Formatting a New Laptop HD

[21stHermit]

I'm a little fuzzy on this, please help. 😕

So I want to install a new HD in my Dell Inspiron 1100. I have the XP Home CD that came with the laptop. The following is what I think I know.

Seems to me that the BIOS will recognize the CD-ROM drive and the XP CD will be seen as the boot disc. I do not have a floppy, so I can't go that route. Will XP offer to format the new HD? If so, I'm home free. Just a matter of formatting, installing XP and my programs.

Let me know if my thinking is correct. 🙂

 

[roguerower]

What you're gonna have to do is go in to the BIOS like you did and set the boot disk to the cdrom. When it comes up "Hit any key to boot from disk..." hit a key. XP will go through and load all the drivers that it needs and then present you with questions. Do a brand new installation, F8 to agree. When it comes up to partition, if you only want one HD then choose the maximum space. It will make the partition. Hit continue. Then it will ask whether to format the disk using FAT32 or NTFS. Go NTFS since it doesn't take up as much space and is faster and newer than FAT. Do the regular partition, not the fast, and then sit back and watch.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Do the regular partition, not the fast, and then sit back and watch.

This is a commonly regarded myth which has been discussed on AT a lot, but you actually don't have to do the non-quick format. The only thing the non-quick does IIRC is check the individual sectors for problems. Unless you suspect your hard drive of having difficulties, you don't need to do this. But it still can't hurt 😉

 

[21stHermit]

Originally posted by: roguerower
. . . . and then sit back and watch.

This was the only part I was sure about.

Many thanks for the detailed reply. :beer: :beer:

 

[roguerower]

I agree w/ fbrdphreak. You don't have to do the non-quick format. But since you're installing XP fresh for the first time, it's probably best to cover all your bases. Good luck. Try and upgrade to XP Pro if you can. 🙂