How To Fdisk and Format Drives....lengthy post

Here are instructions for three different methods of
preparing harddrives for data....for W9X and ME. XP can be done with the same steps using a W98SE bootdisk if you prefer to use FAT32 instead of NTSF, but change the bios after formatting to boot the cdrom drive, put the cd into the drive and reboot the computer. On screen instructions will lead
the way then.


TO FDISK AND FORMAT A NEW BOOT HARDDRIVE:

Have your older version windows installation disks handy if your Windows is an upgrade because you will need proof during the installation that you are eligible for the upgrade and have your product key code (ID) # handy so you can enter that information also during the installation. If you still have your old harddrive installed at this point, and need the ID number, go to RUN type REGEDIT and click the plus mark in front of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then SOFTWARE then MICROSOFT then WINDOWS and now click Current Version...scroll until you find the Product ID number (you will need this for W95) and the Product Code Key (you will need this number for ALL later versions of windows). Use a magic marker and write the number you need either on the cd itself or on the boot disk so that it will always be available. This Code/Key is not available in the Registry for XP.

If your old harddrive is still available, Save to disk (floppy, zip drive, or cd if you have a cdrw) all files that you want to be able to restore later on. The CONTENTS of your Favorites folder (not the folder itself), email messages, address book (only the .wab and .wa~ files), data you have personally created, zip downloads so you don't have to hunt for them again, mp3 files you may have downloaded, etc. Go through your C: drive folder by folder in Explorer to make sure you don't forget anything. Any programs you have installation disks don't worry about because you will have to reinstall them again anyhow. Make sure you have the correct info in Dial Up Networking for your ISP icon written down somewhere so you can get back on the net, too.

Now... The instructions below include the FDISK instructions to do that before you can format the drive or drives....if you only have your C: drive and you want to keep it that way, you'll be fine. Formatting the drive and how long it takes to do it will depend on the size of your harddrive itself. Installation of Windows will take about 30-40 minutes.

Have your hardware installation disks handy for anything that windows doesn't have drivers for and can't install for you...so go into Device Manager and click the plus mark in front of your hardware to get the manufacturer and model numbers of what you have. Then go to

http://driver.softlookup.com or

http://www.winguides.com/drivers or

http://www.amaxit.com/driverupdate.htm or

http://www.pcdrivers.com/index.htm or

http://www.drivershq.com/main.html and log in using 'drivers' as the username and 'all' as the password...look alphabetically for your manufacturers or your part/model numbers and then download the newest drivers for your hardware ahead of time. Burn these to cd or save to other media or harddrives also.

The first thing you have to do is to change the jumper for the harddrive to Master with Slave if your cdrom or another harddrive is attached to the same cable....otherwise jumper it for Master or Single (Western Digital drives are unique in that they use NO jumper for the Master/Single posititon and only get jumpered for the Master with Slave or the Slave
position...these drives come prejumpered as Master already, meaning NO jumpers are required so they have them offset on the pins; they only give you the jumpers in case you need them). Once all connectors and cables are securely attached (the large gray cable has to have the red/black line down the side attached to the number 1 pin on both the motherboard and on the back of the harddrive and the newer 80-wire cables are color coded and must be connected properly....the blue end goes on the motherboard, the black end goes to the Master device, and the grey middle connector goes to the Slave device if there is one). Then boot up the computer and press whatever key you need to in order to get into your Bios SETUP
(usually the DEL key). Once there, use the keyboard arrow keys to get to the auto hdd detection program and press Enter and it will run automatically.... press Y for yes if the size of the drive is seen correctly and then press Y for all other drive information for the other IDE controllers even though
they will say zeros (you may not get that particular window for choices on newer bioses so if the harddrive and cdrom are showing on those motherboard bioses, you're fine). Once that is finished, use the ESC key to leave there and then go to Save and Exit. Have your boot disk in the drive because when you press Y to Save, the computer will reboot by itself. If your bios can't see the whole harddrive, you will have to use the ezdrive/ezbios program that comes with the DataLifeguard download to install the bootmanager program and it will walk you through all of the following steps to setup the drive and install windows on it....but only use this disk if your bios
can't see the whole drive. (I haven't found a newer computer yet that needs this program)

Use the boot disk for the operating system you want to put on the harddrive (if you need one that gives you cdrom support go to http://www.bootdisk.de and download one now and make sure you get the right version for the windows that you will be putting on the harddrive and then extract that file to a
temporary folder on your harddrive somewhere, read the readme file to know how to create the disk, then put a floppy disk into the drive and follow the instructions from the readme file to get your disk made. If you downloaded the bootdisk and it's an .exe file, you can just click it and it will start to create the bootdisk for you automatically. Also,
when you use the bootdisk you downloaded, it will default to being the R: drive for the cdrom, but this is only temporary until you reach the windows desktop. To check for your version windows, go to Control Panel\System and under your Registered Owner name, you will see some numbers. If the number is 4-00-950 with no letter or the letter "A" after it, you have W95A. If the number is 4-00-950 with letter "B"
or "C" after it, you have version W95B or W95C and will get the W95B bootdisk. If you have Win98 or WinME or Win2K or WinXP, this is an obvious choice for you from the site.


