Formatting HD on laptop ?

[colinicky]

I want to totally format the HD on my laptop & start again with a totally blank drive ,I know how to get the HD out of the laptop BUT is there a lead that I can buy to connecty the laptop HD to my main pc as a slave or am I being stupid & there is an easier way ?

[JAG]

If you are reinstalling XP or 2000/2003then you can use the cd to boot from and reformat the HD pre installation.

[colinicky]

It wont let me It says it cannot format the drive as it has the operating system on it !

[JAG]

Not trying to teach you to such eggs, but if you boot from CD then you should be able to delete any partitions and reformat:

1. Start your computer and then insert the Windows XP CD into your CD-ROM drive.
2. Your computer should automatically detect the CD, and a message "Press any key to boot CD" will be displayed for 5 seconds.
3. Press a key and the CD will begin to load files that are needed to begin the installation. This make take a few minutes.
4. When asked if you wish to install Windows XP press Enter.
5. You will be presented with the End User Licensing Agreement. Press F8 to accept and continue or press F3 to cancel the install.
6. Select the partition in which you wish to install Windows XP and press the Enter key. If you wish to delete the current partition or partitions you can do so now. Once you've deleted partitions you will be asked to create a partition. At this point you can choose the size you wish. Most people will elect to create one partition that fills the entire dive. If you decide you would like multiple partitions then create a partition size that will be suitable for XP and your installed apps as well as room for cache files etc. 10GB is s nice size for a full XP install leaving plenty of room for applications etc. After XP is setup and running you can create additional partitions in the free space through XP's Computer Management Console.
7. The next screen asks if you wish to use the NTFS file system. This is the preferred file system, however, if you choose to use FAT32, you will not have all the security and stability features of Windows XP.
8. If you previously had an Operating System installed you will be given a choice of Format options . Select the Format option of your choice. When asked to start the format, press the "F" key. The formatting process may take quite a bit of time.
9. Setup will begin an automated loading of files which will take several minutes.
   ***Note - If you are clean installing using an XP Upgrade CD you will be asked for a qualifying product at this point. Just pop the CD for your older version of Windows into the drive while the XP setup completes an authenticity check. Following this you will be prompted for the XP CD and setup will continue.
10. After this is complete the computer will restart. Leave the XP CD in the drive but this time DO NOT press any key when the message it "Press any key to boot CD" is displayed. In 5 seconds setup will continue.
11. The Windows XP Setup wizard will lead you through the process of gathering information about you and your computer.

[colinicky]

Ian
I only have 1 partition ,but it will not delete & format on that partition because it says it needs files from the operating system .
& dont worry about sucking eggs ,the amount of times I have gone through & through something & then realised hours later that I forgot to click one box & that was the problem

[Neil McLeod]

Hardware option: (Simple)

Maplin amongst others sell USB cables with an IDE interface at one end and a power supply for a 3.5 inch/cd/dvd drive (~£30). These come with an adaptor to connect a 2.5 inch laptop drive.

The other option is to get an external 2.5 inch, USB enclose for the HD off ebay. These sell for £10 to £12 (much less if buy from Hong Kong) and it only takes a minute to connect the drive to it.

Software: (Cheap)
Boot using a boot CD or Floppy (remember those) from a disk with "fdisk" command on it (fdisk c. Then remove the whole partition. Then try the Windows CD and it should think the drive is clean and start to format it for you (NTFS).

Neil

[Sakara Drinker]

I

Originally Posted by colinicky

Ian
I only have 1 partition ,but it will not delete & format on that partition because it says it needs files from the operating system .
& dont worry about sucking eggs ,the amount of times I have gone through & through something & then realised hours later that I forgot to click one box & that was the problem

It sounds to me like you have windows already up and running when the CD runs. If this is the case then it won't let you format. What you need to do is put the cd in and reboot the laptop. It should start from the CD. If it doesn't then you need to alter a BIOS setting. When you turn it on try pressing DEL or F2 or F12, it varies between manufacturers. This should give you the BIOS setup. You need to make sure that it is set to boot from CD before the Hard drive. Now you can follow the instructions JAG gave you a few posts ago.

[big_si]

Originally Posted by Neil McLeod

The other option is to get an external 2.5 inch, USB enclose for the HD off ebay. These sell for £10 to £12 (much less if buy from Hong Kong) and it only takes a minute to connect the drive to it.

I've got one of these babys as a back up drive with an 80GB HD in it. Very useful lil' fellas!

[Dundee]

Originally Posted by Sakara Drinker

I
You need to make sure that it is set to boot from CD before the Hard drive. Now you can follow the instructions JAG gave you a few posts ago.

This is the key bit. Change the boot priority in the BIOS to boot from the CD as the primary boot disk, then Uncle Bob is well known to you.

C

[Woz]

Originally Posted by Dundee

This is the key bit. Change the boot priority in the BIOS to boot from the CD as the primary boot disk, then Uncle Bob is well known to you.

C

I actually have (or had until he karked it the miserable ba$tard) an Uncle Bob.