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Thread ID: 115638	2011-01-27 19:02:00	Nuke, Wipe, or Format ?	Strommer (42)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1173180	2011-01-27 19:02:00	I installed Win7 64 bit a week ago, but now am getting "file allocation errors". Ran CHKDSK twice - even though that found errors and supposedly fixed them, there are still problems. I did install Win7 on top of WinXP - yes I know that I should have formatted first. Anyhow, my question is this: is it sufficient to format the hd before reinstalling Win7, or should I "boot and nuke" or otherwise "wipe" the hd? The hd is a 1T Seagate purchased 2 months ago. I have not yet Activated Win7 as I thought I may have to do a reinstall. To format the hd, do I use the Win7 install disk, or should I make a 'Boot and Nuke' CD?	Strommer (42)
1173181	2011-01-27 19:06:00	Wipe the drive and start again. ( save any data first to another location) Boot from the DVD, work through the install till you get to Upgrade or Custom. Select Custom - then on the right, Drive Options (Advanced) I think thats what its called. Select each partition - delete - your drive is now completely blank. Windows 7 will carry on to install.	wainuitech (129)
1173182	2011-01-27 19:26:00	Do you mean wipe the drive first, then boot from the Win7 DVD?	Strommer (42)
1173183	2011-01-27 19:36:00	No you dont have to drive first -- ( Only Make sure all data is backed up before proceeding) . Boot from the windows 7 DVD - work through a couple of screens, setting language, location, when you hit install, agree to the license, when you have the option to upgrade, or Custom - click custom --- advanced setting on the right hand corner nearer the bottom, select each partition one at a time, delete - the drive is completely blank now, then next to start installing windows . Edited: This article shows it perfectly ( . sevenforums . com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a . html" target="_blank">www . sevenforums . com) - where you have the options to format delete etc, select Delete - Windows will automatically format the drive . Make sure you wipe all partitions that are there .	wainuitech (129)
1173184	2011-01-27 19:47:00	:thanks	Strommer (42)
1173185	2011-01-27 20:38:00	If you are getting errors relating to your hard drive, check the SMART status to make sure there isn't anything dodgy going on. Speedfan does this well, but under Windows 7 you may have to run it as administrator to get info. If you want to look before you install Windows again, try HDAT2.	Agent_24 (57)
1173186	2011-01-27 20:41:00	. . . advanced setting on the right hand corner nearer the bottom, select each partition one at a time, delete - the drive is completely blank now, then next to start installing windows . Doing the install now, but the "Format" only took 4 seconds to complete (for the 40 Gb partition) . I did this twice . Does Win7 really do a format so quickly?	Strommer (42)
1173187	2011-01-27 20:56:00	Doing the install now, but the "Format" only took 4 seconds to complete (for the 40 Gb partition). I did this twice. Does Win7 really do a format so quickly? Yes. :D	pcuser42 (130)
1173188	2011-01-27 20:59:00	Yes and No. It does a format but it is a 'Quick' format. It just marks all space as free regardless of any data there or not. The data is all still there, but the MFT will say there is nothing. You can still recover the files easily with any half-decent recovery tool. When it comes time to write data to the drive, it just overwrites anything already there. This is why if you want to recover a file you need to immediately stop writing to the drive the file was on, in case something overwrites it.	Agent_24 (57)
1173189	2011-01-27 21:03:00	After the first automatic reboot, CHKDSK appeared. This is similar to the two previous runs of CHKDSK (which did not fix the errors). What do you think - did Win7 format properly? Should I "Boot and Nuke" the drive to get rid of the errors? Or should I keep the new Win7 installation and hope for the best? See screenshots: www.imagef1.net.nz www.imagef1.net.nz www.imagef1.net.nz [edit] Agent_24 and pcuser42 - thanks for the info.	Strommer (42)
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