How do you format your own computer?

Answer 1

Boot the computer with the XP CD in the drive and allow setup to begin. When you come to the screen where you select the drive partition you should see the drive listed with all the space listed as unpartitioned. If the drive was in use previously, you'll need to delete all the existing partitions. To do this you'll have to hit the 'D' key followed by the 'L' key. The screen instructions will be visible to guide the process.

Answer 2

The methods already described here using the Windows XP disk are good using the delete current partition option however if you intend to dispose of the computer or the hard drive you need a more secure method because your data is still recoverable by unscrupulous people.

On the black market In certain countries a second hand computer is more valuable than a brand new computer and for this very reason the best method of destruction is to take a very heavy hammer to the hard drive then casserole it for a couple hours! lol

However a more suitable software method can be found at download.com where much of the software is free ware, shareware and trial ware and I have already searched them for you see top link below "To Wipe the disk 100%"

However label the disk very carefully and lock it up somewhere secure with these programmes, particularly if you work in a BANK(worried manager look) because you will not recover the data once you hit return. The disk will be as blank as a new born baby!

I also use a file shredder programme which continually shreds free space, recycle bin, and temporary files where my private data would otherwise lurk even when you'd think it has been deleted so I stay on top of it on an ongoing basis and it makes my PC defragment faster and helps keeps the speed of the pc tip top, and I'm sure it keeps the virus attacks at bay too!

Always remember that when you empty the recycle bin the data is still not deleted the space is only made available for use and the data is intact and still recoverable even after it has been over written unless a shredder program is used on it.

The first time you do it it takes for ever but then it gets more reasonable with regular use. See "To Wipe the disk on the fly"

Answer 3

Personally I cheat Since I have 2 computers I just pull the drive that needs to be formated drop it in the other puter after setting the jumper to the slave position and then right click on the drive and hit format

Answer 4

You probably want to re-install your operating system. Get the distribution disk for the operating system. Put it in the optical drive. Reboot the computer. When it comes to the partition information, drop the existing partition, recreate the primary partition and select format (either quick format or extended).

Answer 5

firstly before u think about formatting make sure u have all ur driver disks. if u are using xp it normally reinstalls your drivers anyway but some dont so make sure u have them. to format put in ur o/s disk and boot from disk all the instructions are on there and u just follow it step by step. think carefully about fornatting as if you do a destructive format u will lose everything on there all your files etc you can do a non destruct format that will keep all your files but back them up anyway before u do it. another wat is restart in dos mode and type format C: then press y once it has formatted put your o/s disk in and boot from disk and reinstall your o/s

Answer 6

Did you mean formating partition(s) of Hard Drive? If yes, read next. If no, please add more detail.

Assuming you are running Windows, you can format all partition in your drive except:
- contain your Windows system files
- contain active swap file

You can format those partitions by booting to DOS
If they are FAT/FAT32, you can use included format utility. Other than that, you must use third party utility (some are freeware/opensource).

Answer 7

Make it simple & easy for yourself...just download & use this free utility :

Partition Logic is a free hard disk partitioning and data management tool.
It can create, delete, format, defragment, resize, and move partitions and modify their attributes.
It can copy entire hard disks from one to another.

http://partitionlogic.org.uk/

regards,
Philip T

Answer 8

basically by typing /format c: ..... however ya might wanna read some tech book on the subject and of your own PC before doing that.

Answer 9

start in dos mode and type format c:

Answer 10

it will format itsellf if ya spend enough time on this site.