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How can I format my hard drive?

Posted By : Ileen of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 19, 2003

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Help, I recently got a new computer with Windows ME already loaded on. I am trying to format the hard drive and start again with Windows 2000 due to some problems. I have a floppy that when booted will format the drive and put on the cd driver so I can then install Windows 2000 but I cannot get the disk to boot. I thought I could go into the bios and change the boot order but when I start the machine pressing delete (or any other keys) wil not enter the setup. What can I do?

This question was answered on February 19, 2003. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.


Start from scratch

Backup any information that you feel is important.

Gather all of your original CDs and disks if you have them, and any documentation that came with your computer

Gather any additional software that you may want to reinstall.

Go to "Device Manager" on your system, copy down and make a list of the devices and/or the drivers that are being used.

create a Startup disk These disks will load CD-ROM drivers at the boot If you are using Windows 95, you will need to create a bootable disk and add the CD-ROM drivers for your CD-ROM

If your computer system came with a "Restore Disk" from the manufacturer, use it instead The information on that disk should have everything you will need to repartition, format and reload software to its original condition.

Once you feel comfortable that the above checklist is completed, then you are ready to format your hard drive and begin reinstalling your machine's operating system

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Posted by Ileen of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 19, 2003

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