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.
Again, 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://drivers.on-line.net.nz/listing or 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 (WD drives are prejumpered to be a 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 attach 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.
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 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 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.
FDISK & FORMAT
Once you have booted to the A:, then type FDISK and enable large disk support, and you will get a menu.
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 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) 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.
Graphical description available here:
http://www.newlogic.co.uk/kbase/fdisk/page1.htm
TONI
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