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The cure for all evils! (then again maybe not! =)- How To Re-format Your HD Under WIN98Oct 11 '00 (Updated Oct 12 '00) Write an essay on this topic.When you use your computer often, there will come a time when you are forced to learn how to re-format your computer! For me, the time came about a couple of months ago! I was getting a ton of error messages and I couldn't fix it! So I decided to start off fresh again! It took me awhile to actually do it, even though I got all the info I needed. Wiping out everything on your computer sounds scary to a lot of people, that’s including me! I just didn’t know what to expect and plus I didn’t really trust myself with doing this procedure. Re-formatting your HD should be your last option when trying to fix your computer. Re-formatting your HD will fix any problems that you might be having with your computer! From error messages that won’t go away to viruses that’s hiding in your computer, re-formatting will cure all your computer’s illnesses. It’s very tedious and it takes quite some time to put your computer back to working properly. But once you master how to format your HD, it is very easy to do. Trust me, I’ve done it three times after I have learned how to do it! =) I will talk about preparation, backing up important stuff and the actual formatting. Preparation Before doing anything with your computer, make sure to gather all the necessary CDs and floppies that contains the drivers for your peripherals. Locate the CD (usually called – recovery CD) that came with your computer. This recovery CD usually has all the drivers you need for all the original parts of your computer – AKA – OEM parts. If you had lost this recovery CD, you might want to call the maker of your computer and ask them for it. =) You also need to gather any software that you would like to put back in your computer. Some software titles require you to enter a serial number, so make sure to look for those too. You need to also have a floppy disk available for making a startup disk later on. One of the questions I had in mind before I finally re-formatted my HD was whether I should take out all the hardware that I installed on my computer. Like PCI cards, my burner and my Zip drive. The answer is no! You don’t even need to open the case of your computer when re-formatting. Gathering all the drivers and software titles is the most important thing when preparing to re-format. Make sure to plan ahead this event. You need to start early in the day, especially when you’re doing this the first time. You might also want to do this during weekdays just in case something goes wrong and you need to call Tech support. Grab a pen and paper and list all the software titles and drivers that you have gathered. This is to remind you later on what software is left for you to install. Back up your stuff!! This is the most important step! Make sure to back up all your important data. Important data, as in, your personal files, mp3s, email accounts, email folders/email messages, your address book, financial (money or quicken) data, Internet Explorer favorites, even your History folder, personal pictures, PC game saves and any other data you deemed important. You’ll have a much easier time backing up data if you have a burner or a zip drive. But what if you don’t have these? (Ummm… Just to let you know now, floppy disks won’t work!) =) You can sign up to those free online drives. Some gives you 50mb and some gives you 100mb. Sign up to all of them out there until you have enough space to temporarily store your files. It also helps if you compress your data with a Zip utility, so it won’t take up too much space if you’re thinking of going online for storage. Or you can buy another HD just for storage. Or if you’re connected to a network, just save your files on the other computer's HD! A tape drive is also a good option. Some Tips - I’m assuming that you have Outlook Express 5 *Where to find the email folders/messages – go to C:\WINDOWS\Application Data – you’ll find 2 folders there – Identities and Microsoft. Check “Identities” first, keep on going until you reach the Outlook Express folder, if you see some files there that matches the names of your email folders and has the extension of .dbx then you got the right folder. Otherwise choose the “Microsoft” folder. Transfer these data to your back up media or upload them if you signed up for online drives. *Where to find your Address Book – go to C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book. *How to back up your email accounts – launch Outlook Express, go to Tools – Account. Once the window appears, highlight one of the accounts and click on Export located on the right hand side of the window. Another window will appear so you can save them and import them later when you’re done with the re-format. Do this for each account that you have. *Favorites and History folders – located in the Windows folder. Time to re-format the HD! Get that floppy disk, it’s now time to make a startup disk! Go to Start – Settings - Control Panel – Add/Remove Program. Choose Startup Disk. Insert a floppy disk and click on Create Disk. This disk will have CD-ROM drivers in it. So you can use your CD-ROM to read your Windows 98 CD. After it finishes making the startup disk, take a deep breath and restart your computer! Ooopss… not quite yet, make sure to unplug all devices attached to your computer except for the mouse, keyboard, speakers and monitor. Ummm… you can restart your computer now! =) After you restart, your computer will ask you if want to have CD-support or not. Make sure to select CD-ROM support. Your computer will now do a bunch of stuff. Look at the screen and make note of the letter of your CD-ROM drive. This might not be the usual letter “D”, most of the time it’ll change to letter “E”! You’ll now find yourself at the A: prompt. Type “format c: \s” (without the quotes). Your computer will ask you if you really want to do this, reply by typing “Y” and then press Enter. Your computer will now clean out your hard drive. Everything on your hard drive will get erased! The time it takes the computer to re-format your HD depends on the size of your HD. The bigger it is, the longer it will take to finish. You’ll see progress at the bottom of the screen. Once this hit 100%, then you’re done. After the re-format, it will ask you to give a name (if I recall it right), this is not important, just click Enter to proceed. It will now bring you to a blue screen; this is where your computer runs a scan on your HD. Just let it do so. After it’s done, use the keyboard arrows to click on Exit. You’ll now find yourself at the A: prompt again. Insert your Windows 98 CD in the CD-ROM drive. And then type “D:setup” (without the quotes). But if you’re CD-ROM drive was assigned a new drive letter, then you have to type that letter, instead of “D”. Windows 98 setup will now start and all you have to do is click on a couple of “next” buttons. After that, Windows will install itself. Give yourself a break and let the process finish! After the installation is complete, it’s now time to load or install all the drivers onto your computer. Windows has generic drivers for your mouse, keyboard and monitor. But for them to function properly, you have to install the right drivers for it. The correct drivers should be with the Restore CD, which your computer manufacturer included with your system. Proceed to install those other drivers that you might have. It’s always a good idea to go online and download updates for your drivers. And don’t forget to visit Windows Update (usually located on the Start Menu), so you can start updating Windows components like Outlook Express, Internet Explorer and a bunch of other stuff. That’s pretty much it. All the evil spirits once residing on your computer is now gone! =) Re-formatting the HD is not hard, installing software and putting back all the devices is. When it's time for you to do this, make sure to take your time in backing up important datas! Good luck! (fingers crossed!) =) Marvin *If anyone has a question for me regarding re-formatting, just email me and I'll try to help out. =) *Re-formatting won't actually "cure everything". If you have conflicts between devices, then re-formatting won't help! Thanks to italye for bringing this up to my attention. =)  |
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