reformat hardrive

[shadow82]

Hi.
I have a Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop with Windows ME, and its been giving me a lot of problems, so I think its time to reformat. Unfortunately I lost my boot disk, and for some reason I get an error when I try to make a new one. Are there any alternate methods of reformatting without having to use a boot disk? I'd appreciate any tips. Thanks

 

[Unts]

If you have all the software you want to put on it on CD, and you have a copy of an OS, like ME or XP on CD, then just boot from the CD.

The setup process should give you the option to format your hard drive.

Out of interest, what was the bootdisk for? Was it for ME setup, or for a recovery CD?

 

[vansouza]

I just had to do the same with a laptop I got for Xmas... It came with a recovery CD; did yours? If it did that would be best... you should be able to make a bootable floppy off of a friends system... and be sure your floppy is not write protected...

 

[compudog]

Try BootDisk.com to get the bootable floppy you are looking for. It has been my experience that OEM copies of any Windows OS will not install if they see Windows system files on the target partition. Best to FDISK and format the drive first before installing the OS. Good Luck.