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Thread: Formatting HD

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    Formatting HD

    Hi everyone,
    I need to format my HD because its nearly full and has loads of stuff on it i dont need anymore.
    I've not done this before so im not sure what im doing.
    Also when i bought my PC it had a free upgrade to vista when it was released, if i format will it go back to XP and will i be able to go back to vista?

    thanks in advance

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    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Re: Formatting HD

    Formatting a Hard drive in practice means writing (or overwriting) the file system with another - in the simplest form it overwrites the ointers, more complex formats do other things.

    In practice this means that any operating system thinks that all the drive is available, but the process of formatting also deletes the pointers to the existing operating system - which has to bereloaded. (This is one eason why having a separate partition for OS and data is a good idea - you can reformat either without affecting the other.)

    How did your upgarde arrive? If it is on a CD/DVD then just reload the OS. If it was pre-installed, you need to proceed carefully. There may be an option to creat a rescue CD/DVD from the operating system or a utility to do that. There may be a hidden partition (that wouldn't be affected by a normal re-format) that contains an image of the original disk. Again there should be a utility to recreate that image. You need to read the documentation that came with the computer and/or refer to the mfrs web pages/support system.

    Alternatively you can buy a new CD (retail) and reinstall from that - but obviously that will involve expense.
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    Re: Formatting HD

    Thanks for the reply,
    I was sent 2 CD's from dell, the first one prepares the system for the upgrade and the second upgrades the OS from XP to Vista.
    The way i was going to do this was a master reset, is this the correct way of doing it?

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    Re: Formatting HD

    Do you really need to format?

    Would some judicious use of 'Uninstall' and 'Recycle Bin' not achieve the desired effect?

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    Re: Formatting HD

    Possibly, but ive had this computer for about 3 years and its starting to slow down. Also theres alot of files on it and i dont know what theyre for but i dont want to delete them incase theyre important. i think a format will get rid of everything i dont need, speed the PC back up and allow me to start again

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    Re: Formatting HD

    Quote Originally Posted by String3R View Post
    Possibly, but ive had this computer for about 3 years and its starting to slow down. Also theres alot of files on it and i dont know what theyre for but i dont want to delete them incase theyre important. i think a format will get rid of everything i dont need, speed the PC back up and allow me to start again

    My bold. Does this concern you? If you format then those files ae gone anyways (unless you have backups, in which case it's moot point)

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    Re: Formatting HD

    Hmm to format or not to format. I'd try the upgrade cd first, make sure your PC is set to boot from CD and see if that will install. On the Vista setup you can say which drives to format.

    Make sure EVERY file you have that cannot be made easily again (eg word documents, pictures, Internet favourites, music etc) are backed up onto a external hard disk or CD.

    I would also if you can partition your hard drive if you haven't already done so.

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