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I need to reformat my computer and I'm wondering how? And what if anything is essential to save.

Restart in DOS.

Type FDISK

Delete primary partition. KA-BOOM

Format new partition (FAT32 is usually best choice, though NTFS is nice if your OS supports it)

EDIT: Make sure you are ready before doing this. There are no second chances here.

How do I do all of this? I know nothing about it. So I restart in DOS and the type FDISK? How do I reinstall Windows and all that?

Stormbringer wrote:How do I do all of this? I know nothing about it. So I restart in DOS and the type FDISK? How do I reinstall Windows and all that?

Well, you'll need your Windows and/or restore CD(s) on hand. For newer Windows versions that lock out DOS, use your recovery disk, those are a little more straight forward.

If running on older Windows, then yeah just go into DOS and type "FDISK". It'll probably ask to restart and yadda yadda yadda, just follow the instructions and then pop in your Windows CD.

You may or may not need to edit your CMOS setting (press the key it says at the bottom of the screen when your comp boots, usually Del) so that the comp boots from your CD drive.

JediNeophyte wrote:

Stormbringer wrote:How do I do all of this? I know nothing about it. So I restart in DOS and the type FDISK? How do I reinstall Windows and all that?

Well, you'll need your Windows and/or restore CD(s) on hand. For newer Windows versions that lock out DOS, use your recovery disk, those are a little more straight forward.

If running on older Windows, then yeah just go into DOS and type "FDISK". It'll probably ask to restart and yadda yadda yadda, just follow the instructions and then pop in your Windows CD.

You may or may not need to edit your CMOS setting (press the key it says at the bottom of the screen when your comp boots, usually Del) so that the comp boots from your CD drive.

Uh, what the hell do you mean on that last part? I'm lost here. I know nothing about any of this? Can you give me a very simplified walkthrough here?

Okay, what OS do you run? The method is different for an NT-based OS and 95/98.

If you run Windows 98, make a bootdisk. Head into the command prompt and type "FORMAT A: /Q /S." After that's done, check to see if FORMAT.COM is on it (it should be). If not, go look for it on the HD and copy it over to the disk.

Reboot, type "FORMAT C: /Q"

OK. CMOS is the simple "setup" menu for your computer's Basic Input Output System (AKA BIOS). When you boot your computer, you see it doing its Power-On Self Test, looks like a DOS screen while it checks your RAM, mouse, keyboard, etc. At the bottom of the screen while its doing this, it should say "Press x to enter setup menu" or something to that effect. "x" is usually the delete key, but it varies.

Every system's CMOS is different, you need to arrow through the menus until you find something resembling boot options. There you need to find what the option for which drive the computer is booting from and/or an ordered list of bootable devices. You need to change those options (if you have both) so that it boots from your CD drive, as you will need to install Windows or use your recovery CD.

Before I continue, what OS are you using?

I use Windows 98.


I might just have to ask a friend to help me. I'm having a hard time following this.

Stormbringer wrote:I might just have to ask a friend to help me. I'm having a hard time following this.

That would be advisable. You don't want to take any chances when it comes to a total reformat and OS install.

JediNeophyte wrote:Restart in DOS.

Type FDISK

Delete primary partition. KA-BOOM

Format new partition (FAT32 is usually best choice, though NTFS is nice if your OS supports it)

EDIT: Make sure you are ready before doing this. There are no second chances here.

I know how to create paritions and stuff, just when I put in the recovery CD and type in setup or something to invoke the windows install screens, how do I choose what partitions to put in on and how to invoke the boot loader, or whatever it is when the BIOS looks to the first sector on the disk that tells it what partition to go to?

Windows will automatically overwrite the bootloader on the first hard drive it sees. You can tell it to install the majority of its files somewhere, but some files will always be on the root partition if writable.

phongn wrote:Windows will automatically overwrite the bootloader on the first hard drive it sees. You can tell it to install the majority of its files somewhere, but some files will always be on the root partition if writable.

I got partition magic too, don't know how to use that too well, it's mostly self explantory, it asks me when I want to shrink a parition for it in MB's instead of GB's, 1000 in a gig, think I'll make a 99GB for XP, a 1GB swap partition and a 20GB for red hat.

Stormbringer...

Things to look out for: Video card drivers. Network card drivers. Your Windows CD.

As long as you have the disks containing all of that, even if you've lost everything else, you can usually hunt down missing drivers from the manufacturer's website later on.

Of course, it would be a boon to you if you had install disks for every peripheral you have in your machine.

Once you're at that point, you can decide if you just want to re-install Windows or erase the machine and start from a clean slate. Windows help is actually reasonably easy to follow on the re-formatting process if you're doing it yourself.

If you just want to install windows comletly new "format C:" will do the job. There is no better HD-cleaner.

Shrykull wrote:I got partition magic too, don't know how to use that too well, it's mostly self explantory, it asks me when I want to shrink a parition for it in MB's instead of GB's, 1000 in a gig, think I'll make a 99GB for XP, a 1GB swap partition and a 20GB for red hat.

It would be safer to install XP first, then RH Linux. There are 1024MB in 1GB.

JediNeophyte wrote:Restart in DOS.

Type FDISK

Delete primary partition. KA-BOOM

Format new partition (FAT32 is usually best choice, though NTFS is nice if your OS supports it)

Don't you have to make a new primary partition and set it to active, or format it then set it to active?

phongn wrote:Okay, what OS do you run? The method is different for an NT-based OS and 95/98.

If you run Windows 98, make a bootdisk. Head into the command prompt and type "FORMAT A: /Q /S." After that's done, check to see if FORMAT.COM is on it (it should be). If not, go look for it on the HD and copy it over to the disk.

Reboot, type "FORMAT C: /Q"

what's the /Q switch do? I know /S transfers the 3 system files from DOS.

/Q is a for quick format. This choice is not always available though, depending on wether or not the drive is new, already formated, etc.

How come formatting under linux mkfs.vfat is so much faster than format? Is there some sort of error checking something or overwrite with zeros?