erasing hard drive files for a clean start

[Guest]

I want to erase all of my files on the hard drive of my computer and
reinstall XP Pro. I can't seem to get my comp to erase any of my files using
the Windows xp Pro operating system disk. How do I do this? The reason I'm
doing this is because my comp freezes up every 15min and I have to reboot. I
had the guys at the shop put in a new hard drive (400gig). The old one was a
400 as well but wound up having damaged hard drive partitions. But, the new
hard drive is fine but my comp still freezes with the old programs on it.
They copied the old files from the old hard drive to the new one. They said
this is common with cutting edge technology. Unfortunately, I may not be able
to use any of my old saved files on my external backup which I have saved for
over 4 years of work and research. Soooo, I have to start fresh again. The
worst nightmare possible.

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

I want to erase all of my files on the hard drive of my computer and
reinstall XP Pro. I can't seem to get my comp to erase any of my
files using the Windows xp Pro operating system disk. How do I do
this? The reason I'm doing this is because my comp freezes up every
15min and I have to reboot. I had the guys at the shop put in a new
hard drive (400gig). The old one was a 400 as well but wound up
having damaged hard drive partitions. But, the new hard drive is fine
but my comp still freezes with the old programs on it. They copied
the old files from the old hard drive to the new one. They said this
is common with cutting edge technology. Unfortunately, I may not be
able to use any of my old saved files on my external backup which I
have saved for over 4 years of work and research. Soooo, I have to
start fresh again. The worst nightmare possible.

How to partition and format a hard disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348/en-us

How to install or upgrade to Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316941

Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I want to erase all of my files on the hard drive of my computer and
reinstall XP Pro. I can't seem to get my comp to erase any of my files
using
the Windows xp Pro operating system disk. How do I do this?

It's very easy. Walk through the XP install, delete and recreate partions,
and format them.

You cannot format the C or system drive while Windows is running. You boot
from the CD.

Do back up first.

The reason I'm
doing this is because my comp freezes up every 15min and I have to reboot.

That's not a good sign.

I
had the guys at the shop put in a new hard drive (400gig). The old one was
a
400 as well but wound up having damaged hard drive partitions.
But, the new
hard drive is fine but my comp still freezes with the old programs on it.

Use newer versions and find the conflicts.

There may very well be other problems, but there's little information here.

They copied the old files from the old hard drive to the new one. They
said
this is common with cutting edge technology.

Wrong answer.

Sorry, but you need better help than "they" are providing. Regular sytem
hangs are neither common or acceptable.

If you have incompatible hardware or software, replace it.

Unfortunately, I may not be able
to use any of my old saved files on my external backup which I have saved
for
over 4 years of work and research.

Why not?

Soooo, I have to start fresh again. The
worst nightmare possible.

Any normal complete reinstall with restored data shouldn't take more than a
day in billable - as opposed to elapsed - time.

Anything that moves the reinstall out of "normal" would require a good
explanation. "cutting edge" isn't a good explanation.

HTH

-pk

 

[just plain rob]

I want to erase all of my files on the hard drive of my computer and
reinstall XP Pro. I can't seem to get my comp to erase any of my files
using the Windows xp Pro operating system disk. How do I do this? The
reason I'm doing this is because my comp freezes up every 15min and I
have to reboot. I had the guys at the shop put in a new hard drive
(400gig). The old one was a 400 as well but wound up having damaged hard
drive partitions. But, the new hard drive is fine but my comp still
freezes with the old programs on it. They copied the old files from the
old hard drive to the new one. They said this is common with cutting
edge technology. Unfortunately, I may not be able to use any of my old
saved files on my external backup which I have saved for over 4 years of
work and research. Soooo, I have to start fresh again. The worst
nightmare possible.

First: As long as there's no spyware or viruses on these files, do not throw them away.
Second: investigate hardware problems; for example, use MemTest to test your memory overnight. Do other
research, find testing apps (there's a lot of sites out there to help you with this) and make sure your hardware is
OK...
Third: what happened to make this computer behave this way? Did you upgrade something? New drivers?
4: You could have bad system files and "the shop that can't diagnose" did a mirror copy and reinstalled the bad XP
system on a new drive. Go here: http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html and do an sfc /scannow (mind that
space!).
5 Don't throw away anything valuable.
6. Prepare to reinstall your apps--not copy them over from the other drive. You may very well NOT have to reinstall
XP if you do the sfc /scannow.
7. Damaged hard drive partitions do not mean your drive is bad--you could have had a brownout or something this
time of year--but if it's over 4 or 5 years old, run a utility on it like Spin Rite or HDD Regenerator overnight.

Repost again,
Rob

 

[Paul Randall]

I want to erase all of my files on the hard drive of my computer and
reinstall XP Pro. I can't seem to get my comp to erase any of my files
using
the Windows xp Pro operating system disk. How do I do this? The reason I'm
doing this is because my comp freezes up every 15min and I have to reboot.
I
had the guys at the shop put in a new hard drive (400gig). The old one was
a
400 as well but wound up having damaged hard drive partitions. But, the
new
hard drive is fine but my comp still freezes with the old programs on it.
They copied the old files from the old hard drive to the new one. They
said
this is common with cutting edge technology. Unfortunately, I may not be
able
to use any of my old saved files on my external backup which I have saved
for
over 4 years of work and research. Soooo, I have to start fresh again. The
worst nightmare possible.

I had a similar problem, but the time I could run before the computer froze
up was quite variable. It turned out to be a problem with the IDE cable.
No more freezes after replacing the cable.

-Paul Randall