How to reformat a hard drive?

Hello,

Just as the title above says, I would like to reformat a hard drive. I have never done it before and so would like a help or a walk through.

I searched the forums, but was unable to locate one. I did find a word document giving me steps to install Windows XP (which I will be installing), but it leaves some questions unanswered.

First of all, I imagine I should download all the updated drivers I can find for my hardware. Is this a waste of time for XP? The computer is currently running Windows 98 (and I think it's been on there since about that time...actually, I think we tried Windows 2000 once...but that was the only reformat that I know of). We did get mileage out of that OS.

Any way, since then I've increased the RAM from 128 to 384 (SDRAM) and put in a new processor (from P2 450 to P3 850), I feel more comfortable trying a new OS.

Anyway, do I need to erase the hard drive first or will the XP installation do that for me. I do not want any corrupt files or garbage (like spyware, etc...) screwing up the install.

Well if anyone can point me in the right direction or give some advice I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.
mike

 

Make sure any important stuff (pics, letters, documents, etc) are saved on a disc, ofcourse!!

Then...depending on the model of computer...(a larger majority are like I'm going to explain, so you should be ok)...Restart the computer...while it is booting up continuously keep pressing the Delete key...that will get you into the bios, where you need to go to the boot order and make sure it is set to boot from cdrom drive!! If delete doesn't get you into the bios then try F1...but I'm going to say that Delete most likely will do it!!

Once you have set the boot order for cdrom to boot first...make sure the XP cd is in the cdrom drive and restart...it will automatically start the xp install procedure off of the disc!! It will then walk you through the necessary steps...just be patient and read everything!! Make sure you delete any partitions and then it ask you to repartition...but don't worry...it is about 99.9% automated!! Then it will ask you to format the new partition you just made, which, the new partition should be your whole drive minus approx. 8 meg!! And like I said before...just read everything and follow the steps, and choose the options you want (they're pretty much straight forward, if you have a decent IQ..LOL). Once it gets done formatting and loading the files the setup sequence will start (which will take a while) and it is very easy from there!!

If you have any more questions or problems..feel free to ask for further clarification!!!!

Roger

 

Sorry to repeat...but halo types faster than me!!! LOL

Roger

 

You may have typos...but I simply can't spell!!

Meanwhile....back to what this thread is about!! LOL

 

Thank you both for your advice and help.

I copied all of the files my mother and I would like to keep onto my hard drive and plan on doing the rest of the work tomorrow...it's late.

I printed off the thread to help me and plan on visiting the hyperlink to the web site that was suggested for more advice.

Yes, I'm also thinking that the computer may have a bit of a hard time running XP. I'm already planning to look for information out there to help tweak the OS so that it runs better on her machine. If you have any further advice on this or can point me to places on the web that do, I would appreciate it. (I think there is an option on XP where I don't have to use the new look and resort to the classic windows GUI. If that's the case, it may be easier on her machine and easier for her to navigate as well.)

So far, I have to give a big kudos to all of you at Geek. You all have helped me out more than once. You provide a great service.

later,
mike