Format with Recovery console

  • Thread starter Thread starter Daniel
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Daniel

Hi

when using recovery console what do I type to format the C drive to the NTFS
file system?

thanks

Daniel
 
Daniel said:
Hi

when using recovery console what do I type to format the C drive to the
NTFS file system?

thanks

Daniel
Click to expand...

Just boot the machine with your WinXP installation CD, then follow the
prompts.
 
when using recovery console what do I type to format the C drive to the NTFS
file system?
Click to expand...


Why do you want to format the C: drive? Is your intent to reinstall
Windows?

If that's your intent, don't try to do it that way. Simply boot from
the XP CD and follow the prompts for a clean installation. It will do
the format for you as the first step of the installation.
 
if the disk already has
windows installed

you can simply convert
it to ntfs without formatting
and reinstalling the o.s.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen
 
To all

the hard drive has lost it's file allocation and the CD does not recognise
it as valid
and will not install to it.

But recovery consol does see it and will format it but I do not know what
FAT it will format to.

Thanks

Daniel
 
If the WinXP installation CD does not recognise your hard disk then it
either requires a proprietary driver or else it is defective. You should
download and run the diagnostic program that its manufacturer has on his web
site.
 
Sometimes the file allocation or system is corrupted and windows cannot see
it, the fact that
recovery consol sees it indicates that it is not necessarily a defective
disk.

I have had this happen before on my PC and all I had to do was format the
disk in dos
and reinstall windows, that Hard Drive is still working 5 years later.

cheers

Daniel
 
Listen to Pegasus; he knows what he is talking about.

The fact of the matter is hard drives can and do go bad. The only way to
know for sure is run a diagnostic. You can download what you need to
make a bootable diagnostic CD or floppy from the drive manufacturer's
Web site. You may even use HDAT2 to determine and repair bad sectors (if
that's the only issue):

http://www.hdat2.com/

What is the make and model of your hard drive?

Furtermore, you're not using Windows 98, so there is no need to use a
floppy with MS-DOS to fdisk the hard drive. The XP installation CD is
bootable (make sure you configure the PC to boot off the CD!) and
contains everything needed to format the hard drive.

For detailed directions for a Clean Install, see:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Good luck!
 
If the Recovery Console can see the disk then the Windows setup program
(the XP CD) will also see it and it will be able to format the drive.
As a matter of fact if the Setup program cannot see the disk then the
Recovery Console will also not be able to see it. There is absolutely
no need whatsoever to resort to DOS to format drives for Windows XP
installations!

John
 
there are a number of
reasons as to why the
disk becomes dysfunctional.

perhaps, there is a change
in the bios

perhaps, the drive connectors
have wobble loose

perhaps, the file system crashed

perhaps, the drive is no longer
reliable

so the question is if you can
actually get to a disk prompt
via recovery console.

however, if you have nothing
to loose then I would simply
follow the recommendations
by others and

simply stick the xp into
the drive and commence
an install of the o.s.

btw: don't forget to change
the bios settings so that the
machine will boot from the
cd drive and boot with the
xp cd.
--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen
 
Thanks

John John - MVP said:
If the Recovery Console can see the disk then the Windows setup program
(the XP CD) will also see it and it will be able to format the drive. As a
matter of fact if the Setup program cannot see the disk then the Recovery
Console will also not be able to see it. There is absolutely no need
whatsoever to resort to DOS to format drives for Windows XP installations!

John
Click to expand...
 
But in the end the question was....
"when using recovery console what do I type to format the C drive to the
NTFS file system"

I have now resolved the issue in another way and the disk is 100% okay.

cheers

Daniel
 
You type the following, where x: is the drive letter:

format x: /fs:ntfs

The help screens would have given you this information.
For help in the recovery console type HELP.
For help on any command type help Command-Name or Command-Name /?, for
example:

help format
format /?

John
 
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