I KNOW someone here can help! I need to reformat my c: drive, but I do not want to lose anything in my d: drive. How would I go about doing this? Is there anything I need to do to prepare for the reformatting? Is there anything I should either avoid or make sure to do during the reformatting and subsequent reinstalling of Windows XP Pro? The computer is a Compaq Presario (bought new 2 years ago). It came with Windows ME, and we upgraded to XP Pro. We are also using Norton Systemworks (including the Antivirus & Firewall). This is the first time I've had to reformat a hard drive, and I would rather be safe than sorry. Thanks!
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How do I reformat my c: drive w/o losing my d: drive? 1
- Thread starter sudifra
- Start date
sudifra - What you're considering the C: and D: drives are actually two separate sections of your hard drive called partitions. There are some commands that affect the entire hard drive and all the partitions it contains. The FORMAT command you are asking about only works on a single partition at a time, and you must specify which one when running it. FORMAT does not affect the overall partition layout of the disk, nor does it affect any other partitions other than the one you designate.
Before being more specific about preparations, tell me why you are formatting the C: drive to begin with. It sounds like you currently have XP Pro running on it. Are you trying to solve some problem by reformatting?
Before being more specific about preparations, tell me why you are formatting the C: drive to begin with. It sounds like you currently have XP Pro running on it. Are you trying to solve some problem by reformatting?
- Thread starter
- #3
You're right - we do have XP Pro running. However, we have been having increasing problems with getting things to run properly (or even at all). It came to a head about a month ago, when we lost our connection to the net. We worked with the tech people at Sympatico but, in the end, they could do nothing (it wasn't a sympatico problem) and suggested we reformat the hard drive & start again. This was the latest problem with sympatico, so my husband decided to switch to Rogers. Again, it did not work. The modem was connecting to Rogers, but our computer was not communicating with their modem. Again, I spent countless hours on the phone with their techs - going through everything they could think of - and it came down to the suggestion that we reformat the hard drive & start again from scratch. I must mention that we have a teenaged son who regularly downloads programs and uninstalls/removes them again. In the past, I have been able to fix those problems by uninstalling the AV & firewall, reparing XP from the CD, reinstalling Norton AV & firewall. It did not work this time (and we tried several times).
To prepare for reformatting the c: drive, my husband went through everything and moved what we wanted to keep to the d: drive. And that is where we stand now. Hopefully, we can get this done by the end of the weekend ...
To prepare for reformatting the c: drive, my husband went through everything and moved what we wanted to keep to the d: drive. And that is where we stand now. Hopefully, we can get this done by the end of the weekend ...
- Thread starter
- #5
I'm not sure how xp pro will handle this, but you can give it a try. Open the cmd window and type the command, it will tell you everything will be lost do you want to proceed (y/n) tell it y and see what happens.
If it works (xp allows it) then you will reboot from your xp cd and reinstall. Now there is one little trick to do before any of this. There is a file in the /windows/system32 folder/ wpa.dbl
copy this file to a floppy or something. when you are done reinstalling xp put it back in. You will not have to go through reregistering the machine.
If it works (xp allows it) then you will reboot from your xp cd and reinstall. Now there is one little trick to do before any of this. There is a file in the /windows/system32 folder/ wpa.dbl
copy this file to a floppy or something. when you are done reinstalling xp put it back in. You will not have to go through reregistering the machine.
Howdy:
Before you go do anything, go to the Microsoft website.. They blew it with one of their security updates for XP. It seems, if you apply the update, it is so secure it locks you right off the internet - IE won't work.
Check their site for the update that caused this and uninstall it.
Murray
Before you go do anything, go to the Microsoft website.. They blew it with one of their security updates for XP. It seems, if you apply the update, it is so secure it locks you right off the internet - IE won't work.
Check their site for the update that caused this and uninstall it.
Murray
sudifra -
You will save yourself a lot of time in the future if you get a CD-R drive and a partition backup product like Ghost2003. If you must go through the pain of doing a full reload (sounds like you do), then it's the perfect time to get a bit-for-bit picture of your C: drive if (when) this happens again. You can completely reload the C: drive with two or three CDs in fifteen minutes vs. the hours you *may* have to spend doing the whole XP load / activate / configure. I don't work for Symantec, but I love the fact that Ghost2003 makes bootable CD backups of XP that can span several CDs.
On a related note, you could also back up everything you just moved to the D: drive. If anything happened to during the XP reinstall, you would have backups on CD ready to restore. OK, commercial over....
Since you've already repaired XP from the CD, then you've seen the point that you can choose between repair and full install. If you choose full install, you will be presented with the available partitions ('drives') and asked to pick one. After you 'highlight' the C: drive with the white bar, you will proceed to the "Select a file system" screen with the options to "Format this partition using..." and a choice of file systems. If you don't have a preference or don't know the difference, pick "...the FAT filesystem (Quick Format)". You will be asked for confirmation on the next screen before proceeding. Only your C: drive is affected.
