Põdi Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 This will sound completely ridiculous to some people, but I have NEVER reformatted my harddrive and it's probably about time I should be seriously considering it. Thing is, how do I do it? Is there a good up to date resource someone can recommend, or even better anyone guide me through it step-by-step?Hell, we all have to learn somewhere.Also, my harddrive was installed by vendor a year ago (after my original died) and I asked him not to partition it. Was that a mistake? Can I do that when I reformat? (And again, how?)Thanks anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fendi Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Good question Paddy. I'm having problems myself with my PC. I can't even defrag my hardrive as it says there's some errors. Scan Disk is not working well either. No I didn't partition my hard drive either as it's only 20 Gig.My problem is that my computer is too slow and I just want to make it faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmett.hendrick Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 yes reformat hard disk do that a lot.Paddy drop me a PM and I'll give you a hand or drop me a e-mail do you have IM or ICQ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Põdi Posted December 12, 2001 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Emmett, PM sent. Thanx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellbringin Mofo Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 First: hopefully you have a CD burner or Zip drive to copy anything you want to save from your harddrive. You should save anything you will need again (favorites, etc.)Second: copy down your network/modem settings so you can get back online as soon as possible to get drivers, windowsupdate, etc. Also copy down any passwords you need.Third: gather all install disks together (any hardware you have that came with a disk with drivers on it you may need to reinstall. Although most drivers you find are usually out of date and need to be updated from the web).Fourth: create a Startup Disk. In Win 95/98/Me you can do this from Control Panel/AddRemove prog./Startup Disk. You use this disk to boot your cpu in msdos to partition and reformat your disk. For WinXP you need to download the startup disk creator from microsoft's website(you also need 6 floppy's for it) In win98 reboot with your startup disk, with or without cdrom support, and at the prompt run: fdisk. Follow the instructions to remove all partitions and create new ones. WARNING: as soon as you change anything here, everything on your harddrive will be lost! When your done, restart, leave startup disk in drive, and at prompt use 'format c:' to format local disk (then repeat for all other partitions, format d:, format e:, etc.) Then restart one last time. Startup 'with cdrom support' and at prompt run setup.exe from your Windows cd. The rest should be automated by the Windows disk, you just have to customize what you want installed (accessories, network).Hope this helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Põdi Posted December 12, 2001 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Well, that's a bummer. Don't have a burner or a Zipdrive....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstuart Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Paddy, I see by your system profile info that you have a Dell. Do you the system restore and recovery disk that came with the computer? If you do, that has everything you need to reload your system! If you do not, then you have a little work ahead of you. You need a win98se boot disk and the win98se cd-rom along with install number. That's basically a starting point, from there its a tedious process of re-installing software, drivers, and other programs.Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kush Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 If you don't have a Zip, or CD burner, make a double backup of all your critical Data files. And even some files that you don't think are critical. Go over everything twice. Use as many floppies as you need.Once you've reformatted, there's NO WAY OF GETTING ANY INFORMATION BACK.So better safe than sorry.If you invest in a CD burner, SPEND THE EXTRA MONEY! Get a good, solid reliable burner from a high quality company. Plextor is a great name.Don't do what I did!You get a cheap burner, and you pay in lost files and information when the CD you just burned is corrupt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorchedearth Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 quote:Originally posted by Paddy Gregory: Also, my harddrive was installed by vendor a year ago (after my original died) and I asked him not to partition it. Was that a mistake? Can I do that when I reformat? (And again, how?)Thanks anyway.Generally, you do want partitions, because it reduces the size of the minimal allocation block per file. If you have yer drive formatted with one 20G partition, and save a 3k text file, it will take up more hard drive space than the same 3k text file saved on a 20G hard drive with two or more partitions.People with 40G hard drives or more DEFINATELY want to partition it... in some cases (depending on operating system) the difference in available space can be 40/50% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epsilon 5 Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 quote:You get a cheap burner, and you pay in lost files and information when the CD you just burned is corrupt.Eh, I don't even know the brand of my cd burner... (but I had it for 40cnd (about 25us ), anyone had a better deal? ) Some things to remember :1 - Some burners don't work well with some cd brands.2 - Some cd burning softwares don't work well with your burner3 - Be sure to close everything you do before burning, because slowdowns, even minors = BAD, this is especially true with cheap burners that have a very little buffer4 - If you have an old computer, be sure the hard-drive is fast enough to supply the data to the burner... the one on my old comp is too slow...5 - TEST your cd after you are done. One good test might be copying the entire cd on your hard-drive, and opening the critical files.