Fdisk

paddyc

folks

I have a F*****G problem again with my PC I only reinstalled it again last week. I am so f*****d off with the whole thing now. I think I ight have a bug on my hard drive so I am trying to FDISK it, but I dont know how to...

I was running win 2k pro and I was thinking about reinstalling it first.. if that makes sense and then when I can get an interface deleting everythigna dn fdisk from there?

Does that make sense ? or can anyone help?

I also have a prob with my laptop but one step at a time, any and all help appreciated.

many thanks

paddy

The Muppet

If you want to repartition the root (C Drive)you will have to do it from a boot disk. The windows install cds are bootable or you can download various boot floppys from bootdisk.com.

Sleipnir

Originally posted by paddyc

I was running win 2k pro and I was thinking about reinstalling it first.. if that makes sense and then when I can get an interface deleting everythigna dn fdisk from there?

well, you can't run fdisk from windows, you'll have to get a bootdisk as suggested already (or the OS cd), boot off that and then run fdisk.
With FDisk you can delete the partitions (including ALL the data) from your disk, then you re-create the partitions through fdisk and install the OS.

But, if you're thinking fdisk is some sort of HD diagnostic, it ain't.

What's the problem you're having anyway?

MarkR

Most o/s disks give you an otpion to create and delete partitions, soyou can use that.

Mark

Sleipnir

they do. But if you have no partitions on the disk in the first place then you can't even get that far as setup needs to copy setup files to the HD before it can start.

moridin

You sure on that one? AFAIK Setup loads files into memory from the Windows 2k/XP, and then runs off the loaded files until the partitioning & formatting is complete, whereupon it copies files to the partition you set up...

MarkR

Originally posted by Sleipnir
they do. But if you have no partitions on the disk in the first place then you can't even get that far as setup needs to copy setup files to the HD before it can start.

Using the recovery cd you can install, even on a new hard drive with no partitions.

Sleipnir

Originally posted by moridin
You sure on that one? AFAIK Setup loads files into memory from the Windows 2k/XP, and then runs off the loaded files until the partitioning & formatting is complete, whereupon it copies files to the partition you set up...

try it.
If you tell windows setup to format the partition (let's say you just have the one) it will tell you
"setup cannot format this partition as it contains files needed for windows setup"

You can delete & create other partitions though obviously.

Feel free to prove me wrong though, wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong (I think it would be the 3rd )

<EDIT> Thinking about it again, I really don't think you can run setup unless you have somewhere on the HD for Windows to copy the files. I seem to remember it says something like
"setup cannot copy files needed to continue. Setup will now exit"

MarkR, there was no mention of using recovery CD's, just the operating system CD which is why I said what I said.

Cake Fiend

Go to www.maxtor.com and download their PowerMax utility. This is a handy hard drive diagnostic utility that works with all drives, not just Maxtors. This might be able to tell whether there's a problem with your hard drive or not. A solution might be as simple as a low-level format (use as a last resort though).

The Muppet

Originally posted by Sleipnir
try it.
If you tell windows setup to format the partition (let's say you just have the one) it will tell you
"setup cannot format this partition as it contains files needed for windows setup"

You can delete & create other partitions though obviously.

Feel free to prove me wrong though, wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong (I think it would be the 3rd )

<EDIT> Thinking about it again, I really don't think you can run setup unless you have somewhere on the HD for Windows to copy the files. I seem to remember it says something like
"setup cannot copy files needed to continue. Setup will now exit"

MarkR, there was no mention of using recovery CD's, just the operating system CD which is why I said what I said.

What disk are you booting from? If you boot from an OS install Cd or startup disk you can partition and format your C: drive . The you can continue with the install.

If you are installing XP if you boot from the CD it will prompt you throught the whole process.

Sleipnir

Originally posted by The Muppet
What disk are you booting from? If you boot from an OS install Cd or startup disk you can partition and format your C: drive . The you can continue with the install.

If you are installing XP if you boot from the CD it will prompt you throught the whole process.

I don't think so Sico. I may be wrong but I won't know that until the next time I re-install.

paddyc

okay lads

please can you keep the lingo simple for me...:D

LAst night i pressed F10 and set the pc to load from the C drive, floppy, Hard drive and last the IDE ???

I had the win 2k pro installation cd in the C drive, but it missed it and tried to boot from the hard drive and kept cutting out and restarting and over and over doing the same thing...

Does my win 2k pro CD have to be bootable, if so how do I make it bootable or indeed, can I get a bootable CD anywhere.

Also on bootdisk.com could I get the win 98 boot disk ?? put it in the floppy boot and load from there then install win2k over it and partition when it asks me ???

I know the sensible thing to do would be to get a PC doc to do it, but I wanna try this stuff on my own cos its a bit of a challenge and all that.

okay thanks folks

paddy