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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Step by Step - Formatting Hard Disk (Part II)

What would come to your mind when you think of the word "REFORMAT"? Technical as it may seem, reformatting is a handy tool; I would say it is a MUST to know.

Optional Software - KILLDISK - Downloadable from HERE

Why KILLDISK?
Active@ KillDisk - Hard Drive Eraser is powerful and compact software that allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders. It's a hard drive and partition eraser utility.

BIOS Configuration

Depending on your computer make, entering the BIOS is different.

- For most Acer and Fujitsu Laptops, it is pressing the F2 button @ Boot up
- For desktops, it is pressing either the F8 button or the del button

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Find "Boot Sequence" and set it in this sequence

1st Sequence - CD ROM drive
2nd Sequence - Hard Drive
3rd Sequence - Floppy Drive

...... Save and Exit BIOS

If you have downloaded and burned KILLDISK, Place KillDisk CD into CD Drive, follow instructions to overwrite data

If you have a regular Windows XP (either Home or Professional Edition) disk, follow the steps below to reformat and reinstall.

- Place your Windows XP CD in your CD drive and restart your computer.
- Press a key on the keyboard when the "Press any key to boot from CD" prompt appears.

- Once the blue Windows XP Setup loads, press Enter at the Welcome to Setup screen.
- Press F8 at the next screen to accept the license agreement.
- Press Esc at the next screen to NOT attempt repair of your Windows partition.

For those who used KillDisk, this is NOT applicable to you
- At the next screen, use the up and down arrow keys to select your main partition
- Press D to delete the partition, and L to confirm your deletion.

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- After deletion is complete, press C to create a New Partition
- Press Enter to install Windows to the un-partitioned space.
- At the next screen, select "Format the partition using the NTFS file system"
- Press Enter to begin the format.

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After the partition has been formatted, the computer will reboot and begin installing Windows XP.

Reinstalling Windows XP

Once the computer reboots, it should load a screen with a blue background saying Windows XP at the top. On the left-hand side, there will be a checklist of tasks for the computer to complete and an estimated amount of time left. The installation process is fairly automated, but you will be required to input information at some places.

When the system install requires information from you, a gray window will appear. You will be asked to enter the following pieces of information:

Product Key (a serial number usually written on your Windows CD case or a sticker on the side of your computer)
Account username and password
Date and time
Network and other system settings (the default options for these are fine)

After the install completes, your computer will reboot and should load a brand-new version of Windows XP.

Credits: http://oregonstate.edu/resnet/guides/reformat.php

@ ITSecure 12:03 AM