How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp lifewire. Reformatting hard drive with windows 7 windows 7 help forums. I was given an old computer that has a partition with windows vista in one and windows xp in the other. Jun 15, 2007 hey basically my problem is this i downloaded the beta version of photoshop onto my computer and i liked it so i went out and bought the program.
Reformatting hard drive on hp pavillion dv6000 w windows. Thats why it did not detect the hard disk when you boot with xp cd. I have an old dell inspiron 530s with the specs in the link below that. The first way allows for a fully new system, and no data from before. Aug 24, 2010 reformatting hard drive with windows 7 hey guys, its that time of year again, so im going to be reformatting my hard drive. You first need to prepare your computer for formatting. Dec 04, 2008 hey guys, on mac os x i can reinstall the operating system without reformatting the hard drive just by using an archive and install method, obviously, windows lacks this functionality. Pros and cons of factory image restore applications.
Vista reformatting microsoft vista hey everyone, i recently bought a new laptop running vista home premium, and just to get an idea what i should expect id like to know if i can reformat the os. This will give you the options to format the existing drive. It was good before but lately im really pissed off with its crap performance. However this time around i realized i might have a problem. My recommended approach to reformatting a hard disk for most people is to boot from your windows install cd, and indicate that you want a new, clean install. Need to reformat the hard drive in windows xp and start with a clean slate. Youll need to take an extra step to wipe the hard drive so the data cannot be easily reconstructed later. How to format a hard drive how to format a hard drive using windows vista. I want to completely format the hard drive and use a cd. Restoring microsoft windows vista to factory configuration dell us. Disk formatting is the process of preparing a data storage device such as a hard disk drive, solidstate drive, floppy disk or usb flash drive for initial use. Click the get started button in the reset this pc section. Before you go through the process of completely reformatting your hard drive please take a few moments to read through the rest of our website.
Raid 1 is the mirroring configuration where one drive is a mirror image of the other drive. Just boot from the windows xp cd change the bios boot order if necessary to accomplish this and follow the prompts for a clean installation delete the existing partition by pressing d when. The computers hard drive is the internal drive that has no removable media. I recently did exactly this on my old laptop, and went so far as to use the partition manager that is part of windows setup to delete all the partitions on the laptops hard drive and create a new partition that encompassed the entire disk. And yes, if you reformat the hard drive it will wipe out linux entirely. Formatting boot hard drive for windows vista from windows 7.
Opening disk management can be done a number of ways depending on your version of windows, but the easiest method is to type diskmgmt. Reformatting your windows computer is usually the absolute last resort when trying to resolve problems and might even be unnecessary. This will open a window showing all the computers partitions. Reformat hard drive have a dell dimension desktop pc and am wondering how to reformat and wipe clean my hard drive. Format a secondary hard drive in windows vista or 7 how to. How do i reformat a hard drive that i replaced with. Create and format a hard disk partition windows help. Jul 29, 2008 u could use the cd to format the drive. First click start, then control panel, administrative tools, computer management. After i got all the windows updates installed i upgraded the system to windows 10. This video tutorial will show you how in a few easy steps. As mentioned in your other topic about reformatting hard drives from windows xp and back ups etc i have bought a 1tb wd my book.
I originally purchased my pc with windows vista, but then when windows 7 came out i purchased it and immediately installed it on my computer. Just to clarify the many comments about formatting, yes it completely erases any and all data on a hard drive, that is why you need the vista. The guy at the counter said that it didnt need one for formatting. How to wipe a hard drive permanently erase everything. Reformatting a dell insperion 1545 with windows vista we recently discovered that the hard drive for some reason was acting strange by doing things like not shutting down properly and software glitches that would freeze the computer up. I copied all of my files over to the new hard drive the one with w7 on it and now i want to reformat my old hard drive the one with vista on it to clean it up so that i can use it for storage. Jul 05, 2006 reformatting hard drive hi korrupt, thank you for the great instructions on reformatting. To format your hard drive, insert the installation dvdvista and go through the options until you get to choose which partition to install vista on and just click the button at the bottom that. I have vista installed on one hard drive, and i just bought a new hard drive and installed windows 7 on it. Reformat windows 7 hard drive if you need to reformat a hard drive using windows 7, the method you should use depends on whether you want to reformat a bootable drive or a secondary drive. To create a partition or volume the two terms are often used interchangeably on a hard disk, you must be logged in as an administrator, and there must be either unallocated disk space or free space within an extended. May 07, 2007 my recommended approach to reformatting a hard disk for most people is to boot from your windows install cd, and indicate that you want a new, clean install.
Refer the section to reinstall windows vista and the section that talks about where do you want to install windows. Likewise, users can reformat a hard drive with windows xp to remove viruses or. In the dell factory image restore window, click next. Click to select the check box for yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to. Reformat, install, and set up windows xp on your computer how to. I got an hp pavilion desktop with a windows vista home basic operating system, and ive used it for 2 years. Reformatting a hard drive prepares the disk surface to accept and store data. The computer is restored to the default factory configuration. The other approach for guarding against loss of your photos to burn them to cddvd, or backup to an external hard drive.