FDISK & FORMAT

Once you have booted to the A:, then type FDISK and you will get a menu....enable large disk support at this point when you are asked.

First choose to Delete Partitions. If you have existing partitions and want to have just one partition or if you want to change the sizes of those partitions, choose first to Delete the Logical Drives within the Extended partition. Then Delete the Extended Partition. Then Delete the Primary Dos Partition. DO NOT REBOOT...just go back to the Main Menu of Fdisk and do the following now. (If the steps in this paragraph don't work for you, it's usually because the drive is brand new from the factory and no partitioning has been done to it yet, so don't worry about this and go to the next steps instead.)

Create a Primary Dos Partition (if you only want one
partition then use the entire drive when asked...if you want more partitions, then type in a certain amount...figure on at least 4000MB for windows and the internet, and the swap file and then make the partition Active by either saying yes when asked or press the ESC key to the main menu and choose #2 to
make the partition active. (Less room is needed for this partition in reality; however, I usually use this amount as a safeguard for any programs that still will not install to anywhere except the C: drive and also for the extra files that programs will throw into the C:\Windows and C:\Windows\System folder by default without your knowing about it even if the actual install folder is located on another partition.)

Now, if you want partitions, choose #1 again to create Logical Drives, and then choose #3 to create an Extended Partition and when asked use the balance of the drive to do this. Press the ESC key and you will be asked about creating Logical Drives within that Extended Partition...say yes and create the Logical Drives using parts of the balance of the drive for each partition you want to create. Make note of the drive letters being assigned.

Use the ESC key to get out of Fdisk and back to the A: prompt and reboot with the same floppy disk to make the changes take effect...and this time Enable CDROM support when asked.

If you have a restore/recovery disk and Master cd from your vendor for your type of computer and if you haven't changed any of the hardware since you bought it new, you should use those disks to do what you want at this point. However, if you have separate installation disks for Windows and your hardware and no master restore/recovery disks, then, again, at the A: prompt, now type FORMAT C: /S (NOTE: the /S switch
doesn't work with WinME so leave it off and if you plan to install XP, don't use the /S switch either) to get the boot drive ready to receive data. When you are finished with the C: drive, now type FORMAT D: then FORMAT E: etc. for the logical drives you created.

Now if you have enabled the cdrom support, you can change to the cdrom drive (the W98 boot disk will make the drive letter two letters higher than your last partition drive letter but the downloaded bootdisk will be R:), and put your Windows installation cd into the drive and type SETUP....the
installation will begin.

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TO FORMAT AN EXISTING HARDDRIVE:

If you have a restore/recovery disk and Master cd from your vendor for your type of computer and if you haven't changed any of the hardware since you bought it new, you should use those disk to do what you want...otherwise, follow the directions below (do the first couple of steps anyhow even if you do have the restore/recovery/Master disk setup).

FORMAT ONLY..FIRST RULE: BE PREPARED AHEAD OF TIME

Save to disk (floppy, zip drive, or cd if you have a cdrw) all files that you want to be able to restore later on. Email messages, address book, data you have personally created, zip downloads so you don't have to hunt for them again, mp3 files you may have downloaded, etc. Go through your C: drive folder by folder in Explorer to make sure you don't forget anything. Any programs you have installation disks don't worry about because you will have to reinstall them again anyhow. Make sure you have the correct info in Dial Up Networking for your ISP icon written down somewhere so you can get back on the net, too.

Do you have a bootdisk that gives you access to the cdrom in order to reinstall if your version comes on CD? If not, then follow the directions below (follow them anyhow even if you have floppy disks for your W95 and Office programs)

Use the boot disk for the operating system you want to put on the harddrive (if you need one that gives you cdrom support go to http://www.bootdisk.com or www.bootdisk.de and download one now and make sure you get the right version for the windows that you will be putting on the harddrive and then extract that file to a temporary folder on your harddrive somewhere, read the readme file to know how to create the disk, then put a floppy disk into the drive and
follow the instructions from the readme file to get your disk made. If you downloaded the bootdisk and it's an .exe file, you can just click it and it will start to create the bootdisk for you automatically. Also, when you use the bootdisk you downloaded, it will default to being the R: drive for the cdrom, but this is only temporary until you reach the windows desktop. To check for your version windows, go to Control Panel\System and under your Registered Owner name, you will see some numbers. If the number is
4-00-950 with no letter or the letter "A" after it, you have W95A. If the number is 4-00-950 with a letter "B" or "C" after it, you have version W95B or W95C and will get the W95B bootdisk. If you have Win98 or WinME or Win2K or WinXP, this is an obvious choice for you from the site.

