Can't format system dirve. So how do I do a clean install?

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Litwaks
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The Litwaks

Because I made the obviously stupid mistake of formatting my hard
drive as NTFS, now, when I need to reformat it to do a clean install, I
can't. Making an MS DOS diskette wont' work because in DOS mode, an
NTFS disk is invisible. I can't go from NTFS to FAT. MS ought to
provide a way to reformat the drive, but they don't that I can see. I'm
stuck in a catch 22. I must reformat to get my drive to become C instead
of E. I cant' reformat because there's no program outside of Windows
able to read NTFS. Windows won't let itself be changed or its drive
reformatted. Help please.

Thanks.


Ken
 
"The Litwaks" said in
Because I made the obviously stupid mistake of formatting my hard
drive as NTFS, now, when I need to reformat it to do a clean install,
I can't. Making an MS DOS diskette wont' work because in DOS mode, an
NTFS disk is invisible. I can't go from NTFS to FAT. MS ought to
provide a way to reformat the drive, but they don't that I can see.
I'm stuck in a catch 22. I must reformat to get my drive to become C
instead of E. I cant' reformat because there's no program outside of
Windows able to read NTFS. Windows won't let itself be changed or
its drive reformatted. Help please.

Thanks.


Ken
Click to expand...

They do. Just boot using the bootable Windows XP installation CD and use its own partition functions during the setup which allow you to delete partitions, [re]create them, and format them. First time install, huh? Enjoy.

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What's stupid about formatting in NTFS? - far more efficient and secure

"The Litwaks" said in
Because I made the obviously stupid mistake of formatting my hard
drive as NTFS, now, when I need to reformat it to do a clean install,
I can't. Making an MS DOS diskette wont' work because in DOS mode, an
NTFS disk is invisible. I can't go from NTFS to FAT. MS ought to
provide a way to reformat the drive, but they don't that I can see.
I'm stuck in a catch 22. I must reformat to get my drive to become C
instead of E. I cant' reformat because there's no program outside of
Windows able to read NTFS. Windows won't let itself be changed or
its drive reformatted. Help please.

Thanks.


Ken
Click to expand...

They do. Just boot using the bootable Windows XP installation CD and use
its own partition functions during the setup which allow you to delete
partitions, [re]create them, and format them. First time install, huh?
Enjoy.

--
________________________________________________________________________
***** Post your replies to the newsgroup. Share with others. *****
E-mail: lh_811news [at] hotmail [dot] com
Passcode: "=NEWS="
All e-mail is auto-deleted unless passcode is appended to Subject.
________________________________________________________________________
 
Because if you cold format in FAT32, you could use the technique
that has worked on PCs for over twenty years. You boot into DOS and do
whatever you need to on an emergency basis. With an NTFS drive, and no
support for making an emergency NTFS
"DOS" diskette, this ability to save yourself is simply gone. Clearly,
whoever at MS thought this up has never ever had to fix an ailing
computer nor thought for ten seconds about the consequences. When I
write software for work, I think long and hard about the consequences of
my choices. Perhaps MS should adopt such a practice.

Ken
What's stupid about formatting in NTFS? - far more efficient and secure

"The Litwaks" said in
Because I made the obviously stupid mistake of formatting my hard
drive as NTFS, now, when I need to reformat it to do a clean install,
I can't. Making an MS DOS diskette wont' work because in DOS mode, an
NTFS disk is invisible. I can't go from NTFS to FAT. MS ought to
provide a way to reformat the drive, but they don't that I can see.
I'm stuck in a catch 22. I must reformat to get my drive to become C
instead of E. I cant' reformat because there's no program outside of
Windows able to read NTFS. Windows won't let itself be changed or
its drive reformatted. Help please.

Thanks.


Ken
Click to expand...


They do. Just boot using the bootable Windows XP installation CD and use
its own partition functions during the setup which allow you to delete
partitions, [re]create them, and format them. First time install, huh?
Enjoy.
Click to expand...
 
Because if you cold format in FAT32, you could use the technique
that has worked on PCs for over twenty years. You boot into DOS and do
whatever you need to on an emergency basis. With an NTFS drive, and no
support for making an emergency NTFS
"DOS" diskette, this ability to save yourself is simply gone. Clearly,
whoever at MS thought this up has never ever had to fix an ailing
computer nor thought for ten seconds about the consequences. When I
write software for work, I think long and hard about the consequences of
my choices. Perhaps MS should adopt such a practice.

