New Year Hard Drive Cleanup

[Goronae]

Ok, so I want to "start over" with my old 80gb hard drive. Its become gumed up with so much stuff I have no idea what to do. I've copied all my important files onto another computer, and have the XP Pro install disk standing by. How do I delete all the files on my hard drive and start over, and if this is not possible what is the best solution?

[dorimon81]

Format the drive.

[Goronae]

Directions on how to do that. Will that just reinstall windows or delete all the files?

[mrgreenjeans]

Start your computer with the XP install disk in the cd-ROM, and set to boot off the disk. When the XP install starts up it'll ask whether to format the disk or not. Choose yes and do a full format, not 'quick'. It'll format the disk then install XP. Make sure you've got current copies of the latest drivers for all hardware handy so when prompted you can install the latest, not necessarily those that came with the mobo, for instance. That will give you a cleaner install of the hardware. There are computer pundits who will recommend doing a defrag after each driver install so that all operating files are neatly arranged and organized optimally on the hardrive. (I did.)
Have fun.

[13rian]

i wished sombody said "nope, not possible. u'll have to buy a new hard drive =("
>=D

[wannaoc]

Not possible, you need to buy that 59.99 120gig Maxtor at CC listed in Cyber Deals. :D

[mrgreenjeans]

shoot, just go ahead and scramble for some Raptors, and a Promise controller if need be. if you're gonna do it, do it right!

[tom10167]

I run a junkyard, just mail me your old busted hard drive. Just make sure it's in an electrostatic bag with tons of padding, insured and marked "Fragile." Thanks.

[Supchaka]

I have a habit of deleting and recreating the partitions during setup even if I plan to use the same size. It forces the issue of formatting nonetheless.

[Loud]

I've heard of an alternative to reformatting, at least with Win 2K and XP - System Restore. If you restore to a checkpoint in the distant past, it seems to clean up a bunch of the "muck and mire" that accumulates.

Of course, re-formatting is sure fire. :D

[mrgreenjeans]

System restore only loads a saved copy of the registry and has nowhere near the results obtained from a complete reformat and install. system Restore is good for saving a back up of the registry prior to installing or upgrading software/hardware and then can be used to "restore" the machine to earlier settings in case of conflict or failure.

[Breadfan]

Yes, simply reformat the drive, thats one of the first steps in the WinXP installation. First you'll have to delete the old "partition" which you'll see labeled in the installation for WinXP. It'll ask you about 3 times if you are sure. :)

Also, format NTFS, and do not do the quick format, take the extra time to do the standard "Format this drive using NTFS"