Have your hardware installation disks handy for anything that windows doesn't have drivers for and can't install for you...so go into Device Manager and click the plus mark in front of your hardware to get the manufacturer and model numbers of what you have. Then go to

http://driver.softlookup.com or

http://www.winguides.com/drivers or

http://www.amaxit.com/driverupdate.htm or

http://www.pcdrivers.com/index.htm or

http://www.drivershq.com/main.html and log in using 'drivers' as the username and 'all' as the password...look alphabetically for your manufacturers or your part/model numbers and then download the newest drivers for your hardware ahead of time. Burn these to cd or save to other media or harddrives also.

Have your older version windows installation disks handy if your Windows is an upgrade because you will need proof during the installation that you are eligible for the upgrade and have your product key code (ID) # handy so you can enter that information also during the installation. If you have any version of Windows newer than W95, you will need the Product CODE key...windows 95 needs the Product ID number for the installation. This information can be found by
going to RUN type REGEDIT, click the plus in front of the following:
HEKY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows and now click the words Current Version. Scroll on the right side and write down the information you need for your operating system version. This assumes you haven't already formatted the drive....if you have, then the Registry won't be available to you. (This number will not be in the registry for XP)

FORMAT

Boot up with your boot disk and enable cdrom support when W98 asks you...otherwise cdrom support will automatically appear if you used a boot disk that you downloaded or created yourself. Keep an eye on the screen to see which drive letter has been assigned because it won't be the same one you had in Windows before, and then change to that drive letter. Make
sure you can access the cdrom with that disk by changing to the cdrom drive with a cd in the drive and type DIR at the cdrom prompt...if it shows you the list of files on the cd, you are good to go so change back to the A: prompt.

At the A: prompt, type FORMAT C: /S (NOTE: the /S switch doesn't work for WinME nor does it work for XP so leave it off) to get the boot drive ready to receive data. If you have already formatted the drive, then at the A: prompt type SYS C: instead...don't do this if installing XP.

Now if you have enabled the cdrom support, you can change to the cdrom drive ( so as it is loading, watch for which drive letter it has assigned), and put your Windows installation cd into the drive and type SETUP....the installation will begin. For XP, after formatting the drive, reboot to the bios, change it to boot to the cdrom drive, put your XP cd into the drive, and reboot and follow the onscreen instructions.

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TO FDISK AND FORMAT A NEW SLAVE HARDDRIVE:

FDISK AND FORMAT SLAVE HARDDRIVE

You should have two IDE controllers on the motherboard. I would suggest that you put the two harddrives together on one cable daisy-chained together on the Primary IDE controller and the cdrom on the secondary IDE controller.

Make the first harddrive the master(the one you are using now) or the master with a slave (look at the jumper settings on the back of the drive to do this), and then make the new harddrive the Slave (same jumper location).

Then, boot up to go into the bios, then go to the Auto HDD detection area and run the program saying yes to all the drives detected as long as the sizes are recognized correctly. When it is finished, go to Save and Exit and boot up with your boot disk that goes with your operating system.

NOTE: If your bios can't see the whole harddrive, you CANNOT use the ezdrive/ezbios program that comes with the harddrive on a floppy disk UNLESS the BOOT harddrive also has the program installed on it because Windows won't be able to see the drive as a slave drive when you get to the desktop although DOS will be able to see it just fine. If ezdrive/ezbios is already installed on the first/boot harddrive, you can use the software on the slave drive to do the following steps through that program instead... otherwise, you will have to consider using the new harddrive as the new bootdrive instead of using it as a slave drive.

When you get to the A: prompt, type FDISK and then choose

CHANGE DRIVES so that it gets to the number 2 drive (the new one). Then choose CREATE EXTENDED PARTITION and use the WHOLE drive amount for that partition. ESC key and it will ask if you want to create LOGICAL DRIVES within that Extended partition, say yes. Now, depending on how large the new drive is, you can create one complete drive with the whole space or
you can create smaller partitions at this point....I would go with partitions if the drive is very large because smaller drives will scandisk and defrag faster and you have control over where you keep games, other programs, data, etc. installed).

If you decide to partition, make each one a third to one half of the drive in size depending on the size of your new drive. As you create the Logical Drives keep track of the drive letters that get assigned because you will need to format them later and this
way you will know which drive letters to format.

When you are finished with creating the logical drives, ESC back to the A: prompt and reboot again with the boot disk.

When you are at the A: prompt again, type FORMAT
(DRIVELETTER): and format each of the new drives you created by typing in the drive letter for each format you type in. If the new drive letters are D: E: and F: then you would type in FORMAT D: and when it is finished then you would type in FORMAT E: etc. until all new drives are formatted.

When you are finished, take the floppy disk out of the drive and boot up to the desktop.

Print this so you have it handy while you are doing it rather than try to remember it all. The steps outlined will only take about ten minutes to do (except for formatting the drives) but take your time and you will do it right.

TONI