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Formatting HDD



  2004 1.2 Dynamique
Right i have a vista laptop which needs downgrading to XP

It wont let me reinstall it with XP until the driven has been formatted and it wont let me format it with my XP disc

Whats the best way to format the disc without using the xp cd?
 
  R26
use the vista disc? you might be able to set up a boot disc using a cd instead of a floppy and format through that.
 
  2004 1.2 Dynamique
Its just local at the moment, not on the network or anything, its only been booted u once, its just logged on as the default administrator

I've also just given everyone full control of the c: drive too and added as local admin

Still doing the same
 

KDF

  Audi TT Stronic
Got a linux CD lying around ? could chuck one of them in as they would happily format a Vista partition infact I think its mandatory.
 
  2004 1.2 Dynamique
Right they arnt working for some reason my knoppix discs, and i dont have any linux cd's on me :(
 
  20VT Clio & 9-5 HOT
you cant format the C: drive when you are logged into windows.

Download a windows 98 boot disk, boot into dos then run format c: /s
 
  20VT Clio & 9-5 HOT
actually cant you just boot from the windows xp cd? that should give you the option to change partitions and format before an install of windows!

I think it only 'sometimes' removes the option if you try and install windows from within windows OS itself! a fresh install should work!
 
  2004 1.2 Dynamique
Its doing my fuckin head in now this!

I cant do anything from the XP Cd bud it just says no HDD detected whatever I try to do!?
 

KDF

  Audi TT Stronic
Download a linux live cd like ubuntu live.

boot it up, open a terminal and type

Code:
sudo fdisk /dev/hda

hda = ide1 master
hdb = ide1 slave
hdc = ide2 master
hdd = ide2 slave

sd? = scsi/sata eg sda, sdb, sdc

you should be able to do

Code:
df -h

and you can tell by the drive size.

then run the fdisk command mentioned above and select the option to delete a partition (type h + enter to get a full list of commands)

takes 10 minutes to type this but takes 10 seconds to do.
 

KDF

  Audi TT Stronic
No probs, remember to write the changes after using fdisk.


Code:
/dev/sda1             178G  8.3G  161G   5% /
varrun               1014M  120K 1014M   1% /var/run
varlock              1014M     0 1014M   0% /var/lock
procbususb           1014M  136K 1014M   1% /proc/bus/usb
udev                 1014M  136K 1014M   1% /dev
devshm               1014M     0 1014M   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs                1014M   33M  981M   4% /lib/modules/2.6.20-16-generic/volatile

Here is an example of one of my systems, as you can see its a very basic desktop system. The main drive here is /dev/sda1 at 178GB.

so I would now

Code:
sudo fdisk /dev/sda

note: ive dropped the 1 from sda as 1 relates to the partition number so is not needed as we are going to examine the whole disk !


here is a list of the commands available.

Code:
cmcewan@MythTV-Encoder:/storage$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda
Password:

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 24321.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): m
Command action
   a   toggle a bootable flag
   b   edit bsd disklabel
   c   toggle the DOS compatibility flag
   d   delete a partition
   l   list known partition types
   m   print this menu
   n   add a new partition
   o   create a new empty DOS partition table
   p   print the partition table
   q   quit without saving changes
   s   create a new empty Sun disklabel
   t   change a partition's system id
   u   change display/entry units
   v   verify the partition table
   w   write table to disk and exit
   x   extra functionality (experts only)


if you type p and then hit enter you will see a printout of the partition table like so

Code:
Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1       23565   189285831   83  Linux
/dev/sda2           23566       24321     6072570    5  Extended
/dev/sda5           23566      24321     6072538+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

then use d + enter to delete a partition eg.

Code:
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-5):

and then you would select the number of the partition you wanted to delete, in your case all of them.

finally make sure you have done everything correctly, if at any point you make a mistake exit fdisk and your changes will not be saved.

to save the changes use 'w' to write changes to disk.
 
  2004 1.2 Dynamique
One sec haha

Right i've opened my terminal, bearing in mind i've never used any linux coding or anything before im a complete novice, what do i need to type now?

The hard drive is 250 gig and its partitioned into 3 partitions
 

TeZ

  Non RS : (
KDF has a brain like mojojojo,

mojojojo.jpg
 
Sounds to me you need to load the SATA/SCSI controller drivers, if XP setup is saying "No HDD" found..
 

KDF

  Audi TT Stronic
lol.. type

df -h


it will list your partitions like i posted earlier. if its sata it will probably be

sudo fdisk /dev/sda


then refer to my previous post.

NOTE: you will loose ALL data on this drive !
 

KDF

  Audi TT Stronic
Joel, when you boot up ubuntu there is an icon on teh desktop saying 'install' just run that and a few pages in it will bring up disk druid which will let you modify the drive and show you it all graphically !

You should even be able to create NTFS partitions !
 
  2004 1.2 Dynamique
^ lol

It boots up, press enter to continue

I press enter

It says cant detect any hard drives, you might have to use some manufacturers software or something
 
  2004 1.2 Dynamique
Joel, when you boot up ubuntu there is an icon on teh desktop saying 'install' just run that and a few pages in it will bring up disk druid which will let you modify the drive and show you it all graphically !

You should even be able to create NTFS partitions !

done that, says there is no system root file and wont let me alter the partitions or format them
 
  2004 1.2 Dynamique
Right if i completely format it using this ubuntu cd?

It will get rid of every single piece of information on the hard disk wont it, does that mean it wont have the drivers etc for HDD's and CD rom drive therefore will not be able to boot from CD rom drive right?
 
DO you have a SATA HD?

If so, then XP won't pick up the disk (XP doesn't have native SATA drivers)

COntact your vendor and get the drivers.
 

KDF

  Audi TT Stronic
No. You will loose all data from the HDD but your computer will still be able to boot from the CD drive.

Your OS has nothing to do with that process... thats all done by the BIOS.


The more your telling us the more im inclined to agree with Daz on the need for a sata driver though !
 
  2004 1.2 Dynamique
Yea i reckon its that too, i rung acer and they said i need to format it as XP cant see the right boot sector
 

KDF

  Audi TT Stronic
*RECALL*

IIRC you press f5 to load the drivers ?? while its on the first blue installation screen... somone correct me if im wrong its soo long since I installed windows on anything.
 


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