Reformat

[nobody]

How do you reformat your hard drive on Windows XP just outta curiousity?
I lost the cd that came with my comp that had XP stuff on it, so is there another way to do it?

[hojo]

you could use dos to format, but formatting wipes everything on the hard drive.

in xp, you can also go to my computer and then right click on the hdd you want to wipe. the one you're wiping cannot be the one that has the operating system on it.

[nobody]

Uhhhh.. what?

[Jubba]

you need to have the Windows CD so you can reinstall windows once you reformat. Reformatting cleans everything off of the harddrive, including the OS

[UNFLUX]

are you formatting the computer you're on now?

What Hojo is saying, is that in My Computer, you right-click and go
to Manage. Then go to Disk Management.

If the Drive you are formatting is NOT your system partition, then
you can format it right there.

Otherwise, you're gonna need a DOS boot-disk with FDisk on it.

=)

[nobody]

but....but.. crap.. that means I gotta look for like an hour for the stupid disk.. but last time i did the reformat thing through the disk, nothing happened, it took 3 hours and everything was still there.. so what do i do, wipe out my hd.. then I just pop the cd in?

[UNFLUX]

yes, reformatting means EVERYTHING. Totally blank, 100% wiped.

[reverendflash]

If you don't have a good idea what you are doing... don't...

It isn't difficult, but you can lose everything on that computer. Including Windows XP...

There are books, websites, tutorials on how to do it, but read first...

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[nobody]

yeah.. i dont wanna lose everything, can someone point me out to a good tut or something..?

[UNFLUX]

you didn't reformat...you re-installed.

TOTALLY different. Re-installing doesn't overwrite or erase your
HD first. Mos times, when you do a re0install with the same OS
over top of the old one, it leaves stuff there, and all that was
updated or replaced is the OS files.

[Jubba]

There are tons of articles on google...

[UNFLUX]

if that's all you need, then find your disk. Otherwise, as REv said:
don't do it.

[nobody]

Ohhhh.. well that would explain why that did absolutely nothing..
lol.. it's depressing how much I suck at doin this kind of stuff..

[UNFLUX]

besides all that, if you don't have the XP disk, you can't re-install
or reformat anyway because of the Activation they require.

Without the same cd it's going to ask you to do all that again. If
you don't, 30-days it shuts you down until you do.

Anti-piracy basically.

[SureShot]

If you want to just delete everything - after having backed up what you need than do this.

go into your bios - make your cd rom your primary boot device.

put your windows XP cd in the tray.

Reboot your machine and press the any key to boot from the cd ;)

Select that you want to install windows xp

It will tell you that it's not safe to install two os's on the same partition but say continue anyway

it will ask you to format your drive, elect the ntsf format and make sure it's not the quick one.

your computer will format - reboot and then dont press anything when it askes you to boot from the cd and windows will begin installing it's self.

Like I said though - thtat's if you want to get rid of EVERYTHING minus your primary dos partitions.

[nobody]

Well I have to go to work now.. but I wanna play with my computer.. dang it..
If anyone wants to keep puttin information into this thread for me I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks a lot:beam:

[hojo]

when you say you want to reformat, i have a couple of questions:

1) how many hdds do you have in your computer?
2) if its only 1, why do you want to format? is there something wrong? do you just want to start over?

[mlk]

sometimes your comp is bundled with a 'recovery cd' which reinstall the OP without f***ing your files..
I dont know if you have one though..

[reverendflash]

chances are mlk, that the probs you are having will not be solved with a restore disc.

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[nobody]

hojo: I Just have way way too much crap on my comp and want to start clean.. still lookin for what to do.. thanks so far guys

[hojo]

just one hdd?

[!*@&]

i found it once but i cant remember where did i find it

my unckle tuaght me how to format through dos but i forgot how

if u can wait a while i can send him an email to tell me how to format but if i find it i will tell u

[nobody]

Hojo: yup, just one hard drive
!#@*&^$%&*# - That would be cool man, don't worry about it if its an inconveniece tho.