How to format a hard drive using windows vista operating systems. Select the recovery option in the left navigation pane. Just to clarify the many comments about formatting, yes it completely erases any and all data on a hard drive, that is why you need the vista cd. It is important to reformat the hard drive before selling, donating, or returning a computer to an employer. Now your old hard drive which is your new external usb drive is usable in windows as one large hard drive. Reformatting and reinstalling is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. So, he want to reformat alienware to optimize the performance, but still keep all data on the hard drive. However, he cannot open alienware command center anymore and the laptop ran slow. Open disk management, the hard drive manager included with all versions of windows. Tried to install it after the beta version had expired and was told that it couldnt install. Ive recently bought a new acer travelmate 6292 laptop with vista installed on it. Reformatting a dell insperion 1545 with windows vista. It has an intel core duo processor, installed ram 1.
Dec 19, 2009 its that time of year again, so im going to be reformatting my hard drive. How to reformat a drive in windows vista 1 assuming your system is still functional enough to let you do so. The second issue would be if you have grub boot loader in the mbr master boot record you will need to restore the boot record to the windows version. This is a detailed tutorial on how to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, and windows xp. To restore a windows 7 or vista computer, you must have a set of restore discs for the. Reformatting hard drive and reinstalling vista windows vista. Reinstall windows vista without reformatting windows. Rightclick the hard drive and choose wipe hard drive. You first need to prepare your computer for formatting and save all your files that you would like to keep. Reformatting a hard drive on windows machines let us see how to format a hard drive on windows machines. There are only 2 ways to fully erase a harddrive, doesnt matter what operating system. Just boot from the windows xp cd change the bios boot order if necessary to accomplish this and follow the prompts for a clean installation delete the.
Back up anything you want to keep before reformatting. Follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. Hey guys, on mac os x i can reinstall the operating system without reformatting the hard drive just by using an archive and install method, obviously, windows lacks this functionality. I know at some point in the future i always end up restoring the system but does anyone know how to do it without disks. All i have is a windows vista reinstallation disk, driversutlitities disk and a cyberlink powerdvd disk. Youll want to do it before you sell your machine, for sure, but its also one of the steps you take when you. Formatting a hard drive using the windows operating system. How to reformat your windows computer grown up geek.
Reformatting hard drive and reinstalling vista posted in windows vista. This means that you will have to have a dvd drive to read the disc. How to reformat alienware hard drive in windows 1087. Reformatting your hard drive will destroy all the data. Reformatting hard drive with windows 7 hey guys, its that time of year again, so im going to be reformatting my hard drive. Jul 10, 2008 just to clarify the many comments about formatting, yes it completely erases any and all data on a hard drive, that is why you need the vista cd to reinstall that data so you can use your computer. How do i reformat a hard drive that i replaced with an ssd. Reinstall windows vista without reformatting neowin. Before you go for a complete reformat of the hard drive, a. How to reformat your hard drive and reinstall windows. Vista reformatting microsoft vista hey everyone, i recently bought a new laptop running vista home premium, and just to get an idea what i should expect id like to. How do i reformat my machine if i dont have a windows cd. Restoring microsoft windows vista to factory configuration. I have never done this before and quite frankly, am a little nervous, but would still like to give it a go.
Recover data from a formatted hard drive on a windows pc with testdisk. Dec 24, 2010 reformatting a hard drive on windows machines let us see how to format a hard drive on windows machines. The first part of the formatting process that performs basic medium preparation is often referred to as lowlevel formatting. Reformatting a drive in windows vista is usually a pretty simple process, which might lull you into the. Oct 14, 2009 reformatting and reinstalling is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.
Formatting a hard drive is the best way to start from scratch on a geeky project. Reformatting is the process of initializing a hard disk to an empty state. Sep 26, 2018 8 after all the partitions on the hard drive have been deleted, rightclick on the hard drive and create a new partition, then format it. How to format a hard drive using windows vista operating. Reformatting hard drive on hp pavillion dv6000 w windows 7. Then you need to delete your hard drive and then format it. Hard drive reformatting procedure for mac and windows. Click to select the check box for yes, reformat hard drive and restore system software to factory condition. In some cases, the formatting operation may also create one or more new file systems. If you want to reformat the entire disk, including the volume with installed windows os, you need a recovery disk or installation disk of windows xp, windows vista or windows 7. Reformatting a dell insperion 1545 with windows vista dell. Formatting the hard drive on windows vista is easy.
Reformatting hard drive hi korrupt, thank you for the great instructions on reformatting. To wipe a hard drive means to completely erase the drive of all its information. Reformat hard drive with windows xp whitecanyon software. Log in as a user who has administrative credentials, and then click ok. There is a number of steps in formatting a hard drive.
Vista reformatting microsoft vista microsoft dslreports. Actually we usually speak of reformatting the hard drive on the computer. Deleting everything does not wipe a hard drive and formatting does not usually wipe a hard drive. Apr 29, 2020 follow these easy steps to format a hard drive in windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows vista, or windows xp. How to format a hard drive windows 10, 8, 7, vista, xp.
Apr 10, 2008 presents how to format a hard drive using windows vista. If you are thinking of formatting to fix problems with your windows. To format your hard drive, insert the installation dvd vista and go through the options until you get to choose which partition to install vista on and just click the button at the bottom that. I have an old dell inspiron 530s with the specs in the link below that i am thinking about reformatting the hard drive and. Its that time of year again, so im going to be reformatting my hard drive. A computer user said that his alienware m11x laptop got a virus, and he restored it from a windows update a few days before the virus struck. How to format a hard drive using windows vista youtube. When the restore operation is completed, click finish to restart the computer. I would recommend using rawcopy from ive used it many times and it doesnt matter if the source drive has bad sectors it will. I am just using my computer for surfing the net and playing games like solitaire but i really dont know why is it.
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