No announcement yet.

reformat a hard drive

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • reformat a hard drive

    I have a question for anyone out there that knows anything about this. I have friend that has an old comp that someone gave him, my question is, how can I reformat that hd without a program? I've heard about fdisk, but I'm not familiar with that way. Now, I can download a program (partition magic, ect.) and burn it and take it over, but if I don't have to I'd rather not. I've checked that program out once and it looked like you'd have to know what you're doing to reformat a hd with that program. With mine I just throw in the restoration cd, then the windows cd and you're good to go. If anyone knows about this please get back to me. Thanks.

  • #2
    Formatting a drive the first time can certainly be daunting, but it is not so terribly hard.
    Make a Windows boot disk, if neccessary ensure your CDROM Drivers will install from it. (Basically, just boot up with the boot disk you made in the FDD. Then make sure you can access your CDROM. Like so = At the A:\ type D:\ {or whatever the proper drive letter should be for the CDROM} that should take you to a D:\ {or as stated, whatever is appropriate} then with your Windows CD in the drive type DIR if everything is good, you will see a list of the files on the CD.
    If that goes OK, you will be ready to format.

    For the details of formatting a drive I will refer you to the FDISK experts.
    Go to Microsoft Knowledge Base article# Q255867

    Print it out - about 15 pages, and follow the step by step as applies to your drive.
    It isn't too difficult really, and the article is well done with great detail.

    Just be sure your CD drive is going to be OK before starting, or you won't be able to install Windows when you get done formatting.
    Go for it -- you'll be fine :thumb:
    The reason a diamond shines so brightly is because it has many facets which reflect light.

    Comment


    • #3
      Mr C gave a good link for instructions on the fdisk utility that comes with Windows, but are you going to use it to format your drive? If so, then you've chosen the wrong program. fdisk is used to remove and create partitions on your hard drive. Formatting is the simplest thing in the world:

      Get that Start-up disk that Mr C was talking about earlier. Boot your system from the Start-up disk, and type this at the A:\ prompt...

      format C:\

      If you're old fashioned like me, then you can make a small modification to the above command and also copy the important system files to the hard drive. This will make it bootable:

      format C:\ /s

      That's all there is to it. The hard drive is now bootable and ready to accept a fresh install of Windows or your choice of operating system.

      But if you ARE looking for a means to partition your hard drive, then by all means use fdisk. It is a very simple utility that will accomplish the task at hand in nothing flat.

      Good luck. :)
      Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill
      My Toys

      Comment


      • #4
        Thanks for the imput guys. You were most helpful. I think I can get it dialed in now

        Comment

        Working...
        X