drive?
I once had a hard time installing XP pro on a drive that had 98SE on it, would not let me format the original portion, it would only let me format and create a partition in the left over available space. All other XP installs I have done went ok over XP OS’s and the 98SE was the only time I had an issue.
The other thing perhaps…..doesn’t a hard drive need swap space? Sounds awful tight on there. There’s a lot of uncompressing of cab files going on during an install.
Another thing I can think of, if it hangs up again leave it, walk away for an hour and see if it was really hung up or the processor is just bogged down…and finally, I have used a program call P magic ( or Partition Magic..not sure!) which boots off memory on pwr up and let you see everything going on in any connected drive. It also has some other pretty neat features too.

Thanks for the thought provoking, but I've decided to go ahead and replace the hard drive. It did say it was going to format 3.91 Gig. The manufacturer's specs say it's a 4 Gig hard drive. And I didn't use the quick format option.

Space to do the install, good question. P'sonic probably just cloned it. They wouldn't need the space.

Left it hung overnight after I disabled all power savers. Screen was lit, Hard drive showed activity, but it was still hung on the time zone screen.

I'm not really sure what you are trying to do. But from everyday experience; a clean install of xp pro w/spk2 or 3, then fully patched with windows updates will consume about 6GB of your drive. That's if you have it set to install the default components. You can easily shave that down by 2GB by not installing many of the services.

That said, if your stating that your computer originally came with a 4GB HD, there's no way in hell that machine could handle XP; CPU and RAM play a major factor in OS performance. If your looking to upgrade try W2K.

Actually rustynails, W2K was on it! I wanted to get rid of it and run XP. My understanding is that XP came out to 'salvage' MS's mess they created with W2K. Kinda like Vista and W7.

it needs 1.5gb , the sytem requirments are here

thats from 01 so it very possibly requires more with all the SP etc as Rusty says

Well, we shall see what we shall see. I've got a new 40 Gig drive coming. Probably be a week before I see what the result will be!

I never thought I would say this but since I bought a new laptop recently with 7 on it and have gotten somewhat familiar with it XP is like my old truck... It took me many miles and I'm greatful but I sure ain't complainin' about the features the new truck has that just were not available when the old truck was new.

My point is why not go ahead and take the plunge and get 7 while you're upgrading. That is if the machine will run it.

Skip,

We do at least 2-3 wipe clean installs of xp pro a week and almost every time, after fully patched xp pro consumes about 6GB.

I actually just check a machine we completed on Friday to confirm this and the HD shows 6.5GB used. To be fair there were a few auxiliary apps installed like, burner software and AV, however, conservatively; i would but the OS install at 5.5GB

You are gravely mistaken about W2K, that was a solid OS designed primarily for Business/Domain environments to compliment Server 2000.

You may be thinking of Windows ME, which was a complete tool (not to be confused with toolband.com). To be fair, Microsoft really did not want anything to do with ME, since XP was soon to be released, just not in time for the New Millenium, hence ME. If it was not for the hardware manufactures (dell, IBM, Compaq, HP...) trying to capitalize on the turn of the "millennium" and pressuring MS to release a complimentary OS; ME would have never come to fruition.

Yeah, win2k was a direct replacement for windows NT4 as an enterprise os it was rock solid, i actually have 2 file servers on the rack still running WIN2k. XP was the first effort of putting a NT based OS in the hands of the everyday home user. When XP came out it was dreadful, but it has matured into the great OS it is today.

Windows ME was released as a field test for the new memory and driver structures in XP. What M$ did was turn its customers into unwilling beta testers that paid for the privilege of having crap for an OS. I sold 10 copies of ME before I realized what a dog it was. I had to eat the cost of it and give away W2K Pro replacements for free to angry customers who blamed me. There should have been a class action lawsuit over ME but it never happened.

I have used nLite before to make a custom install disk. You can remove a lot of features you won't use from the install disk. It makes the ISO for you. Not sure how much you can trum off of it, but it might be worth a shot. It's free as long as you own your windows disk.

Well, I FINALLY got my hard drive, now I have to get a teeny, tiny, phillips screwdriver to open the drive cassette so I can swap drives and then I noticed I've only got 64Mb of changeable memory, so I've got to get a 256Mb EDO memory board. Before anybody says 'you need more than that', it has 64mB of fixed and will accept up to 256Mb of additional memory in the 1 card slot. Guess it's a good thing I got an 80 Gig drive! That way I can dedicate a BIG chunk to memory swapping! Oh, well, this has been a work-in-progress for 2 years, what's another 2 weeks! :sleep:

FYI, you can make more room on your harddrive after each Service Pack + Windows Updates if you delete the $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKBXXXXXX$ directories inside your Windows directory if you don't plan on uninstalling any of the updates (which most people don't do after it has been tested). That will save you a lot of space, since MS backs up every file that gets "patched" or replaced when installing a SP or Windows Update.

For anybody that cares, with the 80 gig harddrive (Formatted c=30, d=30, and e=20 for future plans) and the 256 meg mem + the embedded 64 meg for a total of 320 meg, XP LOADED and I can play solitaire, which is all I REALLY wanted!
Got a PCMCIA modem with software and it works. Now I have to get a network PCMCIA card and I'll have all my needs covered.