One day, I planned to create another partition my hard disk so I can install another fresh Windows XP on that partition. I loaded up my Linux Live CD (Lighthouse Pup) and use GParted to create that partition. I got the Windows XP and selected the new partition. The setup restarted my computer and was presented with a rather simple message:
Error loading operating system
What? Fortunately, it’s not a hard disk failure. I can still access my files through Linux. I guess the new XP screwed it up so I got rid of it (by deleting everything on the new partition). Restarted and got the same message. Maybe the new partition is the problem so I tried to delete it but GParted keeps throwing errors at me. Restarted and got the error again. What could be the problem? I googled for a solution to the problem. I found out that a version of GParted modifies something on the NT thingy and gives this error message. Another recommended formatting the disk, which I dreaded to do. Someone said changing some BIOS setting. That didn't work.
Looks like I have to resort on formatting the disk. First, I have to get the files off the disk. Burning them to CD is impractical because of the sheer size of my files (totalling up to 60 GB). I convinced my mom to buy a DVD recorder and burn my files on 15 blank DVDs I received for Christmas. While I'm at it, I bought a copy of Windows 7 in hopes that it will fix it (and so I can finally see what's new in Windows 7).
I first tried if installing Windows 7 can fix it. I fired up Windows 7 installer and was wowed by the simplicity and elegance of the installer. After the installation, the boot loader recognized my old Windows XP but first I want to see Windows 7.
The first thing I noticed is the new taskbar and the fancy desktop effects. The things I liked about Windows 7 are the search, aero features, and... that's all. For me, Windows 7 wasn't worth it. There are more things I hate about it like the poor MIDI support, relearning the new UI and the slow dial up connection I'm getting with this. Hopefully, most software I used with Windows XP works fine under Windows 7.
My opinion is still subject to change while I get some time to explore.