[ 12-12-2001: Message edited by: Epsilon 5 ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epsilon 5 Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 About partioning... I think with a 20 gigger 2-10 gig should be ok. I think a partition should never be bigger than 15 gigs.I also like dividing my drive with sizes relative to what they will contain.I have a 40 gigger and my partitionning is like that :5 gigs - Mandrake Linux Some small size - Linux swap 10 gigs - general software (and some games) 15 gigs - Games about 8-9 gigs - Storage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoZohar Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Wow, I was just thinking about this stuff last night, since I'm custom building a computer and was trying to figure out just how much space to give everything... Then this thread shows up. Coincidence? Anyway, three questions for you guys along these lines: 1. Is it ok to make, say, 3 relatively small (2-4 gigs) partitions for 3 OS's, and then split the rest into storage areas (like for games, regular software, etc.)? Is there a better way? Edit: The OS's are Win98se, Win2kpro, and Linux, FYI.2. What is the current size limit for reliable drives right now? I've heard that around 80 gigs (why I would need that much, I don't know...) drives get very finicky, but 40 gigs and even some 60-gig drives are pretty reliable... True/False?3. Should I invest in Partition Magic or would fdisk be enough for the above partitioning? (See question 1)Thanks guys for any advice. I need it so I can get that new rig up and running quickly without any hard disc related headaches. [ 12-12-2001: Message edited by: XenoZohar ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmendrick Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Personally I use separate dockable hard drives for different operating systems. Makes life easy when dealing with different file systems. Having a secondary hard drive also makes it a lot easier to back stuff up when reformatting your primary drive. If you can afford it, it beats the hell out of burning everything to CDs and hoping nothing gets corrupted.As for partitioning disks, just make the partitions as large as you can while still using the smallest block size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellbringin Mofo Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 quote:Originally posted by XenoZohar: 3. Should I invest in Partition Magic or would fdisk be enough for the above partitioning? (See question 1) Usually you can get partioning and formatting software from your harddrive manufacturers web site. For instance, I have a WesternDigital and their website has a free utility for it: DataLifeguard. Check with your harddrive manufacturer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorchedearth Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 quote:Originally posted by XenoZohar: 1. Is it ok to make, say, 3 relatively small (2-4 gigs) partitions for 3 OS's, and then split the rest into storage areas (like for games, regular software, etc.)? Is there a better way? Edit: The OS's are Win98se, Win2kpro, and Linux, FYI.3. Should I invest in Partition Magic or would fdisk be enough for the above partitioning? (See question 1)[ 12-12-2001: Message edited by: XenoZohar ](1) Three, 2-4Gig partitions is fine, just don't make the 'storage' partition too big or you'll waste space.(3) FDISK is relatively straight forward and easy to use and will do everything you want. Just depends on how comfortable you are with MSDOS apps.I Put together some WIN9x/2k partition info here.I don't know too much about how LINUX handles this stuff.P.S.: I have used 45Gig hard drives with no problems... Haven't had a chance to play with anything bigger yet... Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoZohar Posted December 12, 2001 Report Share Posted December 12, 2001 Thank you Blerm and Mofo, you were really helpful. Oh, and Blerm, you get extra points for the quote in your sig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Põdi Posted December 13, 2001 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 Wow. I've got a lot of work ahead of me and a hell of a lot of stuff to back up. It's very daunting.I think it might be easier to buy a new PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kush Posted December 13, 2001 Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 You're not alone!!!!I'm just about to go through the same process.Once I finish work on this project over the next couple of days, I'm going to upgrade my MB, Processor, RAM, Operating System (Win XP, here I come!) and Video Card (GF 3 Here I come!)Re-installing software is sooooo much FUN! I've got it down to a science after reformating my HD a few times. Problems still occur.Word to the Wise, it will take much longer than you think.Always. quote:Epsilon 55 - TEST your cd after you are done. One good test might be copying the entire cd on your hard-drive, and opening the critical files. You are soooooo right. Always double check.I actually make another backup of my files on Zip disk at the same time. Just in case.Paddy, If you have tons of small, very important files to backup, I'd invest in a Zip drive. The backup size is small and the media expensive, but the reliability is most worth it.If you've got huge files or lots of MP3's, a burner is all you need. A GOOD one. It saves a LOT of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorchedearth Posted December 13, 2001 Report Share Posted December 13, 2001 quote:Originally posted by XenoZohar: Thank you Blerm and Mofo, you were really helpful. Oh, and Blerm, you get extra points for the quote in your sig. Mooo-Haa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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