There is not an option to wipe out your entire disk by accident. The setup screens only allow you to do something to one partition at a time and will always describe your partition using the drive letters you recognize and the total size of that partition. It might be a good idea to note the total size of your C: and D: drives in XP before you start this procedure so you can be extra sure.
Notice I'm using 'partition' and 'drive' synonymously here. This only applies in the context of this discussion and the XP setup screens. In other applications, 'drive' may be referring to either the entire hard disk and all it's partitions *or* to only a single lettered partition on that disk. It's not used consistently one way or the other and always somewhat context-dependent, so you're right to be cautious.
You will save yourself a lot of time in the future if you get a CD-R drive and a partition backup product like Ghost2003. If you must go through the pain of doing a full reload (sounds like you do), then it's the perfect time to get a bit-for-bit picture of your C: drive if (when) this happens again. You can completely reload the C: drive with two or three CDs in fifteen minutes vs. the hours you *may* have to spend doing the whole XP load / activate / configure. I don't work for Symantec, but I love the fact that Ghost2003 makes bootable CD backups of XP that can span several CDs.
On a related note, you could also back up everything you just moved to the D: drive. If anything happened to during the XP reinstall, you would have backups on CD ready to restore. OK, commercial over....
Since you've already repaired XP from the CD, then you've seen the point that you can choose between repair and full install. If you choose full install, you will be presented with the available partitions ('drives') and asked to pick one. After you 'highlight' the C: drive with the white bar, you will proceed to the "Select a file system" screen with the options to "Format this partition using..." and a choice of file systems. If you don't have a preference or don't know the difference, pick "...the FAT filesystem (Quick Format)". You will be asked for confirmation on the next screen before proceeding. Only your C: drive is affected.
There is not an option to wipe out your entire disk by accident. The setup screens only allow you to do something to one partition at a time and will always describe your partition using the drive letters you recognize and the total size of that partition. It might be a good idea to note the total size of your C: and D: drives in XP before you start this procedure so you can be extra sure.
Notice I'm using 'partition' and 'drive' synonymously here. This only applies in the context of this discussion and the XP setup screens. In other applications, 'drive' may be referring to either the entire hard disk and all it's partitions *or* to only a single lettered partition on that disk. It's not used consistently one way or the other and always somewhat context-dependent, so you're right to be cautious.
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- #9
May I humbly suggested you make certain that your Winsock service stacks are not corrupted by all of this installing/uninstalling activity before reformatting anything.
Download and run this. After the reboot check your dial up settings and see if the problem disappears. The whole process will take five minutes, much less than a format:
Download this utility:
Run it and let it at the end reboot your machine.
Download and run this. After the reboot check your dial up settings and see if the problem disappears. The whole process will take five minutes, much less than a format:
Download this utility:
Run it and let it at the end reboot your machine.
One last note: if you currently have Norton Anti-Virus un-installed, you may have the Norton DNS problem.
Norton Anti-virus creates some dependent services for DNS that are often not removed by the Add/Remove program, nor even by the Norton web-site cleaner utilities.
Please read this and check as it advises your service entries for DNS. I spent two days once over this issue and will never forget the solution:
Believe me, if Norton has been uninstalled, these service entries will prevent you from getting on the Internet without any question.
Norton Anti-virus creates some dependent services for DNS that are often not removed by the Add/Remove program, nor even by the Norton web-site cleaner utilities.
Please read this and check as it advises your service entries for DNS. I spent two days once over this issue and will never forget the solution:
Believe me, if Norton has been uninstalled, these service entries will prevent you from getting on the Internet without any question.
sudifra - given your current situation - everything backed up to D: (which is a primary partition?) - you can reinstall XP by booting from XP CD, choosing new install, and when prompted for where, delete the C: drive (partition) and create a new one. Install XP to this new C: drive.
- Thread starter
- #12
Great news! After reading all of your advice, and going through all of the info in the links you provided, I went ahead with reformatting the c: partition of my hard drive & reinstalling XP Pro (plus a number of the other programs that were screwing up). Everything so far is working far better than it has in a VERY long time, which is hugely satisfying! The only thing I have left to do is install the Norton Personal Firewall, which I will wait until the weekend to do. When we installed it last time, we did not realize the impact it could have and how insidious it could be. This time around, I'll read the entire manual (and info on the Symantec website) and make sure I understand the information BEFORE installing the thing; hopefully, this will prevent any major mishaps ...
So, my heartfelt thanks to all of you for taking the time to answer my questions and provide me with such great advice. It was very helpful, and I will not hesitate to place my trust in this website (and you all) should the need arise (which is quite likely, given my relative neophyte level in the world of computers). Many thanks (again!) from me & my family!![[2thumbsup]](/data/assets/smilies/2thumbsup.gif "[2thumbsup] [2thumbsup]")
So, my heartfelt thanks to all of you for taking the time to answer my questions and provide me with such great advice. It was very helpful, and I will not hesitate to place my trust in this website (and you all) should the need arise (which is quite likely, given my relative neophyte level in the world of computers). Many thanks (again!) from me & my family!
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