Posted: 9/26/2006 9:13:23 PM EDT
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how in the hell do i reformat my hard drive. all i want on it is a few choice programs, one of which being my virus software. The only way i know how is to insert the windows disk and reboot but that doesnt give the option of wipe and reinstall. Is there another way? thanks! |
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Win XP will give you the option of reformatting during a reinstall. Just reboot with the disk in and opt to boot off of that drive. Of course, everything will be erased. Thems the breaks. On the up side, you get that fresh clean windows smell, and things will work right again for about 2 weeks. You can then reinstall any programs you currently own. You could also use a backup utility to create a partial diskimage that you can then use to quickly restore all the stuff you want to keep. I don't know how well programs will do with this kind of transplant, but it might be worth a try to you. -Local |
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Well you could: Download a hard disk utility program like this one: MaxBlast 4 or the smaller 1.8mb file if you dont have a broadband connection MB4 1.8mb Either will produce a bootable copy of MaxBlast 4. The first a CD, the latter a floppy disk. Set your bios to boot to the respectible drive. ie CD or floppy. Run the program and write zeros to the entire HDD. After you are done, reformat the drive to your file system...Win 98 and below FAT32, ME and above NTFS. Create any partitions you may want. Exit the program and reboot. Insert your bootable OS install disk and install Windows XX. This will erase all data from your HDD. You will have to reinstall all your programs once you reinstall windows. A word of caution....Make sure you have a valid copy of windows. Microsoft has their thong so far up their ass they won't support a Also, if your computer was in a retail package sometimes you only get a restore disk. This is not a full install disk of Windows. So dont erase your HDD unless you have the full install disk or you will be SOL. If this doesnt help, try posting in the Urban Commandos forum. |
