Formating and reinstalling XP
Discussion
Hello
I'm trying to format and reinstall xp on my old PC as I've sold it to a friend,
I thought it would be nice for her not to have too look at the crap I managed to store on it over the years.
In Windows 98 you can restart in dos but there is not option for that in xp.
I'm fine once i'm in Dos but just can't get there, I've been in a dos window within xp but it wont let me format the hard drive as I'm already using it.
I'm trying to format and reinstall xp on my old PC as I've sold it to a friend,
I thought it would be nice for her not to have too look at the crap I managed to store on it over the years.
In Windows 98 you can restart in dos but there is not option for that in xp.
I'm fine once i'm in Dos but just can't get there, I've been in a dos window within xp but it wont let me format the hard drive as I'm already using it.
You do not have dos. WinXP has something for advanced users called a Windows Command Prompt which although it looks the same, is very different in functionality to the DOS prompt you are thinking of.
You cannot boot to DOS from a WinXP machine without a win98 boot disk but as previously mentioned you dont need to do this if you have a bootable CDROM and the original WinXP CD.
Going into a bit more depth :
Just run XP setup and reformat the partition (fat32/ntfs - your choice) and intall XP. Unless you really need/want ntfs I suggest you stay with fat32 - allows data recovery options in event OS goes belly-up. I suggest you repartition the drive to have both Primary and Extended partitions Primary = OS/apps/utils; Extended = data only. Format as fat32.
Make Primary around 5Gig (usually adequate for XP); and balance of drive = Extended. You can usefully subdivide the Extended into two or more logical-drives - for ease of data organisation and faster/easier defrags.
In the event of a crash (or whatever) of the OS, data will (should) be safe in the Extended area. Thus you can re-install OS etc. to Primary, even reformat it if need-be - without affecting data.
Hope this helps.
You cannot boot to DOS from a WinXP machine without a win98 boot disk but as previously mentioned you dont need to do this if you have a bootable CDROM and the original WinXP CD.
Going into a bit more depth :
Just run XP setup and reformat the partition (fat32/ntfs - your choice) and intall XP. Unless you really need/want ntfs I suggest you stay with fat32 - allows data recovery options in event OS goes belly-up. I suggest you repartition the drive to have both Primary and Extended partitions Primary = OS/apps/utils; Extended = data only. Format as fat32.
Make Primary around 5Gig (usually adequate for XP); and balance of drive = Extended. You can usefully subdivide the Extended into two or more logical-drives - for ease of data organisation and faster/easier defrags.
In the event of a crash (or whatever) of the OS, data will (should) be safe in the Extended area. Thus you can re-install OS etc. to Primary, even reformat it if need-be - without affecting data.
Hope this helps.
To re install XP
Set your primary Boot device to CD ROM
Boot up with XP in the CD drive then hit any key when it tells you to.
After going through all the gubbins it will ask you to choose where you want to install XP.
Pick your C drive. It will then say that there is already a copy of windows installed on the drive and it should give you the option to format using NTFS or FAT 32. Pick you r file system, and go from there.
Set your primary Boot device to CD ROM
Boot up with XP in the CD drive then hit any key when it tells you to.
After going through all the gubbins it will ask you to choose where you want to install XP.
Pick your C drive. It will then say that there is already a copy of windows installed on the drive and it should give you the option to format using NTFS or FAT 32. Pick you r file system, and go from there.
jam1et said:
He doesnt want to defrag it as he's not trying to make it run more efficiently. He's trying to wipe everything and do a clean install as he's giving the PC to someone else.
And a defrag will move all the bits of data around so it can't be recovered, even by the most determined of people.
agent006 said:
He doesnt want to defrag it as he's not trying to make it run more efficiently. He's trying to wipe everything and do a clean install as he's giving the PC to someone else.
And a defrag will move all the bits of data around so it can't be recovered, even by the most determined of people.
Unfortunately you can recover data from up to 30 formats previously.
I had a Harddrive on my works laptop go in 1999. laptop was 3 months old under warranty etc but they could not send the disk back to dell as the securty rating on the laptop was SECRET, so just insinurated £500 Harddrive and ordered new one.
stevieb is quite correct. I have recovered data for customers where the drive has been fdisked and formatted. They thought it was clean - I got 90% of their data back much to their surprise and delight.
And this was only using standard recovery software. Not a clean room in sight.
If you have had any sensitive data you are worried about, then physically destroy the drive platters and get a new drive.
As an alternative run a program called Eraser on the drive. This will overwrite the drive 35 times with random data to make recovery by software methods virtually impossible. You can get it at www.heidi.ie/eraser/
And this was only using standard recovery software. Not a clean room in sight.
If you have had any sensitive data you are worried about, then physically destroy the drive platters and get a new drive.
As an alternative run a program called Eraser on the drive. This will overwrite the drive 35 times with random data to make recovery by software methods virtually impossible. You can get it at www.heidi.ie/eraser/
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