I have a partition that I call "Data" which contains all of the files that I want to remain isolated from any Windows installation. Email files from Outlook, all documents and downloads, pictures and so forth. In every Windows installation i make on this PC, I change which folder Windows uses for each type of data (Documents, Downloads, Music, etc) to this Data partition. Same folder structure, I just change the drive letter. This way backups of my Windows partitions don't have to be any bigger than they have to, and I don't have to do anything special before I reinstall any of the Windows versions. On a side note, I like the Windows 7 isolated boot partition. I've been doing that manually for years so that I can backup this tiny partition seperately from any of the Windows I have installed. So I have that partition, about five Windows partitions (for experimenting and so when I start new installations I still have the old one(s) to use until my new one is far enough along with installing the software I consider standard, and the Data partition, which is the largest (more than 1TB right now). You could create a partition as large as reasonable and slowly move your own data files to this new partition. This will free up space on the Windows partition so that you can resize your data one and then be able to move more stuff, until eventually you're done.
What do you have that you want to save? I burned all the stuff I wanted to save on to DVDs before I nuked my XP install... I figured that once I make the move to Windows 7 then I am probably never going to use XP again...and I was right. Almost all of the software I use works in Win7, and for the few things that don't, there are alternatives to them that run fine in Windows 7. It is always a little scary to just get rid of the OS that you are familiar with, and have used for the last 6 years...but I did it anyway. I backed up all my stuff I needed (or might need) on DVDs and external hard drives and just did it. And I am so much happier because I don't have an old install of XP just sitting on my HD wasting space now... Now that I am using Win7 there is just no need to use XP anymore...all my drivers (whether they were XP or Vista drivers) installed just fine into Win7 so all of my hardware works perfectly. Almost all of the programs I used work just fine in Win7, and Win7 is much more stable than XP...I can leave my PC running all the time without worry that I will have to restart at some point (and I will not know when, 'cuz something in XP will "happen" and my system will become unstable, forcing a reboot)...and Windows 7's start-up is sooo much faster than XP. The desktop comes up almost instantly, and when the desktop appears it is usable almost right away (as opposed to XP where the desktop would appear, but would be unusable for about 30 seconds or more 'cuz XP took so long to load things up at start-up). Everything about Win7 is better than XP...at least for what I use XP and 7 for... EDIT: If you really need to backup your XP install, you could buy a 250GB external HD for cheap (under $99) and image it to that... I have a couple external HD's and they come in very handy...
Personally, I do not care about WinXP, that is what I am trying to get rid of. I'll get rid of the XP install and everything, again, I am just worried about all of the files I have. So, what I am hearing though, is.. Create a partition for all of my files, and move everything there, then install Win7 to a separate partition? The problem I was having was that I was unsure if installing Win7 and removing WinXP would mean that it would wipe everything, then install Win7. I am guessing if I do as you said and create that partition, then it wouldn't wipe that stuff? Thanks for the replies.
If you create another partition and copy all of your files there (or just copy them to USB sticks/burn the stuff to DVDs, but anyway...) if you create another partition and copy all of the stuff that you want to save to the other partition, then you can just pop in the Windows 7 install disk while you have XP still running and have it perform a fresh install over XP (or to the same partition as XP is on). Since you have your disks "pre-formatted" and since Win7 cannot upgrade XP, Windows will install normally to the partition that XP is on, leaving your hard disk structure intact (unless *you* choose to have the installer set up the hard drive otherwise). The Windows 7 installer will take your old XP install (Program Files and all) and stuff it all into a Windows.old folder in the root of your Windows XP (now 7) install drive which you can then comb through again for anything you missed, or just delete it (you may need to take ownership of the Windows.old folder 1st before you delete it since the folder was created by "TrustedInstaller" during Windows 7's install and not by yourself, so Windows may give you a hard time when trying to delete it if you do not take ownership of it)... Hope that helped... EDIT: Make sure that when you create the new partition to leave yourself enough space on the "old" partition. You said you have a 500GB HD, so that should not be a problem I would think. EDIT2: Just to be clear, afaik you cannot directly migrate installed programs from XP straight to Windows 7. You can backup your save game files (for any important games you are into) and copy all your important documents/pictures and whatnot to the other partition then once you have installed Windows 7 you can reinstall the games/apps that you were using in XP and copy the save game files/documents (for Office or something) back... (Almost all of the stuff I was using in Windows XP before I nuked it works perfectly now under Windows 7 ). If you want to attempt to migrate your programs you would have to upgrade your Windows XP with Vista Ultimate first, then upgrade Vista Ultimate with Windows 7 Ultimate...that would take quite some time but can be done... (You need to upgrade XP with the same Vista edition that you want to install Windows 7 in...e.g.: upgrade XP with Vista Ultimate edition if you plan on then upgrading Vista with Windows 7 Ultimate; or upgrade with Vista Professional if you plan on using Windows 7 Professional...etc...)
Thank you very much, yes it did help. All I was worried about again was if I installed Win7 if it would wipe the whole drive or just the partition. Thanks!