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Operating systems and disk formatting . . .

I recently acquired a new laptop which still had all the crap on it from the previous user. I proceeded to install windows XP pro, in which I thought that it reformatted the drive and got rid of the old OS. Unfortunately, it doesn't. The whole other system in its entirety still exists. Is there any way I can completely wipe the drive and start over? (This computer will be used for Final Scratch 1.1.3) I'm desparate at this point, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

When you put in the CD for WinXP pro, it will (eventually) ask you how you want it installed - one of the options will be to format the drive. Choose that, then it will go back to that screen. Then install a fresh copy.

Re: Operating systems and disk formatting . . .

quote:

Originally posted by opianstate I recently acquired a new laptop which still had all the crap on it from the previous user. I proceeded to install windows XP pro, in which I thought that it reformatted the drive and got rid of the old OS. Unfortunately, it doesn't. The whole other system in its entirety still exists. Is there any way I can completely wipe the drive and start over? (This computer will be used for Final Scratch 1.1.3) I'm desparate at this point, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hey Opianstate, i recommend you fdisk the partition, to do this you will have to boot from a boot disc and get to the c:\ without loading windows XP, fdisk is a DOS Utility that you can create a partition and delete old ones. Laptop's are a little more tricker to install OS on because some laptops cant have the cdrom and floppy in the same time, and is tricky when trying to boot from windows boot discs.

Make sure you have FDISK.exe and Format.exe on floppy disk otherwise you cannot format your hard disk later. so create a partiton and boot the 6 Windows XP boot disks which you can download from Microsoft. make sure your CDROM is detected. there is no need to format the partiton windows will do this for you, either create a fat32 or NTFS file system id stick with fat32 if i were you, once you have everything installed just download the drivers from the net and final scratch and volla. !!

^^^

Yep fdisk ensures you have a clean HD.

I use a Win ME bootdisk with CDROM support, but you'd have to be able to use floppy and CDROM at the same time.

You can also try to find out whether you can boot from the XP cd.

Good luck!

Re: Re: Operating systems and disk formatting . . .

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RozzeR id stick with fat32 if i were you

Can you explain why you'd go with fat32 over NTFS? I thought NTFS is better. [b1 wanders off to do some fat32 v NTFS comparison research as he's about to upgrade his OS]

Re: Re: Re: Operating systems and disk formatting . . .

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Originally posted by b1_ Can you explain why you'd go with fat32 over NTFS? I thought NTFS is better. [b1 wanders off to do some fat32 v NTFS comparison research as he's about to upgrade his OS]

fat32 has better copmpression ratio that ntfs, ntfs is probabily more suitable for networks.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Operating systems and disk formatting . . .

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RozzeR fat32 has better copmpression ratio that ntfs, ntfs is probabily more suitable for networks.

ntfs is much much more economical that fat32.

like other people suggested - best way is to just boot up with xp cd and delete the partitions from there, fdisk takes too long.

FAT 32 is better suited for compatability. If you are going to be working with other operating systems or even pre 2000 windows you will want to use FAT 32. Otherwise NTFS is a better option.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Operating systems and disk formatting . . .

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Originally posted by kiddiejon ntfs is much much more economical that fat32. like other people suggested - best way is to just boot up with xp cd and delete the partitions from there, fdisk takes too long.

you cant boot from the cd rom from a laptop as you have to install the ASPI Drivers and the MSCDEX , once you format c: or fidisk you loose everything.,

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Operating systems and disk formatting . . .

quote:

Originally posted by kiddiejon ntfs is much much more economical that fat32. like other people suggested - best way is to just boot up with xp cd and delete the partitions from there, fdisk takes too long.

FDISK takes too long ???

I've used FDISK more than once and it never seemed to take very long...

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Operating systems and disk formatting . . .

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RozzeR you cant boot from the cd rom from a laptop as you have to install the ASPI Drivers and the MSCDEX , once you format c: or fidisk you loose everything.,

Actually, you can boot from CD from a laptop... I've done it lots of times... you just need to read the user's manual to find out how... for Toshiba laptops, you just hold down the "C" key when you reboot until the CD starts spinning.

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