System restore, format?

Okay well I;ve heard lots of different terms and not sure what exactly each does....because I want to start my computer fresh with my OS still installed.

Alright first a format, that removes everything, so I heard, I'm not considering that because I don't have a winxp installation cd so there's no point for me.

Low level format, not sure what it does, mainly why I made this thread.

And lastly a system restore with the compaq cd I got. Does this make it the same I got it? I'm not really sure....so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

A low-level format restores the hard drive exactly the way it came from the manufacturer. A regular format erases all the information from the hard drive, but it can still be recovered with utilities. If you use the restore disk from compaq, it will restore your computer exactly the way you received it from compaq.

here is formatting in greater detail:
http://www.storagereview.com/welcom...m/guide2000/ref/hdd/geom/formatUtilities.html

 

just to clarify, a low level format completley blanks the drive of ALL data, meaning it has no valid boot record or anything. you would need to run FDisk from a floppy to format it.

Compaq restore disks are basically your OS. I belive you get 2 disks, that is Compaq restore CD and the Compaq OS CD. The restore CD performs a format on the drive you want to restore, installs the OS then copys across all the compaq stuff for your computer. It will basicaly make it just the same as when you took it home.

if your getting lots of errors its probably best to go for this option, as its does basically the same as formatting and then installing your OS again.. but automatically.

 

Yes I believe I did get two CD's, what does each do? Also...I can put all my important files on lets say a drive R and it won't be lost?

 

Drive R being a partition or a seperate HD? i think the Compaq cd does a low level format, so everything on the hard drive is erased, no matter what partition. if your data was on a seperate hard disk i think it would be saved.
You'll have 2 CDs one will be somthing like the Recovery boot CD, which you pop into your CD drive, boot from it, and it will give you a warning saying "we are going to REFORMAT are you really really sure you want to do this??" then it will reformat, reboot a few times, then ask for the windows 98 CD or whatever os it is. Thats when you insert the other disk, which has the OS that came with your computer. then it will tell you to take out all CDS and you will boot from the HD and everything will set itself up accordingly. bear in mind tho you will need the CDkey thats stuck to your computer, too.
i think thats about it.

 

Actually, I don't think they do. We have 20 of them and they don't low-level, just high-level. But they do erase everything.

 

oh...wonder why SMART got all worked up about it while it was formatting then? oh well...that is an odd machine..lol..