Format Hardrive.

[pop3]

Sorry if this is old hat to some of you, I know it has been coverd many time's before and I have looked at the reply's in this forum but I must say there is nothing step by step that a novice can follow, The comment's on the forum surgest that it is not a dificult thing to do but the explanation's are vague to say the least, Is it possible for an easy explanation on this hardrive formatting ? I am running window's xp pro on a home pc, thank's in advance for any help.

[rcm]

Sorry if this is old hat to some of you, I know it has been coverd many time's before and I have looked at the reply's in this forum but I must say there is nothing step by step that a novice can follow, The comment's on the forum surgest that it is not a dificult thing to do but the explanation's are vague to say the least, Is it possible for an easy explanation on this hardrive formatting ? I am running window's xp pro on a home pc, thank's in advance for any help.

hi,

do the following

start/mycomputer/select drive to format and right click ...you will find the option "Format" there...thats it..

good luck

rcm

[Tywais]

Open the "Control Panel" then open "Administrative Tools" then "Computer Management" then highlight "Disk Management". Everything is there, partitioning, formatting, de-frag, error checking etc.

This is assuming you are not trying to format drive C: in which case a different procedure is required involving booting from your XP cd and following the directions there. Backup first if this is your intentions.

Edited March 6, 2006 by tywais

[pop3]

Blimey that was quick ! yes I am trying to format drive C . I have tried to boot from my xp cd but it comes up with the message cannot conform because the copy of window's on the cd is older than the one installed on your computer !

[Tywais]

Blimey that was quick ! yes I am trying to format drive C . I have tried to boot from my xp cd but it comes up with the message cannot conform because the copy of window's on the cd is older than the one installed on your computer !

You must be missing a step/message. At some point, after it detects that you have a version already on the computer, it should ask you if you wish to replace it and you would say yes. Check the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. Should be something about hit a certain key to replace or repair. Need a little more information on the steps you are taking.

[bino]

Pay close attention to your monitor when you are trying to boot from the CD. At one point during the startup it will tell you "Press any key to boot from CD". You need to do this within a few seconds of seeing it, otherwise the computer will continue to boot from the C drive as normal.

If you're not seeing this step, it is possible that your CD ROM is not set as a bootable device in the BIOS, or the C drive is set before the CD ROM in the boot sequence.

To access the BIOS, you will need to press a key when prompted during the very first few seconds after the computer starts- typically the "Delete" button, but computers / BIOS can vary. Once you get in here, you can find the settings for boot sequence, and make your CD boot before the C drive.

Hope this helps..........

[Artisan]

Why do you feel it necessary to reformat your drive?

Perhaps as a first step, before you resort to a reformat, you should try to repair your Windows XP installation.

To do this, follow these steps after making a back-up of your data, address book, bookmarks etc.

1. Disable any antivirus programs (and any BIOS-level antivirus protection). This is a simple step and is usually done using the icon in the system tray.

2. Make sure that your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive is the first priority startup device.

3. Insert the Windows XP CD into the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.

4. When the instruction to "Press any key to boot from CD" appears, press any key. Your computer will boot from the Windows XP CD. Well it should boot up, but I read you seem to be having a problem here.

5. When the computer starts from the CD, the system verifies your hardware, and then prompts you to select one of the following options:

• To set up Windows XP now, press ENTER.

• To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.

• To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

6. Press ENTER.

7. Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement.

8. A box lists your current Windows XP installation, and then the computer prompts you to select one of the following options:

• To repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R.

• To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, press ESC.

9. Press R. After you repair Windows XP, you may have to reactivate Windows XP if you changed some hardware.

10. Re-install any applications and reconfigure your e-mail client settings.

[sonic_11uk]

Open the "Control Panel" then open "Administrative Tools" then "Computer Management" then highlight "Disk Management". Everything is there, partitioning, formatting, de-frag, error checking etc.

This is assuming you are not trying to format drive C: in which case a different procedure is required involving booting from your XP cd and following the directions there. Backup first if this is your intentions.

So after formatting, restart the computer with the Win XP CD in the drive?

How to backup programs and settings? Is it possible to drag and drop the folders to another partition, then drag them back after the format?

Thx!