Help......What are the steps to formating a new HDD ?

[pugh]

Hello,
I just got a new HDD(OEM). And i would like someone that is qualified to tell me the steps to take to format my hard drive. It will be going into my new pc this weekend.Please if you can be specific too..thanks

 

[Henry Kuo]

before you do format, you have to fdisk the hard drive. first get a win98 boot disk. and since this is probably the first time you do this, i will suggest you unplug your old hard drive (so you won't deelte anything in the old drive). Plug in the new hard drive, and use the boot disk to boot up the machine.

after it is booted, type "fdisk", and you should have 4 option. choose option 1 to create partition. the easiest way is to create one partition (you can play around with it to see how you can create several partition, since you have nothing in the hdd anyway).

after that, exit fdisk and it should ask you to reboot. reboot again, and the type "format c: /q/u" if you are going to use it as a slave drive. if you are going to use it as master and will be the boot up hard drive, type "format c: /q/u/s"

after that, you should be good to go.

 

[pugh]

thank you..this HDD is my primary drive in the new pc I'll be building.

 

[boomerang]

Hey rominl, what is the "q" switch for?

 

[Henry Kuo]

pugh - if that's your primary drive, you might want to use the format c: /q/u/s. that should should the system files in one the hard drive so it becomes bootable.

boomerang - q means quick. it probably won't work with a new hdd (it has to be a formatted hard drive already), but I am not sure. putting it in never hurt. and u means unconditional, s means system

 

[urbantechie]

Plug the drive in as Primary Master. Boot off the Win98 boot disk and hold down shift while its booting. Type "FDISK" and yes to Large Formats. Select Option 1 then 1 then answer "Yes" to make the partition Active and at the maximum size. It will then ask you to reboot. Reboot again with the Win98 boot disk but don't hold down SHIFT. Type "Format c: /s". Now it is ready for use.