Reformatting

[BenLi]

There's alot of talk on this forum about reformatting a disk. However, I don't think anyone fully explained how it is done. Can someone explain exactly how to do it?

[[Gandalf]]

www.wikipedia.org
www.google.ca


Then, if you have any specific questions, ask them here.

[Cervantes]

Just use some sort of partitioning tool. Linux live CD's will come with one. Windows XP install has a partitioner. You could even use fdisk from a windows 9x boot disk.

[rdrake]

HOW-TO on reformatting your computer with Winders XP.

[bugzpodder]

i sually set up at least 2 partitions under XP. the first is the boot partition which contains essentially only installed programs (including the OS). prior to formatting copy anything from the C drive (favourites, desktop, my dcouments/my Received files/etc) into my D drive and proceed with formatting. i keep things seperated so theres no garbage in my D drive.

[Aziz]

Windows XP is pretty simple for formatting. And I like you're idea bugz. Is there anyway to set up another partition without reformatting? I got my laptop already installed and everything, And I'm thinking about reformatting soon, but I want to back up a lot of my stuff. How much do you allocate for each partition anyways? I've got an 80 gig drive.

[md]

Tis not quite the same; but I have linux installed on one partition on my drive; and all my files stored on another drive; well stored over a JBOD using LVM.

Storing your files on a seperate partition (or better, drive) always made sense to me... not sure why more people don't do it.

@aziz: look into partition magic, or gparted. I know partition magic can resize ntfs partitions; not sure abotu gparted though.

[Aziz]

Are external HDs worth it?

[md]

Not unless you intend to move the drive arround with you. Internal drives are usually better (and cheaper)

[Aziz]

I've got a laptop

[md]

well in that case you can't get an internal drive now can you... which means you'd have to get an external one

If you have a laptop then having more then one drive becomes rather impractical; unless you get a network storage system...

[rdrake]

The "using an old machine with a few spare old HDDs inside attached to the network" approach is what I'm slowly working on. You have a few options for the OS if that's the case.

FreeNAS is based off of FreeBSD but it requires much manual configuration. OpenFiler is based off of CentOS and requires much less configuration. I really like being able to use the LVM system... partition resizing without a reboot . Personally I think I'm just going to go back to FreeBSD with a custom kernel and a few special services installed.

Using a NAS system you build yourself is a great way to save money.

[Aziz]

That's true. I'm saving up for an external DVD writer. Either they didn't have the option for my laptop when my parents ordered it (around the summer of 2005) or they didn't upgrade it! Plus, it's only got 512 ram, and I wanna put another stick in it (probably going to have to buy a gig stick and replace the 512). Anyway to put a video card in? This things only got 8mb shared :S Stupid Dell. I don't mind it, actually. It's an Inspiron 6000 and it's really reliable. It can play some games at low graphics. NFS Most Wanted plays fine and only lags on big highway stretches. Plus it does have good support I think I can get another battery from the recall

[md]

laptops are not upgradable; I highly doubt you'll be able to get a new video card for it.

DVD burner's are actually a waste of money too IMO... hardrives cost more but they more then make up for it with increased speed and reliability. Also DVD's limit you to one dvd's worth of data at a time, but you can assess the full XXXGB of the harddrive without having to swap anything.

[Andy]

Cornflake wrote:

laptops are not upgradable; I highly doubt you'll be able to get a new video card for it.

I think cornflake's living in the 90s.. if the notebook has an MXM slot, the videocard is upgradable