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How to do an FDISK with XP?

post #1 of 15
11/14/02 at 1:35pm
Thread Starter 
I am wanting to reformat my hard drive, i.e. clear everything off my hard drive and reinstall windows xp and my drivers that came with my 8886. Could someone please post me an easy step-by-step? Is it easy/difficult? 'preciate it.
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post #2 of 15
11/14/02 at 1:53pm

FDISK is old

Assuming that the CD you got with you laptop is a regular copy of win XP thats bootable. Or you bought your own copy of XP. First make sure in the BIOS you have the CD setup as a boot device, ie. in this order Floppy, CD, HD.Put the cd in the cdplayer, restart the comp, you will have to hit a key on the KB fast after you see the instructions on the bootup screen..forgot which key now. Anyway you will be taken to the XP blue setup screen. Follow the instructions. There you will be given the options to chose were to install XP, delete partitions, make new partitions and format in NTFS or FAT32.

Heres a link that will eaplain further\better
http://www.tweak3d.net/articles/xp-install/index.shtml

Regards
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post #3 of 15
11/14/02 at 5:59pm
Yes, just like Old_Buzzard said, it tells you on the screen how to create and delete partitions after booting to the Windows XP CD.

It will show you your hard drive as unpartitioned space, you can at that point install Windows on the unpartitioned space or create a partition. You just follow the keys it says to push to create a partition and type in either by percent or bytes the size of the partition you want. Once you've created a partition you'll see the leftover space still as "unpartitioned" You need to select the option to make it a partition also. Then you select the partition you want to load Windows on. Once Windows is loaded, open up "My Computer" and you will see the C: and D: drives, the C: should be where Windows is loaded and the D is the unused partition. Right click on the D: and select "format" and that will make it a usable drive.
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post #4 of 15
11/14/02 at 8:49pm
Thread Starter 
PC Torque, how much space (%) do I need for windows xp? and should I do a separate partition for windows? Is that how you usually do it? What about when I downloas music onto windows media player, is the music going to be stored on the windows partition? How is having two partitions going to affect storing files, am I gonna have to pick which (drive) partition to store them on?

I hope this isn't too many questions at once.
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post #5 of 15
11/14/02 at 8:57pm
Quote:
Originally posted by c_smith
PC Torque, how much space (%) do I need for windows xp? and should I do a separate partition for windows? Is that how you usually do it? What about when I downloas music onto windows media player, is the music going to be stored on the windows partition? How is having two partitions going to affect storing files, am I gonna have to pick which (drive) partition to store them on?

I hope this isn't too many questions at once.
What most do is put all their programs on C: and all of their saved files on D:. If C gets corrupted and they want to format, it doesn't affect D:.
I personally wouldn't put the OS on a drive partition under 10GB.
Also, if you're meaning you want to copy the actual Windows full CD to it's own drive, you can get by with a 600MB partition to hold it I believe. You can then not worry about needing the CD.
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post #6 of 15
11/14/02 at 10:19pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, I have changed the boot order to 1) cd-rom, 2)floppy, 3)hard drive. I got it to boot to the windows cd. Do I hit F6 when it asks for third party drivers? well, when it gets to the screen asking if i have a disk for the drivers, it only tries to read the floppy drive. What do I do about the drivers? Use my drivers cd that cam with my comp? If so, when? Thanks.
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post #7 of 15
11/14/02 at 10:24pm
Quote:
Originally posted by c_smith
Ok, I have changed the boot order to 1) cd-rom, 2)floppy, 3)hard drive. I got it to boot to the windows cd. Do I hit F6 when it asks for third party drivers? well, when it gets to the screen asking if i have a disk for the drivers, it only tries to read the floppy drive. What do I do about the drivers? Use my drivers cd that cam with my comp? If so, when? Thanks.
No, you're not installing 3rd party drivers. You install Windows as said above and when it's done and booted up you install the drivers from the CD.
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post #8 of 15
11/14/02 at 10:25pm
Thread Starter 
So when do I install the drivers on the cd-rom? Will I be prompted?
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post #9 of 15
11/15/02 at 1:45am
Thread Starter 
Ok. I have reformatted my hard drive using a 28Gb partition for windows xp and programs and have installed windows. I have also installed all the drivers and software. I do have one more issue to be resolved. How do I format and label the remaining space that I left free on my hard drive? I should have about a 10Gb space left for a second partition. I went to [my computer] and there is only one hard drive listed: [c:] - having the capacity I specified during partitioning. So, how do I format the remaining space on my hard drive and make it usable? Can someone please help me out, PC Torque, anyone?
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post #10 of 15
11/15/02 at 11:06am
Smith:... did you follow the link I gave you above?

When you were in the XP setup screen, you had the options like we spoke about to make partitions, well after you made your 28gb partition C:\ you had the option then to hit the "C" key and create a partition on the "unpartitioned" space left on C:\.....got it? Thus why you don't see it in "my comp". If you had done it correctly you would have seen D:\.

*Did you format using NTFS or FAT32? doesen't matter unless you are dual booting with and older OS and XP..and its not why you are having problems.

So you can do two things well....err...maybe three things. If you don't get you touchpad problem sorted out. I would start over again and reinstall XP "clean" Or you could boot using the XP Cd again and partition the unused space on C:\. Although you would have to "quit" the install of XP after, since is automated, and be quick about it...lol. Last use FDISK to partition the unused space on C:\. Also ...lol when in doubt "READ" you manual on the proper install order of the drivers for XP off the driver CD. Its important to install them in the proper order, starting with the chipset drivers and for the correct OS. The driver CD may contain folders for more than one OS.

PS the best way to learn this S*%t is to build your own desktop from parts

Regards
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post #11 of 15
11/15/02 at 1:42pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks a lot Old_Buzard. I think I'm going to just reformat again. This is all really good experience and practice for me anyway. It doesn't really take that long either. Yeah, your right about me not creating a partition on the other part of my hard drive. I was thinking that I would do that under my computer, but I understand now. Thanks again! Wish me luck!

Wait, I do have one more question. What's the difference in FAT32 and NTFS? The link you gave me said to do it in FAT, but when I chose this option it said that I wouldn't be able to access the files on my hard drive from MS-DOS. Should this be a concern? I do have some older MS-DOS games. Does this mean that with FAT32, I wouldn't be able to play these games or what? Which do you suggest? I know the link said that FAT is better, but I'm still confused.
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post #12 of 15
11/15/02 at 2:14pm
Thread Starter 
Ok, I did a little research on the net on FAT vs. NTFS, and I am gonna go with NTFS. Wish me luck!
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post #13 of 15
11/15/02 at 2:28pm
Quote:
Originally posted by c_smith
Ok, I did a little research on the net on FAT vs. NTFS, and I am gonna go with NTFS. Wish me luck!
Good choice
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post #14 of 15
12/3/02 at 3:54pm
As you probably read, you can only Access NTFS drives from and NT based Operating System, so you wont be able to see it from DOS......

There really is no point in FDisking your drive, just do a full format, FDISK is for partitioning the drive, and from the fact you are using it then it must already have a partiton.

NS
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post #15 of 15
12/3/02 at 6:13pm
Another option with partitioning just fyi is Partition Manager or a program of that nature. They are VERY cool and I used it to set partitions on my lappy and take partitions off of some other computers. They are pretty easy to use, too, just move a slider and reset and let it do some formatting and data moving. Just another option for those who are interested (but beware of demos because usually they are non-functional).

Habib
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