Noob-proof guide to reformatting plz!

**Monarch** · 10-03-2006, 16:26

With Medieval 2 on the way my pc doesn't have a bad spec and hopefully should get it on mid range. But theres a fair bit of crap on it. So if its not too much trouble, lets say I'm a total idiot and no nothing, what instructions would you give me for reformatting my pc?

I have my Windows XP disc is it helps.

**DukeofSerbia** · 10-03-2006, 20:29

How two format hard disk or reinstall WinXP?
If you want to format, click right on your drive and then format. But don't do it after somebody confirm that.

**hoom** · 10-03-2006, 20:36

First and foremost, make sure you back up all important data!
Ie copy onto another HDD or DVD/CD
If you are going to format your HDD, anything on it goes bye bye so any data you didn't back up to somewhere else is gone.

I repeat, make sure you have copies of everything you'll want back & don't forget your bookmarks/email!

Second, make sure you have drivers on hand for all hardware.
Download motherboard/graphics/network card/other drivers & put them somewhere you can easily find that won't get formatted eg different HDD/CD/DVD.

If you do a full HDD format, you should probably make a 4-10GB windows partition while you're at it with the remainder of the disk as another partition on which you keep all your data that needs to be kept.
This way, in future you can just format the windows partition without going through the whole rigmarole of backup.

Otherwise, reinstalling XP is fairly easy, just insert the CD & reboot, if your PC isn't set to boot from CD, you may need to set this option in BIOS.
Once the CD loads, it has fairly straight forward step by step instructions.
The main bit is the formatting, if you have 2 or more partitions/HDDs already, you need to make sure you are deleting the right one or bye bye data!

Don't try to reinstall on top of the existing install, it gets messy.

After the install, you will need to install all your drivers again, start with Motherboard drivers as without these, other devices may fail to be detected.
You will then need to spend several hours (days as you notice bits you missed earlier) reconfiguring Windows to work how you like it...

And agan, MAKE SURE YOU BACK UP ALL IMPORTANT DATA FIRST!

**drone** · 10-03-2006, 21:30

Originally Posted by hoom

If you do a full HDD format, you should probably make a 4-10GB windows partition while you're at it with the remainder of the disk as another partition on which you keep all your data that needs to be kept.
This way, in future you can just format the windows partition without going through the whole rigmarole of backup.

This is generally good practice, but you probably will want to make the partition a little bigger than 4GB. WindowsUpdates puts the uninstallers for updates on the C: partition, and the service packs generally require lots of C: drive space. Depending on your space usage limitations, I would suggest at least 10GB for the C: partition. The C: partition tends to collect a lot of miscellaneous stuff that is a pain or just plain impossible (poor application programming) to move to another partition. Definitely move your MyDocs to another partition.

**hoom** · 10-04-2006, 01:59

Well, I did say 4-10gb...
But yeah, I have 10 & 15gb OS partitions.

**drone** · 10-04-2006, 15:50

My current PC has only a 5GB C: partition, and it's getting squeezed now. This was my first XP machine, and I didn't realize how much space the updates would eventually take.

**Geezer57** · 10-04-2006, 17:58

That's one of the main reasons why, using a registry editor such as Registrar Lite (http://www.resplendence.com/downloads), I've always edited Windows to install most applications to my D: drive by default. After editing the registry, I copy the Program Files folder there.
When searching for paths to change, after the obvious "C:\Program Files" path, you also need to input the old DOS style "C:\PROGRA~1" path. Apparently there's a lot of legacy code still in WinXP.

**Monarch** · 10-14-2006, 08:40

Thanks for you tips and I think tommorow will be the big day. I was going to wait until only a few days before m2 but I've ordered Dawn Of War (and if its good I'll get dark crusade xpack) and I hear theres loads of patches, so I don't want to install/uninstall after just a few weeks. So I'm going to do it this weekend...after I take down the 1000 pieces of GCSE courswork I have to do :(

Anywho, I'm just not computer savvy enough for a partition. I'm going to start zipping stuff today and then go and buy a DVD to stick everything on. The PCs main use is gaming, so it had alot of demos and rubbish on it, but actually useful stuff I need to save is minimal, which is handy :)

Just to clarify, a few months ago I tried to reformat, got quite far but then it said "this will add ANOTHER operating system to this hard drive, are you sure you want to continue?", which scared me. I want to overwrite, not add another, do I still click yes? Because if I don't I can't reformat lol..