Formatting my HD

I think it's about time.

Published on February 6, 2005 By ExodusCrow In Personal Computing

I've been having a lot of problems with my computer for a while now, and I think it's about time to format my HD. I haven't been able to use norton for a while and some programs (DX and OD+) aren't remembering their settings. It has also been running very sluggishly.

I would go about formatting without creating this post, except I do not know the proper way of doing this. I know to back up all my important files. But how do I format properly and re-install windows. Should I create a boot disk with cd-rom drivers on it? Or do I even need them?

Any help on this would be appreciated. This is getting REALLY frustrating.

Mike (ExodusCrow)

Comments

Weaksid

on Feb 06, 2005

What type of system do you have? Is it home built? Fully pre-made like Compaq, Dell, etc?

ExodusCrow

on Feb 06, 2005

Home built.

Athlon 2800+,
MSI 6590-110 KT600 400FSB SATA RAID LAN,
Crucial DDR RAM 512MB PC400,
MAXTOR 80GB ATA133 7200 RPM
Panasonic 1.44 FLOPPY,
LG GCR-8523B CDROM
LG GSA-4040BB 4x DVD -/+r/RW. -RAM
PANDEX NVidia FX5200 128MB

MadDeez

on Feb 06, 2005

if you've already backed up your important files and data, all you need to do is boot to your windows xp disc and follow directions. at one point, after you choose which disc to install to (in your case, only 1 will be offered), you will be asked if you want to format. choose to format at that point. before formatting, you'll be asked if you want to delete the partition that windows is currently installed on. after deleting that partition, you can then create a new one and then format. just make sure your data and important files are backed up to cd's or another HDD.

Acid II

on Feb 06, 2005

Insert Windows(R) CD in your comuter and restart him. When your computer rebooting you will see the message - to boot from CD-ROM press any key- you will then see the many options, select -To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER- then you will see many options but select -To delete the selected partition, prees D, and then L in the next option. Now when you deleted old partition you must create new one. In the next option you must select the -To create a partition in the unpartitioned space, press C.- and select the -Format the partition using the NTFS system.- After all that just select the primary partition (c) and press ENTER. And Windows will get install on the selected partition. - I hope that this text will help you. Good Luck!

ZubaZ

on Feb 06, 2005

I rebuild systems fairly often.

Create a bootdisk Link with your CDrom drivers on it. This has killed me more times than I would like to count.
Test it before you format.
Make sure your system boot from CD. Test it.
Back up your address book. I see that
The most important thing is to get your system protected before you go online. Mave sure you have current ad-ware/spyware, firewall, and virus scanner before you do anything else.
Burn the latest drivers for your other peripherals onto a CD before you format. It's jsut easier.

Make sure to back up your email and address book. That gets missed a lot.

Good luck

Weaksid

on Feb 06, 2005

I think they covered it. I didn't get a chance to make a further comment since I left my house for several hours. If you really wanted to format your HD, you could do a low level format by going to the manufactor's website of your harddrive and download their formating utility disk. That's if you really want to start from nothing. That's a addtional suggestion.

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