erase harddrive
- Thread starter bobolocks
- Start date
sonusman
Banned
FDISK
Boot your computer with a Windows boot up disk in it and use FDISK to reformat the drive.
If you don't know how, or what I am talking about, have someone who does show you. Using FDISK is something every computer user should know how to do, as reinstalling seems to be at least a yearly thing....
Ed
Boot your computer with a Windows boot up disk in it and use FDISK to reformat the drive.
If you don't know how, or what I am talking about, have someone who does show you. Using FDISK is something every computer user should know how to do, as reinstalling seems to be at least a yearly thing....
Ed
Slackmaster2K
Gone
Just to clarify, FDISK doesn't format a drive, it just creates and deletes partitions. A partition is a "space" on the disk that can be formatted (for all intents and purposes).
After creating your partition(s) with fdisk, you can use format.com to format the partitions. But really you can skip the fdisk step if the partitions are already the way you want them....then just use format to reformat the partitions.
If this disk is a second disk in your machine, then all you need to do is right click on the disk (from My Computer) and select Format. That's assuming you're using Windows.
Hey, what exactly are you using? We can give you step-by-step instructions if we know exactly what you're doing.
Slackmaster 2000
After creating your partition(s) with fdisk, you can use format.com to format the partitions. But really you can skip the fdisk step if the partitions are already the way you want them....then just use format to reformat the partitions.
If this disk is a second disk in your machine, then all you need to do is right click on the disk (from My Computer) and select Format. That's assuming you're using Windows.
Hey, what exactly are you using?
We can give you step-by-step instructions if we know exactly what you're doing.Slackmaster 2000
drstawl
Banned
Some clarification for the rest of us
Besides the fact that format is a little quicker and easier, is there any real difference in the end result between this and simply deleting all the files on a drive and dumping whatever dregs end up in the recycle bin? On an audio-only drive you haven't got all that many files and even if you did (as in loads of acid clip sized stuff) you can "select all" pretty fast anyway.
Besides the fact that format is a little quicker and easier, is there any real difference in the end result between this and simply deleting all the files on a drive and dumping whatever dregs end up in the recycle bin? On an audio-only drive you haven't got all that many files and even if you did (as in loads of acid clip sized stuff) you can "select all" pretty fast anyway.
I"m planing on taking a Westerndigital drive out of a exsisting computer, erasing it and using it as the bootdrive in a new computer along with a 20 gig maxtor I bought for the audio files. I want to clean this westerndig drive. Get all the evil JUJU out of it and have a clean slate. I have a Windows 95 disk and a Windows 98 upgrade disk. I'm not sure if I should use 95 or 98.
Slackmaster2K
Gone
bobolocks,
Follow this procedure and all should go smoothly.
For this, you will need the Windows95 setup boot disk. The setup boot disk contains the necessary CDROM drivers and such to install Windows 95.
1) Stick the WD drive in the computer on the secondary IDE channel. To save time, it's ok to just use the cable from your CDROM drive, since you won't be needing it for a bit.
2) Boot the computer. If the WD drive was previously formatted (which it sounds like it was), then you should see it as D: from "My Computer". Right click on the drive and select "Format". Follow the instructions onscreen to zap the drive. When the drive is clean, proceed.
3) Shut down the computer. Remove the Maxtor drive (the one you WERE booting with, and are planning on using for audio). Just take it out of the machine so we don't have to worry about it.
4) Stick the WD drive as primary master, which will be where the maxtor was installed. Reattach your CDROM drive.
5) Boot with the CDROM setup boot disk in the floppy drive and place the windows 95 setup disk in the CDROM drive. MS shipped a WHOLE LOT of W95 CDROM setup boot disks that don't work correctly. If your setup boot disk is bad, you will know because the first stage of the setup, a Scandisk, will failing saying, "Requires Himem.sys to function" or something similar. If this is the case then:
a) Shut down.
b) Replace the WD with the Maxtor. Set the WD aside.
c) Restart.
d) Hop on the BBS and say, "Hey slack, my setup book disk
doesn't work for shit" and I'll tell you what to do.
