HARD Drive format

[Raj Khan]

Hi, I got a problem, that is I tried to install WIndows
2000 which made my computer slow (my Hard drive is 2GB
only & NTFS file system). After installing the WINDOWS
2000 I cannot re-start my computer to DOS mode. I hav the
short cuts but that doesnot work(it doesnot run properly).
I tried to format my HD from DOS shortcut but it says,
other program is using the files in the drive(Though I
closed all the files of C Drive).
When I try to re-install the WIndows 2000, it reinstalls
but I cannot format it (I want to format it because I had
lot of files left from WIndows 95 as I did not format it
in the first time). I tried to install DOS 6.22 but it
does not work too.
Can anyone tell me how can I format it? Thank you.

 

[philo]

Hi, I got a problem, that is I tried to install WIndows
2000 which made my computer slow (my Hard drive is 2GB
only & NTFS file system). After installing the WINDOWS
2000 I cannot re-start my computer to DOS mode. I hav the
short cuts but that doesnot work(it doesnot run properly).
I tried to format my HD from DOS shortcut but it says,
other program is using the files in the drive(Though I
closed all the files of C Drive).
When I try to re-install the WIndows 2000, it reinstalls
but I cannot format it (I want to format it because I had
lot of files left from WIndows 95 as I did not format it
in the first time). I tried to install DOS 6.22 but it
does not work too.
Can anyone tell me how can I format it? Thank you.

First off...there is *no* real mode dos in windows2000
it is not possible with NTFS

if you want to reinstall win2000 and format your drive first
during the installation you will be given the option to format your
drive *however* even if you reinstall, your machine will not
be any faster...win2000 requires considerably more RAM than win95

unless you have at least 196 megs of RAM
you may want to consider win98se instead
(you'd have to run fdisk to delete the non-dos partition)

 

[Paul Hopwood]

Hi, I got a problem, that is I tried to install WIndows
2000 which made my computer slow (my Hard drive is 2GB
only & NTFS file system). After installing the WINDOWS
2000 I cannot re-start my computer to DOS mode. I hav the
short cuts but that doesnot work(it doesnot run properly).
I tried to format my HD from DOS shortcut but it says,
other program is using the files in the drive(Though I
closed all the files of C Drive).

If you boot to a command prompt you're still loading Windows 2000,
which will be using files on the drive, preventing you from formatting
the drive on which it is installed.

If you previously used dual-boot to obtain a command prompt from an
old version of MS-DOS or Windows this will also fail because you've
formatted the drive to NTFS, which is only supported by Windows NT,
2000, XP and 2003.

When I try to re-install the WIndows 2000, it reinstalls
but I cannot format it (I want to format it because I had
lot of files left from WIndows 95 as I did not format it
in the first time). I tried to install DOS 6.22 but it
does not work too.

Can anyone tell me how can I format it? Thank you.

You should be able to delete the partition and re-format it from
Windows 2000 Setup if you boot from the CD or use the setup floppies
provided by Microsoft.

Alternatively you can boot from a bootable floppy disk and run FDISK
to remove the NTFS partition. If you want to re-format with NTFS you
can then do so from within Windows 2000 setup. If you wish to format
it back to FAT you can create a new FAT partition, again using FDISK,
re-boot and use FORMAT to format the partition.

--

iv< Paul >iv<

[ Mail: (e-mail address removed) ]
[ WWW: http://www.hopwood.org.uk/ ]

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

Hi, I got a problem, that is I tried to install WIndows
2000 which made my computer slow (my Hard drive is 2GB
only & NTFS file system). After installing the WINDOWS
2000 I cannot re-start my computer to DOS mode. I hav the
short cuts but that doesnot work(it doesnot run properly).
I tried to format my HD from DOS shortcut but it says,
other program is using the files in the drive(Though I
closed all the files of C Drive).
When I try to re-install the WIndows 2000, it reinstalls
but I cannot format it (I want to format it because I had
lot of files left from WIndows 95 as I did not format it
in the first time). I tried to install DOS 6.22 but it
does not work too.
Can anyone tell me how can I format it? Thank you.

Well, IMO you've thoroughly hosed your system.

I don't understand what you mean by "I want to format it because I had lot
of files left from WIndows 95 as I did not format it in the first time." Does
this mean you want to eliminate W95 files, so that you will have more space?
If so, good idea - 2GB is _small_ for W2K.

