HD Format Help

[Guest]

I have a new 250 Gig Hard Disk (new to me) it is formated C: as FAT and the
other half as D: NTFS. I would just like to start over again.
The computer it is in has no operating system yet.
I tried using Fdisk from and old win-98 boot disk but no luck.
I think I have to do a LOW-LEVEL FORMAT.

were can I get a program to do a Low Level format that will run under DOS or
Stand-a-lone.

Thanks

 

[JS]

Clean install of Windows XP from Michael Stevens web site:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

See step 10 for formatting hard drives.

JS

 

[Chuck]

I doubt that you really need to do a "low level format". If that is really
the case, you will need to obtain the utility to accomplish this from the HD
mfr. The utility is mfr & drive model specific. Some mfrs do not release
the utility to users. In this case, the drive must be sent to a service
center or back to the mfr.

A low level format on a modern HD sets up and tests things such as spare
tracks and usable or unusable areas that may not be physically contigious.
The mfrs production line may use electronics other than the "ship with"
drive controller card.

There are various freeware and pay for utilites that wipe the drive clean of
all data, including partitions. I suspect this it what you are looking for.
Unfortunately, I'm not current on the best ones to use these days, so I'll
pass on a recomendation.

 

[Tim Slattery]

I have a new 250 Gig Hard Disk (new to me) it is formated C: as FAT and the
other half as D: NTFS. I would just like to start over again.
The computer it is in has no operating system yet.
I tried using Fdisk from and old win-98 boot disk but no luck.
I think I have to do a LOW-LEVEL FORMAT.

were can I get a program to do a Low Level format that will run under DOS or
Stand-a-lone.

Don't do that. Boot from a WinXP CD, then you'll be able to partition
the disk any way you want.

 

[JS]

Clean install of Windows XP from Michael Stevens web site:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

See step 10 for formatting hard drives.

JS

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a new 250 Gig Hard Disk (new to me) it is formated C: as FAT
and the other half as D: NTFS. I would just like to start over again.
The computer it is in has no operating system yet.
I tried using Fdisk from and old win-98 boot disk but no luck.
I think I have to do a LOW-LEVEL FORMAT.

were can I get a program to do a Low Level format that will run under
DOS or Stand-a-lone.

No, you do not have to do a loq-level format. As a matter of fact, you can
*not* do a low-level format on any modern hard drive; trying to do so will
destroy it.

Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if necessary to
accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean installation (delete the
existing partition by pressing "D" when prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

 

[P. Johnson]

I have a new 250 Gig Hard Disk (new to me) it is formated C: as FAT and
the
other half as D: NTFS. I would just like to start over again.
The computer it is in has no operating system yet.
I tried using Fdisk from and old win-98 boot disk but no luck.

You have to reboot after repartitioning for the partition table to be
reloaded.

I think I have to do a LOW-LEVEL FORMAT.

No, this hasn't even been possible since we made the switch from Run Length
Limited¹ to Parallel AT Attachment².

were can I get a program to do a Low Level format that will run under DOS
or Stand-a-lone.

Don't.


¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Length_Limited
² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA