Could somebody please walk me through the steps of reformatting Hard drive C?

Question

I have everything backed up and am ready to go.

Also, I have Windows XP running on hard drive D. Would that in itself slow my puter down?

Answer 1

If Windows is running on drive D:, then you can reformat the C: drive by going to Start --> Run and typing diskmgmt.msc

Then from the Disk Management window, right-click the C: drive and choose "Format"

Answer 2

"I have everything backed up and am ready to go. "
Good. Everything after that is easy.

"Also, I have Windows XP running on hard drive D. Would that in itself slow my puter down?"
No. It wouldn't, although a _very_ minority of programs that is made so stupidly might not work well (a really stupid bug that could only appear if the program is made by a really plain stupid programer).

To reformat you'll have to make sure you have these:
- Windows Installation CD
- A CD filled with installers of various security programs of your choice (1 Firewall, 1 Antivirus, and several antispyware) and an alternative browser (Mozilla Firefox or Opera or IE7 or your preferred alternative browser that is not IE6), if there is space left you could use the CD you use for data backup for this purpose
- A printout of this instruction, or memorize this lengthy instruction and risk you'll left something up

And you're gonna be doing the following
- Make sure any network cable and modems are unplugged (this is to isolate the computer, minimizing possibility of early worm infection), if it's wireless modem, turn off the modem, if you're using a wireless network card pull out the card, if its internal wireless modem, give up on this one.
- Make the computer's boot order into booting the CD first, then the computer. This is done in BIOS setting. Some computer might be left with its boot setup already in CD first. How to do this: Details vary, but generally pressing delete multiple times when you've just turned on the computer will bring you to the BIOS setting.
- Insert the OS installation CD
- Restart
- If prompted whether you want to boot from CD, say yes.
- Follow the instructions to reformat the harddisk
- Follow the instructions to reinstall the OS.
- When finished installing, the computer would restart.
- After the restart, XP would start setting up everything, Product Key, User Names, Connection, Product Registrations, etc.
- After you finished setting things up, it's time to bolster the security of the computer.
- Install the Firewall first, before any other things.
- Install drivers, for ones that you have the CD
- Second install the antivirus and antispywares.
- Third Install the alternative browser
- Plug in the network cables or modem or network card you used for internet
- Update the antivirus and antispywares.
- Do a windows update
- Install drivers for ones that you have to download the driver first.
- (optional) Return the BIOS order to harddisk first.
- Your computer is installed and secured.

Answer 3

No it wouldnt slow your pc down. But you should instal Windows Xp on C drive. Im assuming you have a Windows Xp cdrom so here:

STEP 1: Insert your Windows XP installation disc into your CD drive (Home or Pro it does not matter).

STEP 2: Restart your computer. On the first screen that comes up as your computer starts it should say at the bottom a key that you can press to change the Boot Sequence (may also be called Boot Device or Boot Order), press whatever key is specified. If your computer does not give you the option to change the boot sequence directly from the startup screen you will need to enter your BIOS Setup by pressing whichever key your computer specifies for Setup, and then from the BIOS setup you need to change your boot order so that the CD drive is before Hard Disks. If all you see right when your computer starts up is a splash screen with the computer manufactuer's name press the 'Esc' key to display which keys to press for boot sequence or BIOS setup.

STEP 3: Now as you computer boots a little more it will say “Press any key to boot from CD..” press a key to do so.

STEP 4: The CD will load up a blue screen and then spend a while loading files it needs. When it is finished it will list a few options mainly “Press ENTER to set up Windows XP,” press Enter or Return.

STEP 5: Now you will be at a screen to select where to install Windows to, this is where you can delete old partitions and format drives. The box in the bottom half of the screen shows all your drives and the partitions that exist on them. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to highlight your “C:” partition and press the 'D' key (if all that shows up is “Unpartitioned space” and you have no C: or D: partitions skip this step). On the next screen press the 'L' key to finalize deleting the partition.

STEP 6: Now you are back on the screen to choose where to install Windows. The box on the lower half of the screen should no longer show a partition but simply have an entry “Unpartitioned space xxxxxMB.” Select this with the arrow keys and press the 'C' key to create a partition on the drive. The next screen tells you the minimum and maximum sizes the partition can be and lets you pick the size. The default size is the maximum, but double check that the number entered is the maximum and hit enter.

STEP 7: Now you will again be back at the choose where to install Windows screen only this time you will have a partition that looks something like this “C: Partition1 [New (Raw)] xxxxxxMB.” Highlight this entry and press enter.

STEP 8: The next screen lets you choose which filesystem to format the drive with. If your computer will be sharing files over a network with a Windows ME, 98, or 95 computer select “FAT32” otherwise choose NTFS as it is faster and more secure. If the drive is brand new and has never been used before then use one of the options that ends in “(Quick)” otherwise choose one of the lower down options. Use the arrow keys to select the proper one and press Enter or Return. STEP

Step 9: From here you are all set and the installation of Windows will proceed starting with a format of your drive. This will take a while (over half an hour) so you can go take a little break.

Answer 4

Doesn't matter which drive you are using. You can reformat from the D to the C just by going to start-run and typing in format c:. Before you do that you might want to ask a tech about your problem. Do NOT boot to a floppy and format as you may only have one drive that is partitioned and it is too easy to kill your partitions unless you know what you are doing.

Answer 5

If data on your hard disk is corrupted it is advisable to format the hard disk and reinstall the operating system (usually Windows XP). If a new hard disk is used, you may prefer to partition the hard disk into 2 or more drive. The operating system is installed on the first drive and a backup of the data is stored on the second drive More details at http://fixit.in/format.html

Answer 6

Chances are you may need more help than just reformatting your drive. Here is a website that gives help with all kinds of reinstall / reformat questions.

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/

And no, installing WindowsXP on D: should not slow your computer down.