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Thread ID: 21479	2002-06-27 05:56:00	FAQ# 33 How do I reformat my hard drive?	Chilling_Silence (9)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
57705	2002-06-27 05:56:00	FAQ# 33 How do I reformat my hard drive? Your reasons for formatting your HDD May vary, it might be a secondary HDD or a Primary Drive (C:). You Might be Partitioning and wanting a clean slate, or you might be wanting a new start because you are infected with a virus that simply won't go away. Or You're second drive may be too full (Of Downloads or program files) and you want to start over. We're going to look at formatting with only one drive, and formatting with multiple drives. Lets say that you have only 1HDD and are wanting to format. Clean the slate and start over. Firstly you'll need a Boot Disk. Click Start -Settings -Control Panel Double Click on Add/Remove Programs Click the TAB that is labelled "Boot Disk" Then create a boot disk Once that's done, re-start your PC with the boot disk in the drive and select "With CD-ROM Support". Place any Data CD (Pref your Windows Setup CD) in the drive and change to it to make sure it works. You do NOT want to format your PC only to find that you cannot install windows because you can't access your CD. So make sure you can access you Windows Setup CD If it does work, change to your drive with Windows Installed, and change into the Win Directory Change into your "Command" or "System32" dir and type: copy format.com a:\ That will copy format.com to your floppy disk Change to your floppy drive and type: format c: the rest is history, select yes and it's away. When you're finished you'll need to change to your CD-Rom drive and install windows. Notes: To change drive, type the letter followed by a colon ":" C: A: E: When booting and using a CD-Rom if it was previously D, it will now be E, so on most PC's, the Drives are: A - Floppy C - HDD D - (In windows) CD-Rom D - (When Booting from Boot Disk) and Ram Drive (Temporary drive made by the boot disk of system files needed) E - (When booting from boot disk) CD-Rom To change directory in DOS: CD windows that will change you into your windows dir to go up a level: cd.. Just some basic DOS Usage. Tell me what you think, I'll finish the secondary HDD one later. All comments and suggestions welcome Jo	Chilling_Silence (9)
57706	2002-06-27 06:17:00	Now you've got the idea! Ok, how about XP - you cannot create a boot disk this way, but you can reformat during the install process using the install disk. Also, talk breifly about file systems, and their appropriate command line switches eg FAT, FAT32, and for newer OS's NTFS. Also, explain what formatting does, and warn about data loss, and advise backing up. You don't want someone thinking that formatting simply cleams out unwanted junk, performing a format, and then wondering where their important research proposal has gone etc. G P	Graham Petrie (449)
57707	2002-06-27 06:25:00	HEY! Didn't Murray P take 33 and 40???? G P	Graham Petrie (449)
57708	2002-06-27 08:20:00	Yep I did . No problemo, I'll shift one down to 40 & 41 (don't think 41 is gone) . Haven't managed to make a start yet beyond thinking about it, very busy at work, so had better pull finger this weekend . Would be a good idea to link formatting, partioning and installing/changing HDD, would it not . Cheers Murray P	Murray P (44)
57709	2002-06-27 09:50:00	I've never needed to copy format.com onto the boot disk before. Windows 98SE seems to do it for me. Also should mention that some versions of Windows are bootable from the CD to do the reinstallation.	-=JM=- (16)
57710	2002-09-11 13:43:00	You might want to mention the cmos boot sequence, what if it is set to C only. This is exactly what happened to my case and the boot disk won't boot up. Took me a while to figure out Cmos boot sequence to "A,C,Scsi".	Sant (681)
57711	2002-09-11 22:00:00	Sorry guys, I meant to say BIOS setup boot sequence, not Cmos.	Sant (681)
57712	2002-09-11 22:05:00	Good point. Also, I found that Format.com and Restart.com are copied to the Ram Drive created. Restart.com is fun, it saves having to get me off my lazy butt to hit reset, although Ctrl+Alt+Del works, hehe. I'll update in about ten minutes Chilling_Silence	Chilling_Silence (9)
57713	2002-09-11 22:18:00	Your reasons for formatting your HDD May vary, it might be a secondary HDD or a Primary Drive ( C: ) You Might be Partitioning and wanting a clean slate, or you might be wanting a new start because you are infected with a virus that simply won't go away. Or You're second drive may be too full (Of Downloads or program files) and you want to start over. We're going to look at formatting with only one drive, and formatting with multiple drives. Lets say that you have only 1HDD and are wanting to format. Clean the slate and start over. Firstly you'll need a Boot Disk. If you're running 95, 98 and (Help me guys, does it work with NT or ME?) Click Start -Settings -Control Panel Double Click on Add/Remove Programs Click the TAB that is labelled "Boot Disk" Then create a boot disk Otherwise, you could goto http://www.startdisk.com/ and download Ultimate Boot Disk Once that's done, re-start your PC with the boot disk in the drive and select "With CD-ROM Support". You might want to make sure that the Bios settings are correct and that you are going to be able to access your FDD on boot! When your PC first starts to pwer on, getting into the Bios is likely to be either Del, F2 or F12. Which one depends on what brand your PC is! When you're in the Bios, BE CAREFUL! It's easy to tweak a few setting here, another there and soon your PC is un-bootable for whatever reason. But in saying that, look around, it's not that hard to figure out what does what. Now, depending on your Bios type. If there are two Columns of Options, one on the Left and the Other down the Right side, it'll likely be the second option from the Top on the Left that you're wanting. If you have the option of Tabs up the top, it'll be nicely labelled Boot Options or similar. You want to make sure it says something like: A,C,CD-ROM or A,C,SCSI as long as A is at the start. Place any Data CD (Pref your Windows Setup CD) in the drive and change to it to make sure it works. You do NOT want to format your PC only to find that you cannot install windows because you can't access your CD. So make sure you can access you Windows Setup CD Change to your floppy drive and type: format c: the rest is history, select yes and it's away. When you're finished you'll need to change to your CD-Rom drive and install windows. Notes: To change drive, type the letter followed by a colon ":" C: A: E: When booting and using a CD-Rom if it was previously D, it will now be E, so on most PC's, the Drives are: A - Floppy C - HDD D - (In windows) CD-Rom D - (When Booting from Boot Disk) and Ram Drive (Temporary drive made by the boot disk of system files needed) E - (When booting from boot disk) CD-Rom To change directory in DOS: CD windows that will change you into your windows dir to go up a level: cd.. or to go to the Root Directory ( C: ) CD\ Just some basic DOS Usage. Okay, It's a bit more revised, I'm just doing the Bios by memory, so Maybe I'll get into it later today and find out exactly what the labels are and stuff to clarify it a bit more. Any other comments? What about booting from CD-Rom, I never needed to format when doing Win2K install coz it did it for me, No boot disk either! Chilling_Silence	Chilling_Silence (9)
57714	2002-09-12 04:21:00	(So make sure you can access you Windows Setup CD) How can I do that? Sorry for asking that as I am a newbie and not very familiar with tinkering with my computer. Any sort of that information is useful to me. Keep up the good work. Thank you. (_)(_)	chinadoll (682)
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