Fdisk.exe And Format.com?

[ronrontx]

Let me begin by thanking in advance for taking the time to reply.
-system= aptiva 2171, 256ram/100mhz; 13gb hdd, current OS/W98....cable internet connection...going to be 2nd system for family in home.
-making upgrades to maximize operation at little/no cost....trying to save money to purchase new system in month/or so...
-i have upgraded ram to 256. IT Guys in my office will load XP-Pro and Office for me...I will see if they have WIN2000...at recc of some of you all...
-do you recommend dual partitioning...maybe (2GB)-master for OS and remainder for Data+Programs on a HDD this size ?
-? do I have to label each drive what it currently is labeled? (for example) floppy = A, hard disk = C, and my CD = G...what happended to B, D, and E? where do I look to see? wouldn't my second partition be labeled as one of those?
-also, I will be doing a clean install of new OS and it's been recommended to do wiping out of hard-drive....I have a boot disk...made from my current WIN98...
-it's been suggested I execute the FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.com procedures to accomplish all this...does that sound about right, I have fairly detailed instructions...any other suggestions...really want to clean up HDD and get maximum efficiency for this old system. Thank You.

 

[Lostman]

1. insert floppy
2. boot computer
3. select the "command prompt" option on the list that pops up. You don't need CD rom support just yet.
4. once you get a prompt, hit A: (floppy drive)
5. type fdisk
6. if it asks to support large disks, press "Y". (doesn't really matter for this though)
7. Press "4" I think from the menu. You want to display your current partitions. What your looking for is if you have 1 or more than 1 partition on this hard drive. Also see what % of the drive it's taking up. You would be suprised the stupid partitions people make.
8. If it's only one partition then exit out (esc key I think) back to the DOS prompt.
9. type format C:/u
10. wait for it to finish
11. install your OS.


I suggest not putting more than 1 partition on this drive. 13 gig is not a lot of space when your playing with XP or Win2k with the service pack(s) and all the updates. Plus, what do you hope to gain from 2 partitions? With such a small drive it would not be benificial to run more than 1 OS.

I also suggest that unless you know what your doing, don't change drive lables. It may look "cool" to you, but everytime you install a proggy you'll have to change the default location that it wants to install to. I don't know why your OS isn't using drive letters D & E though. B is generally used for a second floppy I believe. Olden days type stuff.


Just my opinion though.

 

[dethangel]

Originally posted by ronrontx
-i have upgraded ram to 256. IT Guys in my office will load XP-Pro and Office for me...I will see if they have WIN2000...at recc of some of you all...


definaltely go with 2k, xp is too much of a system hog for that computer


-do you recommend dual partitioning...maybe (2GB)-master for OS and remainder for Data+Programs on a HDD this size ?


i would go with at least 3-4GB for the OS just to be safe


-? do I have to label each drive what it currently is labeled? (for example) floppy = A, hard disk = C, and my CD = G...what happended to B, D, and E? where do I look to see? wouldn't my second partition be labeled as one of those?

floppy always=A, always has, always will, this is from the rules set down by IBM, 1st floppy=A 2nd floppy=B 1st HDD=C, after that it is up to you i usually go with

floppy=A
HDD #1=C
CD-ROM #1=D
CD-ROM #2=E
CD-ROM #3 OR HDD #2=F
HDD # 2 or 3=G

-also, I will be doing a clean install of new OS and it's been recommended to do wiping out of hard-drive....I have a boot disk...made from my current WIN98...

ask the people in the IT dept to do the install for you, if they do, you wont need a boot disk, just tell them to do a clean install

OR

get a copy of Wipe-It and format it yourself, then have them install the new OS

-it's been suggested I execute the FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.com procedures to accomplish all this...does that sound about right, I have fairly detailed instructions...any other suggestions...really want to clean up HDD and get maximum efficiency for this old system. Thank You.

like i said, i would just either do a clean install or use wipe-it, either way you will have a totally clean, new install

definatley go with win 2k and partition your hdd so as to have the OS in one partition and your data (games, software, other files) in the other and that is simply because if you ever have a problem with your OS (a virus or a major, irreparable crash) you wont lose all your data, you can just do a clean install over the crahsed OS