Formatiing HDD Procedure?

[meagher72]

I have wanted to re-format my HDD for ages and ages.

I even have about 10 old computer sitting around my house running Windows 98 that my siste got from a lawyers office that was upgrading to new machines.

I would like to reformat and attempt to get them running smooth enough to give to friends that have NO computers whatsoever and at the same time learn to format my own computer.

I know this is a HUGE favor.

Can anyone give me some advice on reformatting?

I really dont even know Step 1 yet alone Step 2.

I have seen formatting discs on Ebay, but to be frank that makes me nervous and I can't seem to find any kind of reformatting programs at Best Buy.

Perhaps I did not look good enough... or am I looking for the wrong thing?

Can some one please point me in the right direction?

I promise I will listen, be polite, take it step by step and do everything as you say to do it. ;)

I know this is a pain in the arse, but I swear it will not be unapperciated. :)

[Renzatic Gear]

Why would you wanna pay cash for a formatting program when you can do it yourself in 9 keystrokes?

Here's the steps you should take when you decide to take the plunge...this'll help you both reformat and reinstall Windows.

1. Make sure all the stuff you wanna save is backed up.

2. Go into your bios and make sure that your boot sequence is set to hit the CD-ROM drive first. Getting into your bios is easy, you hit a key (usually del or F1) before the comp posts, finding the boot sequence is a little harder since most bios menus are completely different from one another...it's not too difficult to find though, a couple of minutes of searching should be about it.

3. Log into windows and reboot into MS-DOS mode. At the C prompt type "Format C:" and let it do it's thing..it usually takes about 5-10 minutes to wipe the drive. If you get Windows XP skip this and go directly to 4.

4. Pop in your Windows CD and install to your hearts content. It's not too difficult to do, just read what it says onscreen and you'll be well on your way.

If I remember correctly (it's been a LOOOONG time since I've installed Win98) you'll eventually come to a prompt asking you about partitions and stuff. If you want, you can let Windows install on the partition you just formatted, but if you're a purist you can delete it and rebuild a new FAT32 partition for it to install on. The only thing I'm vague on here is that I can't remember if Win98 prompts you for it during the install or if you have to run fdisk to get it. If it doesn't, don't worry about it.

[meagher72]

Thanks a ton RG.

Gonna take a whack at one of these older computers and see what I can do.

Will post a status report soon. :)

:takes a deep breath and plunges in:

[E.T.]

<div class=\"smallfont\">Thanks a ton RG.

Gonna take a whack at one of these older computers and see what I can do.

Will post a status report soon. :)

:takes a deep breath and plunges in:</div>

Good instructions from R.G.

I had been through it via Gateway tech support, & it was a long gruling affair the first time around [Im software impaired].
About a year latter, I decide to reformat again, This time I didnt want to be chained to the phone, so I got my owners manual out, & much to my surprise, successfully did the job! [My OS then was 98 se].
Performance gains were immediate, worth the time.

You can do it meagher72, as RG indicated, much is automated. Just print out instruction above & follow ques [assuming you have 98 OS].

[meagher72]

Status Report:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Invalid system disk
Replace the disk, and then press any key

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two attempts on two different computers and I get that error both times.

Don't know what's wrong....

Took everyting step-by-step just as posted.

I may be getting somthing switched or crossed in the process.

Will see if I can find the root of the problem.

Only three more old computers to attempt on.

Hope I can get this right.

Will report back with details later.

[Renzatic Gear]

You did set the CD-ROM drive as the first on the boot sequence, right? And is the copy of Win98 you're using an actual copy or was it burned?

Do you have a disk in the A drive by any chance?

Those are the only things I can think of. It sounds like the computer is still trying to read off the harddrive first, can't find anything, and gives you the default non system disk or disk error message. Do you even hear the CD drive spin up?

[meagher72]

Windows disc is genuine and not a copy.

Found set-up fine and also BIOS.

Made sure it hit CDROM first by changing boot sequence.

Disc will spin.

I have gotten it to attempt to BOOT from CDROM but it says: Failure, etc.

Yes I have been messing with A: too.

I have a Windows start-up floppy and decided to give it a try to see what happened.

Will quit messing with A:.

Found what may be a problem... computers I am wiping are W98 and I am trying to install W95 on them just for the practice because I do not have my W98 disc atm.

Perhaps the W95 disc does not have the drivers I need for the newer hardware or perhaps creating some strange kind of conflict?

Will mess some more and see what I can find, and tomorrow I will go get my W98 CD and see if that helps.

Thanks for the help RG.

Will post further progress, details, etc.

[Renzatic Gear]

I think I know what your problem is...

If I remember correctly Windows 95 requires that you have a boot disk, it won't initiate the install off the CD at all. I'm guessing that you're also using a boot disk you made with Windows 98, right?

Also..and this is a dumb question, but it's always best to cover every base...the Win95 disc you're using, is it an upgrade or an actual copy of the OS?

[meagher72]

Boot disk is W95 CD-ROM Setup Boot Disk and Windows disc is full '95 version.

Bought the entire package on Ebay about a year ago.