Ken
What's stupid about formatting in NTFS? - far more efficient and secure

"The Litwaks" said in
Because I made the obviously stupid mistake of formatting my hard
drive as NTFS, now, when I need to reformat it to do a clean install,
I can't. Making an MS DOS diskette wont' work because in DOS mode, an
NTFS disk is invisible. I can't go from NTFS to FAT. MS ought to
provide a way to reformat the drive, but they don't that I can see.
I'm stuck in a catch 22. I must reformat to get my drive to become C
instead of E. I cant' reformat because there's no program outside of
Windows able to read NTFS. Windows won't let itself be changed or
its drive reformatted. Help please.

Thanks.


Ken
Click to expand...


They do. Just boot using the bootable Windows XP installation CD and use
its own partition functions during the setup which allow you to delete
partitions, [re]create them, and format them. First time install, huh?
Enjoy.
Click to expand...
 
As Vanguard said -- boot with the Windows XP CD. After booting from the CD,
you have the option to format NTFS -- or FAT 32 -- whatever your little
heart desires.

steve
 
Microsoft did think long and hard about such situations. If you are so
adept at DOS, then surely you know all about FDISK and what its functions
are.

Microsoft designed FDISK to remove a "non-DOS Partition" -- an NTFS
partition is, by definition, a non-DOS partition.

Microsoft designed FDISK to create new DOS partitions.

As you can see, Microsoft did, indeed think about the need to remove non-DOS
partitions. You, however, apparently did not think.

steve



The Litwaks said:
Because if you cold format in FAT32, you could use the technique
that has worked on PCs for over twenty years. You boot into DOS and do
whatever you need to on an emergency basis. With an NTFS drive, and no
support for making an emergency NTFS
"DOS" diskette, this ability to save yourself is simply gone. Clearly,
whoever at MS thought this up has never ever had to fix an ailing
computer nor thought for ten seconds about the consequences. When I
write software for work, I think long and hard about the consequences of
my choices. Perhaps MS should adopt such a practice.

Ken
What's stupid about formatting in NTFS? - far more efficient and secure

"The Litwaks" said in
Because I made the obviously stupid mistake of formatting my hard
drive as NTFS, now, when I need to reformat it to do a clean install,
I can't. Making an MS DOS diskette wont' work because in DOS mode, an
NTFS disk is invisible. I can't go from NTFS to FAT. MS ought to
provide a way to reformat the drive, but they don't that I can see.
I'm stuck in a catch 22. I must reformat to get my drive to become C
instead of E. I cant' reformat because there's no program outside of
Windows able to read NTFS. Windows won't let itself be changed or
its drive reformatted. Help please.

Thanks.


Ken
Click to expand...


They do. Just boot using the bootable Windows XP installation CD and use
its own partition functions during the setup which allow you to delete
partitions, [re]create them, and format them. First time install, huh?
Enjoy.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Steve,

I did think. I thought about the difficulty introduced by the
inability under NTFS to manipulate individual files on an NTFS partition
from DOS. I see no way to do this, while I see little benefit for this
huge loss.

Ken
Microsoft did think long and hard about such situations. If you are so
adept at DOS, then surely you know all about FDISK and what its functions
are.

Microsoft designed FDISK to remove a "non-DOS Partition" -- an NTFS
partition is, by definition, a non-DOS partition.

Microsoft designed FDISK to create new DOS partitions.

As you can see, Microsoft did, indeed think about the need to remove non-DOS
partitions. You, however, apparently did not think.

steve



Because if you cold format in FAT32, you could use the technique
that has worked on PCs for over twenty years. You boot into DOS and do
whatever you need to on an emergency basis. With an NTFS drive, and no
support for making an emergency NTFS
"DOS" diskette, this ability to save yourself is simply gone. Clearly,
whoever at MS thought this up has never ever had to fix an ailing
computer nor thought for ten seconds about the consequences. When I
write software for work, I think long and hard about the consequences of
my choices. Perhaps MS should adopt such a practice.

Ken
What's stupid about formatting in NTFS? - far more efficient and secure

"The Litwaks" said in


Because I made the obviously stupid mistake of formatting my hard
drive as NTFS, now, when I need to reformat it to do a clean install,
I can't. Making an MS DOS diskette wont' work because in DOS mode, an
NTFS disk is invisible. I can't go from NTFS to FAT. MS ought to
provide a way to reformat the drive, but they don't that I can see.
I'm stuck in a catch 22. I must reformat to get my drive to become C
instead of E. I cant' reformat because there's no program outside of
Windows able to read NTFS. Windows won't let itself be changed or
its drive reformatted. Help please.

Thanks.


Ken


They do. Just boot using the bootable Windows XP installation CD and
Click to expand...
use
its own partition functions during the setup which allow you to delete
partitions, [re]create them, and format them. First time install, huh?
Enjoy.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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