[lava]

hey 28, I like your new footer
by the way, the new show is up.

[hojo]

to format with dos, just go into it outside of windows, like dont use a dos prompt, use a boot disk to boot with dos. then type format c:/ (whichever your drive letter is).

again, this will wipe everything on the drive, make sure you have a working cd with an os or a restoration cd which should have come with your computer if it was prebuilt by a manufacturer

[nobody]

lavaboy, thanks, i like it too.. lol I'm gonna make a matching avatar soon.. im goin over to check out ur new show right now.:beam:

hojo: thanks, i might do that

[nobody]

hey lava, it looks like u got the player all nice nice looking again. good job!
I really see your site goin somewhere.

[lava]

yeah, and hojo wants to DJ... Soul is still working on his show... so this week there will be two new shows.

[nobody]

That's really cool. If I had the time I'd make a show for you, but I have no idea. Maybe every once in a while I could be a guest DJ or something when I get the time. Dunno.. Just thinkin out loud.

[lava]

If you have flash, it's easy to do that...

[nobody]

You make your radio shows in flash?
I havent even used audio yet in flash cuz im too stupid.

[lava]

yeah... it's easier than using RA...

[nobody]

RA? weeee I'm dumb
Resident Apple?
So confused.. so confused

--
Does the radio show have to be a certain style of music or can it be anything?

[lava]

Real Audio...
edit: it can be anything, as long as it's not mainstream.

[nobody]

ohhhh.. ok.. I think I'm done spamming this thread with this stuff

[!*@&]

hey i found out how to do it thro dos

if u want it here it is

first u should have startup disk for windows 98

1- put the disk and start the computer (let the computer first boot from floppy drive).

2- it will ask you that u want to install windows 98 or start computer with cd rom suprot or without it go for start computer with cd rom support.

3- after u choosed the previouse option u should be able to use the cd rom doesn't matter type the following command to format the computer

C:\>cd windows

C:\windows>cd command

C:\windows\command>format C:

if u want to format another drive tye the drive letter after format like ........mand>formart D: or E: or anything.

after that it will ask u confirmation letter are u sure type yes and it will proceed after fiish formastting it will ask u also to type the drive name keep it empty or tye anything u like, like ur name.

after that restart the computer and also make sure that it should boot from CD u know how to do it i think from bios motherboard setup and after that i think u know t complete the setup of XP it's easy.

[kirupa]

Well, XP is a lot simpler. Simply put your XP Cd in, and restart your computer. Make sure your computer reads from the CD drive before it boots Windows. If it recognizes the XP CD, it will ask you whether you want to "repair" or "continue installing XP". Select the latter option and follow the steps to formatting and installing Windows XP =)

Cheers!
Kirupa :asian:

[!*@&]

well i know that but he said he lost the cd
sxo he has to do it thro dos

[nobody]

hey kirupa... thanks.. so i just choose install windows or w/e and go with it?
thanks

[kirupa]

Oops - sorry, didn't know you lost your XP CD :( Yeah, do it the other way *(#@ mentioend :)

[nobody]

Naw, I'll find the cd... oh well
and where did my footer go? it was only like 1kb over the limit.. do i have to make another one now?

[nobody]

OK.... problems guys..
i found my xp reinstallation disk.. and tried to reformat my computer.. all it did was replaced windows, but most of my old files are still here..
is it gonna like destroy my computer if i delete my c drive through dos?

[kirupa]

Well, more than likely you reinstalled XP from XP itself. You have to use the Windows XP CD to boot into DOS - the CD takes care of loading the vital files necessary for installation. From there, you can format your comp (tell XP to do it for you) and install the OS a fresh hard drive.

Yes, formatting will kill your comp temporary with all data lost =)

Cheers!
Kirupa :rd:

[nobody]

I don't understand, are you telling me to like restart my computer and then run the cd from there, not through xp itself? If that's it, maybe I should try that.