6) Assuming that your setup boot disk did work, the windows 95 setup should start. I hope you've gone through this already, because nothing counts more than some experience. I can't give you a step-by-step because to be honest, there is no such thing. The good news is that you've got the Maxtor drive sitting aside with a good OS install, so if you run into problems, you just swap it back in and hop on the boards here (see step 5).
7) Once windows is installed to your liking, install the Windows 98 upgrade. You'll thank me later.
8) Get your internet connection working and make sure you can get back onto the BBS here. This is very important. If you have problems after the next few steps, you'll need to get back onto the net.
9) Once Win98 is installed and your internet connection works, it's time to reinsert the Maxtor drive. Stick the Maxtor as secondary master, and bump your CDROM drive down to secondary slave.
10) When the Maxtor is in, start the machine. You should now see the Maxtor as D: from "My Computer". If at this point you need to copy any data files over from the Maxtor, do it now. Notice that your CDROM drive letter was probably bumped from D: to E:, but since we haven't installed any applications yet, there should be no problems.
11) If you are 100% comfortable that everything is working properly, right click on the Maxtor drive letter in My Computer and select "Format" and reformat the drive.
12) Install your applications and start recording.
Be VERY carefull when swapping drives if you have sensitive data on them. I've only lost the data on a hard drive once out of a zillion times, but it was a bad bad experience. I suggest a good backup of all your data to CDR or tape or similar.
Slackmaster 2000
Follow this procedure and all should go smoothly.
For this, you will need the Windows95 setup boot disk. The setup boot disk contains the necessary CDROM drivers and such to install Windows 95.
1) Stick the WD drive in the computer on the secondary IDE channel. To save time, it's ok to just use the cable from your CDROM drive, since you won't be needing it for a bit.
2) Boot the computer. If the WD drive was previously formatted (which it sounds like it was), then you should see it as D: from "My Computer". Right click on the drive and select "Format". Follow the instructions onscreen to zap the drive. When the drive is clean, proceed.
3) Shut down the computer. Remove the Maxtor drive (the one you WERE booting with, and are planning on using for audio). Just take it out of the machine so we don't have to worry about it.
4) Stick the WD drive as primary master, which will be where the maxtor was installed. Reattach your CDROM drive.
5) Boot with the CDROM setup boot disk in the floppy drive and place the windows 95 setup disk in the CDROM drive. MS shipped a WHOLE LOT of W95 CDROM setup boot disks that don't work correctly. If your setup boot disk is bad, you will know because the first stage of the setup, a Scandisk, will failing saying, "Requires Himem.sys to function" or something similar. If this is the case then:
a) Shut down.
b) Replace the WD with the Maxtor. Set the WD aside.
c) Restart.
d) Hop on the BBS and say, "Hey slack, my setup book disk
doesn't work for shit" and I'll tell you what to do.
6) Assuming that your setup boot disk did work, the windows 95 setup should start. I hope you've gone through this already, because nothing counts more than some experience. I can't give you a step-by-step because to be honest, there is no such thing. The good news is that you've got the Maxtor drive sitting aside with a good OS install, so if you run into problems, you just swap it back in and hop on the boards here (see step 5).
7) Once windows is installed to your liking, install the Windows 98 upgrade. You'll thank me later.
8) Get your internet connection working and make sure you can get back onto the BBS here. This is very important. If you have problems after the next few steps, you'll need to get back onto the net.
9) Once Win98 is installed and your internet connection works, it's time to reinsert the Maxtor drive. Stick the Maxtor as secondary master, and bump your CDROM drive down to secondary slave.
10) When the Maxtor is in, start the machine. You should now see the Maxtor as D: from "My Computer". If at this point you need to copy any data files over from the Maxtor, do it now. Notice that your CDROM drive letter was probably bumped from D: to E:, but since we haven't installed any applications yet, there should be no problems.
11) If you are 100% comfortable that everything is working properly, right click on the Maxtor drive letter in My Computer and select "Format" and reformat the drive.
12) Install your applications and start recording.
Be VERY carefull when swapping drives if you have sensitive data on them. I've only lost the data on a hard drive once out of a zillion times, but it was a bad bad experience. I suggest a good backup of all your data to CDR or tape or similar.
Slackmaster 2000