Re-setting a hard drive

rutters

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Is it possible to clean everything off a hard drive,clear the memory completely and start again from scratch?

I only want to run xp and a few bits of software on a PC I've got from work. Unfortunately it has a lot of software pre-installed.

cheers
 
Yes, you can use the format command from a Windows 98 boot disk:)

Clearing the memory is done by powerinf down your system and un plugging it from the wall for 10 seconds.

Let us know what type of HD you have and we can see if there a a HD utility for you
 
whoooa!! slow down guys..

don't know owt bout dos or partitions..I do have 98 and XP discs..don't know what HD I've got (how do I tell?)

cheers
 
rutters said:
don't know what HD I've got (how do I tell?)

You have to take it out and look at the make and model.

but here is a "brief" instruction on how to Partition and Format..;)

Partitioning a Hard Drive means that you are creating the boot sector as well as dividing the Hard Drive into other logical drives (C,D,E, etc.). This step is performed using the FDISK command. This command should be on your system boot disk.

After you Build Your Own Cheap Computer, you need to think about the number of partitions that you intend to make on your Hard Drive or if you want one large partition for the complete Drive.

If your Drive is larger than 2GB, you may want to partition it. With modern Operating Systems (like Windows 98, 2000 and XP) you will want to use FAT32 file system.

You are ready to start.


Partitioning Hard Drive:

Insert the system disk in the floppy drive and reboot computer. After a brief moment, you will be taken to the 'A:>' prompt where you will type the following command:

'FDISK'

This command is used to partition the drive. Follow the menus to create either a single partion for the whole drive or multiple partitions. The first partition must be made active to make it bootable.

You will then see a prompt (DO YOU WISH TO ENABLE LARGE DISK SUPPORT Y/N)?. You should answer "YES". This enables the partition to be created using the FAT32 file system.

You can also continue to accept default entries for all the prompts to partition the drive as a single bootable partition that covers the whole drive.

Exit 'FDISK'; this reboots the system.


Formatting the Hard Drive:
You need to format the Hard Drive before you can install the Operating System.

Firstly, you need to reboot the PC with the system disk and then format each partition that you created. The first partition is formatted using the FORMAT command as follows:

'FORMAT C:'

If you have more partitions, you can format them by running the FORMAT command and changing the drive letter for each partition that needs to be formatted.
 
thanks for taking the time m8..much appreciated

The only discs I have with the PC is an 'Original Recovery Diskette' and 2 'Reload/Backup' CDs

Does running a recovery erase everything? That way I could run it and then remove all the software.

Sorry for being a bit dim..

cheers
 
recovery usually only copies the image file contained on the cd back to the harddisk, some of them delete the partition, then copy the image, some of them overwrite existing data without creating a new partition, depends on manufacturer m8.

Running the recovery will leave you with the OS as it was when the system was shipped/booted for the first time. So only OS and preinstalled software will be on the hdd.
 
thanks m8..I'm starting to see a bit of light now..

so if I run the recovery disc, any info from it's previous use will be erased?
Then I can manually remove any unwanted software..

correct?

cheers
 
Sounds about right m8 :)

Doing the recovery erases all data on the partition, then copies the image to the hdd as i said above. This image will contain the original installation including any preinstalled software, so you should be ok removing the unwanted stuff once the recovery is done.
 
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