Reformatting the harddrive

[forge hamu]

I am planning to reformat the harddrive and reinstall
everything. In reformatting the harddrive I was simply
going to go to the c:\ and type in format c: \s. After
restarting the system, I was planning to put the Windows
2000 cd into the drive and reinstall Windows 2000.

My question is am I going about this correctly. I am
concerned that reformatting with c: \s will not allow me
to access the cdrom drive to install Windows 2000.

My other question is, in reading some articles it states
that reformating using the format command is not as good
as fdisk...
I am a bit confused which way to go. Any help and or
correction in instruction including tips would be greatly
appreciated.

 

[Dave Patrick]

To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 CD-Rom or setup disks.
The set of four install disks can be created from your Win2k CD-rom; change
to the \bootdisk directory on the cd-rom and execute makeboot.exe (from dos)
or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the prompts.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

No, you can't format the C: drive in the manner you describe.

Simply boot from the Win2K installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and/or format the system partition as
part of the installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the
order of boot devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)


Bruce Chambers

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You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
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[Cayenne]

What is the command to get into the bios??? I can't
remember how I did it, and of course it's nowhere on
Microsoft's help...

any assistance greatly appreciated, as I'm also trying to
reformat and/or reinstall.

thanks
Cayenne

 

[Ted]

Most BIOSes can be accesed using the DEL key during the first phase of the
boot up ...
You should see the message Press DEL to go to BIOS/Setup...at that point
pres DEL...

Having said that check the User's Manual for your board.
Some boards have a different key for accesing the BIOS

Ted

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

The operating system is immaterial. Only you know what
motherboard and BIOS you have, so only you know the answer to your
question. ;-}

In the extremely unlikely event that your PC's manual doesn't
contain the needed information, try one or both of the following:

How do I access my computer's setup (BIOS)
http://www.iomega.com/support/documents/2157.html

Wim's BIOS Page
http://www.wimsbios.com/

Accessing Motherboard BIOS
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH