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How to Format a hard drive?

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9 replies

by demonslaer26101

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I would like to be able to format a windows 95 Hard drive and put on windows 98,but i can't find where to go to get step by step instructions on how this operation is preformed.

9 replies

by dmiles

See the following sites for info to install Windows 98
1)http://home.earthlink.net/~billselk/al440lx/win98.html
2)www.windows-help.net/windows98/start-01.shtml
3)http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q221/8/29.asp

by drb63

You keep asking questions (hundreds of questions) but never award anyone any points. Do you work in the IT field? There's some great books on the shelves that you might want your employer to purchase for you.

by thechas

If you are going to start over from a blank drive, you first need to decide what file system, and how you are going to partition the drive.
Also, back up all critical data and settings (ISP)
Look in device manager, or download Belarc Advisor (www.belarc.com) and copy down the device infornmation.
Motherboard, chipset, video card, sound card, modem, etc.
Download the latest W98 drivers for all hardware.

If the drive is larger than 2GB, and you want to have only 1 partition, you need to setup the drive for FAT32.
If the drive is under 2GB, you might want to stay with FAT16.

For FAT32, start with a W98 startup disk.
If you don't have one, you can download the files from www.bootdisk.com
Boot from the floppy, and run fdisk.
Delete the partition(s) on the hard drive.
Re-boot, and create new FAT32 partitions as desired.
There is a good article on partitioning at www.aumha.org
After you create the partition(s), re-boot again, and use the format command to format the drive.Then run setup from the CD drive.
D: press enter (assuming 1 HD and 1 partition)
setup press enter
You should now be installing W98 onto the drive.

After W98 completes the installation, you will need to install device drivers.
Start with the drivers for the motherboard / chipset.
Then DirectX (from Microsoft)
Then your video card driver.
Then your other plug-in cards (sound modem)
Then install your choice of web browser, and security updates.

Chas

by mfo99

First go to downloads.cnet.com and download a file named EZ-Install it free and this program can repartition and insall windows,XP NT 2000 and others very useful and hands free.This program will ask a few question easy to fellow a beginner can use and it ask for OS key codes put in disk and the program does the rest.You can just walk away.

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