When I start-up in drive A with the boot disc after formatting the HDD I see:

Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu

1. Load NEC IDE CDROM driver
2. Load TOSHIBA IDE CDROM driver
3. Load HITACHI DVD CDROM driver
4. Load SCSI CDROM driver
5. No CDROM support

F5 = Safe Mode
Shift + F5 = Command Prompt
Shift = F8 = Step by step confirmation [N]

I have attmepted to load the CDROM drivers, change BIOS from A to CDROM at start-up, then resart with W95 disc in the CDROM drive, but I can't get the disc to run.

Still trying though..... I'll be back ;)

[meagher72]

BINGO!!!!!!

Think I have somthing here.

Loaded CDROM driver, then from A:\ prompt I had to enter d:\setup with d being my CDROM drive.

Disc is running now.

Will report back the news be it good or bad. :)

[meagher72]

Ok, took a few wrong turns and got a little lost but I think I finally found home.

Learned a few things along the way to boot.

Here is a quick list of what I did:

Formatted HDD from MS-DOS mode
- entered <i>format c:</i> from C:\ prompt
- HDD formated

Changed drive start-up order from within BIOS to A: drive (floppy)
- restarted and entered DELETE key during start-up to enter BIOS

Restarted with Windows '95 CDROM Setup Disc in drive A:

Loaded CDROM driver to computer from CDROM Setup Disc
- Load NEC IDE CDROM driver
- Received A:\ prompt in MS-DOS mode after driver loaded

From A:\ prompt in MS-DOS mode I entered <i>d:\setup</i> (D: drive CDROM drive)
- Had Windows '95 CD in CDROM
- Setup began installiation of Windows '95

Ran Windows '98 upgrade CD from installed and running Windows '95
- Inserted upgrade disc into CDROM and it self-started

Created start-up dics for both W95 and W98 along the way.

Windows '98 is just now finishing... going to see how I did.

Might be easier when I get my full W98 CD back.

W95 just refused to run from CDROM drive without first loading a driver for the CDROM from the CDROM Setup Disc.

Hopefully W98 can install straight from CD and I can skip a couple steps next time.

Thank you for the help RG. :)

Going back to play now and see how my install went....

Almost confident enough to reformat my current computer and then install XP, although I need to learn more about backing up some programs first.

Once again.. thanks for the help. :D

[Renzatic Gear]

Hey, no prob. I would've responded sooner but I didn't get any reply notifications. It looks like you figured out how to do it yourself so you really didn't need me after all. ;)

If you're worried about installing XP...don't. It is by and far the easiest OS to install. If you're gonna do it here soon I can offer you a few tips right fast (I like feeling useful..makes me not cry):

Unlike what you did when you reinstalled 98, I wouldn't recommend using the same partition. What I'd do instead is delete your current part and format using the NTFS file system. I hear that XP runs a bit smoother using that instead of the old FAT32 standard and it's not difficult to do since you're prompted for it before the actual install. The rest you just sit back and watch

Uhh...don't really have any more suggestions for installing XP. For the most part you just sit there, only stopping to set your partitions, change the time, and putting in the keycode. If you need any more help just ask me, I've done it a thousand times before...and I'm actually comptemplating doing it tonight cuz it's been awhile since my last reformat.

[meagher72]

Nod.. thanks RG.

Learning how to back-up some of my old programs before I reformat this comp.

I bought it used so I do not have the discs for many of the programs.

I do not care about losing most of them, but some I do not want to lose such as my sound and video card manipulation applications, etc.

Got any tips?

Come to think of it, can I do full program installs from back-ups or will I lose all old programs I do not have an actual hard-copy of the software for?

Learning the hard way the downside of used comps, no program software and/or product keys. :(

Almost to the point I do not care about losing the programs, but like I said I would hate to lose my sound/video card manipulation programs and some of the utility programs I do have atm.

How in the heck do people afford the price of software?

Prices really need to come down substantially if we are going to get more computers into more people's homes.

And not just as electronic eye candy but actual hardware and software people can and do use so the majority of computers don't just sit in the living room looking pretty only reading email/chatting/porn finding/ebaying/singles matching, etc.

Opps.... I digress and stray from topic.

Is my old software lost if I reformat or can I back them up and reinstall them after reformatting in some way?

As always, thanks in advance for any tips and/or points in the right direction. :)

[Renzatic Gear]

lol, the reason it's priced so high is because most of the stuff you're probably playing with is meant for the pro crowd. Most video toaster programs are usually pretty expensive and aren't marketed towards the enthausist cuz there just aren't enough people out there to buy em...video and sound editing for everyone is still a few years away just yet.

But you can back em up pretty easily without having to track down an install file. For starters all you'd have to do is just move the folder they're saved in to a CD and rip it on there. Most programs like that usually don't rely on registry entries to run so when you install em on another machine the only thing you'd do is reconfigure your settings.

Course there are the occasional few that DO require a complete new install or registry entries. For those you need to go into regedit and export all the threads related to the program into a .reg file..that takes a few cuz it they can be a pain to track down, but once you've got it all saved all you have to do is doubleclick the file that's produced and it'll write the threads into your new registry like it's always been installed there..then the only thing you have to do is make sure your program is in the same folder it was before.

If I knew which programs you were using I'd probably be able to help you out more...