I would like to reload my XP Home O/S and I would like to start off "fdisk"
ing the H/D...this way I hope to remove ALL from the H/D. I know the CD asks
to format in either FAT or NTFS, but formatting does not do deep enough
JB
"Pegasus" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
news:OMlBwqnsHHA.1416@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "daytona°" <HVACR@excite.com> wrote in message
> news:iridnUl2J80zfOrbnZ2dnUVZ_gGdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>> and if so...HOW?
>>
>> Thanks
>> JB
>
> I haven't got the faintest idea what you're talking about.
> Please take the time and elaborate!
>
fdisk is a Win98 command. It does not exist under WinXP and
you do not need it anyway.
Boot your machine with your WinXP CD, then allow your
hard disk to be formatted when prompted.
"daytona°" <HVACR@excite.com> wrote in message
news:l4mdnZRWV6xQfurbnZ2dnUVZ_rSjnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>I would like to reload my XP Home O/S and I would like to start off "fdisk"
>ing the H/D...this way I hope to remove ALL from the H/D. I know the CD
>asks to format in either FAT or NTFS, but formatting does not do deep
>enough
> JB
>
>
>
>
> "Pegasus" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
> news:OMlBwqnsHHA.1416@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>
>> "daytona°" <HVACR@excite.com> wrote in message
>> news:iridnUl2J80zfOrbnZ2dnUVZ_gGdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>>> and if so...HOW?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>> JB
>>
>> I haven't got the faintest idea what you're talking about.
>> Please take the time and elaborate!
>>
>
>
On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:10:40 -0400, "daytona°" <HVACR@excite.com>
wrote:
> I would like to reload my XP Home O/S and I would like to start off "fdisk"
> ing the H/D...this way I hope to remove ALL from the H/D. I know the CD asks
> to format in either FAT or NTFS, but formatting does not do deep enough
Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if
necessary to accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean
installation (delete the existing partition by pressing "D" when
prompted, then create a new one).
That process (which people call "formatting") is actually a
combination of what FDISK used to do in Windows 9X and formatting.
--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:10:40 -0400, daytona° wrote:
> I would like to reload my XP Home O/S and I would like to start off "fdisk"
> ing the H/D...this way I hope to remove ALL from the H/D. I know the CD asks
> to format in either FAT or NTFS, but formatting does not do deep enough
> JB
>
>
If you want to completely clean the disk before a reinstall, try a program
like killdisk. It runs from a floppy or CD and will write 0s over the
whole drive. Some hard drive manufacturers also have programs to "kill"
the data on a disk. However, remember that if you format with XP Home and
then reinstall everything, most of what you had previously will be
re-written over and will be unrecoverable.
On 19 Jun, 15:01, "daytona°" <H...@excite.com> wrote:
> and if so...HOW?
>
> Thanks
> JB
Yes
fdisk is not a verb in that there are different things you can do with
fdisk so it's ambiguous to say 'to fdisk'. But fdisk can work with
partitions whatever their OS e.g. win NT. EVen though the fdisk you
run is off a win 9x disk or boot cd.
whatever function of fdisk you refer to, it will work. So yes, you can
fdisk it !
FDISK doesn't see the operating system. It just works with partitions.
You can create partitions, delete partitions.
If you run fdisk then you see how. Because It's menu driven, simple to
use.
Just know that you have a primary partition, and if you want more,
you have an extended partition, and logical partitions within the
extended partition.
You may be able to create more primarys in fdisk, it wasn't done ..
There are other programs like partition magic where you can resize
partitions, create many primary partitions, convert the file system
between NTFS and FAT32, hide partitions. These are things fdisk
doesn't offer.
You can create and delete partitions within the windows xp setup cd.
You don't need fdisk. Maybe the win9X setup cd didn't have those
options do people used fdisk in that. Fdisk goes back to the days of
dos. It works.
And it has another useful switch on it. fdisk /mbr
Though you can use the Win XP (NT?) CD's FIXMBR and FIXBOOT. And i've
even seen a case where the NT commands fixed it and fdisk /mbr didn't.
THe NT ones also tell you if it's corrupted.
To start fdisk, get a win98 floppy disk, boot off it, and type FDISK
<ENTER>
You can run fdisk from a win98 boot cd. This is different to running
things off a win xp boot cd. With the win98 boot cd, it has an option
to go to "Command Prompt" . (a bit like win98 does when you press F8
when it says 'starting windows 98'). So choose to go to the command
prompt. Then you start fdisk
A:\>fdisk <ENTER>
partition magic is very useful. The rescue disks it asks you to create
when you install it as essentially a partition magic for DOS. It's
bigger than fdisk though. And it takes 2 or 3 floppy disks. (or a CD
if you know how to make a bootable CD from a bootable floppy disk -
nero can. 'nero express' i think, or another more configurable method
in nero)
<jameshanley39@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1182281427.538514.237850@q75g2000hsh.googlegr oups.com...
On 19 Jun, 15:01, "daytona°" <H...@excite.com> wrote:
> and if so...HOW?
>
> Thanks
> JB
Yes
fdisk is not a verb in that there are different things you can do with
fdisk so it's ambiguous to say 'to fdisk'. But fdisk can work with
partitions whatever their OS e.g. win NT. EVen though the fdisk you
run is off a win 9x disk or boot cd.
whatever function of fdisk you refer to, it will work. So yes, you can
fdisk it !
FDISK doesn't see the operating system. It just works with partitions.
You can create partitions, delete partitions.
If you run fdisk then you see how. Because It's menu driven, simple to
use.
Just know that you have a primary partition, and if you want more,
you have an extended partition, and logical partitions within the
extended partition.
You may be able to create more primarys in fdisk, it wasn't done ..
There are other programs like partition magic where you can resize
partitions, create many primary partitions, convert the file system
between NTFS and FAT32, hide partitions. These are things fdisk
doesn't offer.
You can create and delete partitions within the windows xp setup cd.
You don't need fdisk. Maybe the win9X setup cd didn't have those
options do people used fdisk in that. Fdisk goes back to the days of
dos. It works.
And it has another useful switch on it. fdisk /mbr
Though you can use the Win XP (NT?) CD's FIXMBR and FIXBOOT. And i've
even seen a case where the NT commands fixed it and fdisk /mbr didn't.
THe NT ones also tell you if it's corrupted.
To start fdisk, get a win98 floppy disk, boot off it, and type FDISK
<ENTER>
You can run fdisk from a win98 boot cd. This is different to running
things off a win xp boot cd. With the win98 boot cd, it has an option
to go to "Command Prompt" . (a bit like win98 does when you press F8
when it says 'starting windows 98'). So choose to go to the command
prompt. Then you start fdisk
A:\>fdisk <ENTER>
partition magic is very useful. The rescue disks it asks you to create
when you install it as essentially a partition magic for DOS. It's
bigger than fdisk though. And it takes 2 or 3 floppy disks. (or a CD
if you know how to make a bootable CD from a bootable floppy disk -
nero can. 'nero express' i think, or another more configurable method
in nero)
=====================
Quite a chatty reply and several mistakes. Just to pick a few:
- But fdisk can work with partitions whatever their OS e.g. win NT.
=> There is no such thing as an NT or a Win98 partition. WinXP
recognises FAT/FAT32 partitions and NTFS partitions.
=> fdisk.exe cannot create NTFS partitions.
=> fdisk can delete some but not all NTFS partitions.
- whatever function of fdisk you refer to, it will work.
=> No, it won't - see above.
an one "fdisk" XP home operating system 
Linear Mode
