Hi guys, After much deliberation, I have decided to go back to Windows XP until all the quirks are worked out of the Windows Vista OS, maybe in a year or two. Before I venture down this painful path, and avoid regretting it later, I have a question I'd like to ask. I have an extra internal hard drive (250GB Seagate), that didn't seem to have gone through any writing during the Vista upgrade. It was disabled via BIOS prior to installing Windows Vista, and all I had to do was re-enable it, and Vista recognized it along with all the documents it had in it. So I'm guessing Vista didn't write anything on it. My question is, if I do the same thing; disable the HD via BIOS, installing Windows XP (fresh install, since it's impossible to downgrade), and re-enabling the HD, will it keep all the files it had? In order for me to backup my files, I would need many DVDs, since most of the files are pictures and .avi files. I love my anime, but if I had to part with it, I would eventually regain consciousness by getting it again. At the moment, though, I'm trying to do everything possible to salvage it. Any help is greatly appreciated~!

formatting the c: drive won't affect any other drive, even if it is still enabled

Many thanks mountain~! This brings me to another question. Particularly in Dell Dimension 8400s manufactured after July 14, 2004, the PC Factory Restore/Recovery image was built into the system, so it was no longer shipped with a System Factory Restore/Recovery disc. Now this applies to just about any PC, of any make/model, with the same kind of "preconfigured" built-in image. I have read that if you reinstall the same version of windows, it will overwrite this PC Factory System Restore, and will no longer be able to have a PC with the original factory settings. I don't know whether or not this is true, since the image itself is protected in a hidden partition. Provided this is true, though, will having UPGRADED (not clean installed) to Windows Vista have had the same effect? or will it still have the PC Factory System Restore/Recover image in the hidden partition? Thanks for any help provided!

I have Dell Dimension 8400s manufactured after July 14, 2004, the PC Factory Restore/Recovery image was built into the system. I also asked for the WinXP Installation CD. They sent it and I have it. I also have the two hidden partitions. One is the Diagnostics and the other is the Symantec image of the factory configuration. These hidden partitions have no effect on the C:\ drive. You can clean install XP on the C:\ drive. You could also use the Symantec Restore at a later time if you do not change the installed drive's configuration. My boot.ini looks as follows: [boot loader]timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS[operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn As you can see it refers to partition (2) where the OS is located meaning the third partition (0), (1), (2). You may want to check to make sure that you have two hidden partitions or how ever many before proceeding. You can go to Disk Management to see them. If you wanted to delete the hidden partitions then that is another story. HTH Bryan

"These hidden partitions have no effect on the C:\ drive. You can clean install XP on the C:\ drive." I agree.

Thank you very much guys. It just modified a command that didn't allow me to ctrl+F11 anymore, but I found a bootable fix to use the system restore. My PC is back to WinXP and I'm very happy and grateful for your incredibly helpful assistance. Thank you very very much!