You say you tried to install DOS 6.22, but it didn't work. Try this instead:
Boot into DOS from a boot diskette ***; you will be in A:\. Start fdisk from
that prompt (you may have to switch to another diskette.) Using fdisk, delete
all partitions. Exit fdisk, shut down, remove the DOS boot diskette, put the
W2K CD in the CD Rom drive and restart your computer. It should boot from the
CD, and the W2K install procedure should start from there, etc.

*** The DOS 6.22 install diskette should take you to the Command prompt --
IIRC, you press F3 at the first screen - but read the options at the bottom
of the screen. You should find fdisk on that boot diskette, too. At A:\ enter


dir fd*

and you should see fdisk displayed. If so, enter

fdisk

and go.


HTH&GL

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----


Well, IMO you've thoroughly hosed your system.

I don't understand what you mean by "I want to format it because I had lot
of files left from WIndows 95 as I did not format it in the first time." Does
this mean you want to eliminate W95 files, so that you will have more space?
If so, good idea - 2GB is _small_ for W2K.

You say you tried to install DOS 6.22, but it didn't work. Try this instead:
Boot into DOS from a boot diskette ***; you will be in A:\. Start fdisk from
that prompt (you may have to switch to another diskette.) Using fdisk, delete
all partitions. Exit fdisk, shut down, remove the DOS boot diskette, put the
W2K CD in the CD Rom drive and restart your computer. It should boot from the
CD, and the W2K install procedure should start from there, etc.

*** The DOS 6.22 install diskette should take you to the Command prompt --
IIRC, you press F3 at the first screen - but read the options at the bottom
of the screen. You should find fdisk on that boot diskette, too. At A:\ enter


dir fd*

and you should see fdisk displayed. If so, enter

fdisk

and go.


HTH&GL


--
Wolf Kirchmeir, Blind River ON Canada
"Nature does not deal in rewards or punishments, but only in consequences."
(Robert Ingersoll)



.

 

[raj]

-----Original Message-----


Well, IMO you've thoroughly hosed your system.

I don't understand what you mean by "I want to format it because I had lot
of files left from WIndows 95 as I did not format it in the first time." Does
this mean you want to eliminate W95 files, so that you will have more space?
If so, good idea - 2GB is _small_ for W2K.

You say you tried to install DOS 6.22, but it didn't work. Try this instead:
Boot into DOS from a boot diskette ***; you will be in A:\. Start fdisk from
that prompt (you may have to switch to another diskette.) Using fdisk, delete
all partitions. Exit fdisk, shut down, remove the DOS boot diskette, put the
W2K CD in the CD Rom drive and restart your computer. It should boot from the
CD, and the W2K install procedure should start from there, etc.

*** The DOS 6.22 install diskette should take you to the Command prompt --
IIRC, you press F3 at the first screen - but read the options at the bottom
of the screen. You should find fdisk on that boot diskette, too. At A:\ enter


dir fd*

and you should see fdisk displayed. If so, enter

fdisk

and go.


HTH&GL


--
Wolf Kirchmeir, Blind River ON Canada
"Nature does not deal in rewards or punishments, but only in consequences."
(Robert Ingersoll)

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. Your assumption were correct in
all cases.
I will try that tonight. If I fail I will notify you.
But when I tried to boot from floppy once....it said NTLDR
missing, I entered that file then it said it needs
NTDETECT.COM but after entering the NTDLR there was no
space left for the .COM file and I Entered it into another
floppy as a result it said, "System cannot read the
Device" then computer dies.
I will try it once more time but if you don't mind to tell
what files should be in the 1st floppy to boot & make it
read the "Device".
Thank You very much for giving me time.
(By the way your Robert Ingersoll statement is true, I
liked it)
Regards
Raj
--------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
Thank you for your reply. Your assumption were correct in
all cases.
I will try that tonight. If I fail I will notify you.
But when I tried to boot from floppy once....it said NTLDR
missing, I entered that file then it said it needs
NTDETECT.COM but after entering the NTDLR there was no
space left for the .COM file and I Entered it into another
floppy as a result it said, "System cannot read the
Device" then computer dies.
I will try it once more time but if you don't mind to tell
what files should be in the 1st floppy to boot & make it
read the "Device".
Thank You very much for giving me time.
(By the way your Robert Ingersoll statement is true, I
liked it)
Regards
Raj