Reformatting hardrive...
 

Hey, this is the first time I have tried to reformat... can I have some help? I tried formatting C with cmd, but it said that it "couldnt lock the drive", ect. Can you guys refer me to some easy methods/programs that I can use to reformat?

Thanks :)

you will need to boot off a disk and format it that way if you are going to be reformating your system drive.

We did: And in dos, I tried the command "Format C:" (which works in CMD), and then tried "COMMAND /?" and only got a list of random commands that didnt help us at all.

yea but are you using a format program located on the disk rather then on the target drive.

...no, and again: This is the first time I have done this.

What is a good formatting program? Is the dos command to access it (if it was called format.exe) "A:/format.exe"?

If you have your windows CD, you can just put it in, and it will ask you to format when you try and install.

before formating you need to find out what you are formating for, as idiot said use the distribution CD of the OS you plan to install on that system. DOS Format off a disk only does FAT32 or FAT16 I think.

To make sure you obliterate enough data from the hard disk that a new installation is forced to rebuild a partition table from scratch, get any Linux installation CD-ROM, boot from it, choose the option that lets you go into a shell, and type:

code:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=1M count=16

Then let the new OS installation process of whatever OS you plan to use recommend its own filesystem.

go to bootdisk.com and you can get the appropriate disk for whatever OS you are running. If your HDD is set up for NTFS, a standard DOS disk won't help much.

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Type "fdisk" without the quotes and take a peek at your partition table(s) to see what you're dealing with.

If reinstalling XP off of a CD, be advised you have the option of formatting/partitioning during the begining of the install.

Yea, I got it solved. thanks.

...Turns out this disk with windows XP home edition distributed by dell doesnt have the format hardrive option.

Is there any program I can get that will partition the drives, along with formatting the HD?

THanks.

www.bootdisk.com

get the WinME OEM Bootdisk

Boot up with it, run FDISK and delete the partitions.

Run Windows setup, and poof!

1: Why cant I just put format.com on a bootable disk, and just format C:, and reinstall windows with the disk? I dont know where format.com is on the HD, and I tried running it in dos, and it said "This program cannot be run in DOS"

2: Which one of these do I get:http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm ?


Edit:
I DO have the XP startup disk, BUT: For some reason It wont do a clean install. It's leaving the files on the HD.

So, My problem is:

When I put "Format.com" on the Disk, it wont work in DOS.

Do you know why it does this? I need help quick.

You need format.exe and fdisk.exe for partitioning.

Creating a bootable DOS floppy in XP should place format.exe on the disk for you.

http://www.petri.co.il/create_dos_bo...windows_xp.htm

Get hold of something called Hiren's Boot Disk (see Google). Burn the ISO, then go into the Bios and set your machine to boot from CD.

Use Partition Magic to format which ever partitions you want. There are a heap of other disk utilities on there as well, more than you will ever need.

Use this to format whichever partitions you want.

I used Norton Ghost (from the same disk) and use Partition Magic to format the System and Program partitions before putting the images back.

UJ

ROFL, why would he need to do a DoD wipe nearly 2.5 times? That's overkill, plus I dont think he'd be familiar with linux if he cant format his own HDD to put Windows on.

XP home Dell edition for some reason isnt putting Format.exe or fdisk.exe on the floppy disk when I format it to run in DOS.

EidT:
Btw, I'm doing this for a friend. I dont own a dell, and sure as hell dont use Home edition.

edit edit:

Would it work if someone posted the format.COM file from a WORKING bootable, windows XP home Edition bootable disk?

Judging from your eagerness, the friendship must be romantic in nature... :p

I don't know much about Dells but some IBM PCs come with a hidden partition on the hard disk containing recovery data. The "Windows" CD they provide will only install Windows if you boot into this special partition from BIOS.

If your CD is an OEM disk provided by Dell, you might have to do something along the same vein.

Another option is to install from a pristine Windows XP CD instead of the OEM one.

We dont have a legitimate (sp) windows XP disk. I HAD a windows xp Pro cd, but no cd key, ect. Also, Windows XP Pro ranges from around 150 to 200 now, and I dont want to blow 200 bucks on this, when I just need to reformat.

Edit:
Also, I'm not going to repartition my drives or anything. Just deleting the data on them.

I'll make a copy of a boot disk on XP Pro and PM you the link. Just give me about 30 minutes so I can find a floppy then upload and stuff.

[edit]
Wow, this shows how long it's been since I've messed with the bootable DOS floppies.. XP Pro doesn't even put the files needed and it really is Format.com (tried the 98 SE boot disk from bootdisk.com). :x

My sister bought an HP, and they did the same.

So WHat can I do? It's not putting those files on my boot disk either, and I desperately need them.

I have to leave in 20 minutes, and in that time, I need to still reformat, and then reinstall windows (or start the sequence). When I searched the hardrive for format.COM I found a file that said it would work in DOS, put it on the disk, and then rebooted with the disk, and I got a DoS error when typing "FORMAT" in the dos window.

Edit:
I might have an hour left.

Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

use the xp pro disk to format, just boot off the disk and use the repair mode. You will have all the tools needed to format the system. after you finish formatting then you can remove the xp pro cd and install the oem cd and bootup.

Heh, I seriously just tried that (I went to a friends and picked up the disk), and it wouldnt go to the screen asking to format. It went straight to the blue install screen.

That's expected. Wait a little bit and it'll give you the option to go into Repair mode (by pressing R, I believe).

What do I do when I get to the repair screen?

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repa...very%20Console

That probably explains it better than I can.

What is FAT32? I dont want to repartition the drives.

Can I just do "Format C:"?

FAT32 is a file system, as is NTFS. If you're installing XP, go with NTFS.

What does it do?

It's like a big table on the drive telling the operating system where data is stored.

Why cant I just do Format C:? Also: Ntfs is on the XP disk, correct?

Yes, you can just do a 'Format C:'. It'll just use the file system that was previously used.

Umm.. yeah.. it's on the disk per se. NTFS is one of the file systems XP can use, of course it'd be an option on the disk.

ok, i'll try it

to format a drive you can't have *any* programs running on the drive as pointed out or for it to be the boot drive.

FAT12/FAT16/FAT32/NTFS/etc is just a way of storing/accessing the files on the hard drive with different ways for better file security, speed, and so on.

if you've got a valid boot disk then you should be able to do format c:\ as long as you have booted from that disk. as long as the disk has format.com on the disk then it should be running

-daz

Yea, it worked. I formatted, and reinstalled windows. Thanks for your help.

Format is deprecated. Use Part.