Formatting

[Pen it off!]

How do i completely remove Windows 98 from my PC and then re-install it. i read somewhere that it's good if your computer is beginning to slow down after a few years worth of programs being used, it apparently gives it a new lease of life.

Thanks in anticipation.

[tony draper]

If you have a widows startup floppy , go into bios and change the boot sequence to a/c, then place floppy in drive switch on machine, type, format c:
Thats all there is to it, bare in mind all every thing on your Hard idsk will be gone.
If you want to do a clean windows install,put win98 disk into cd drive, again boot from the floppy, and just type setup.
good luck :)

[Pen it off!]

nice one tony draper, i'll try this tonight.

Brgds

[v1rotate]

Is there any other way of uninstalling Windows without formatting the hard drive then installing windows again keeping all the existing files and windows applications.
http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/mica/laptop.gif

[RW-1]

Well V1, that is a contradiction in terms, if you are keeping the windows apps, most of which set themselves into the registry and other windows core files for the programs, you cannot have both, if you don't want to format the drive, you may perform a Re-install of windows over itself.

But if you are going to truly remove windows, then you would be removing those core files, and the registry. If you are going to do that, then save the apps data files, and kill the apps as well, for you would have to reinstall them on the new windows install to get their entries back into the fresh registry.

[ 24 August 2001: Message edited by: RW-1 ]

[v1rotate]

Thanks RW-1, that was what I wanted to know. I had a feeling that the registry files would be affected. The reason I ask is that I'm using win95 on a laptop and I want to install win98 onto it however I only have a full version of the win98 and not an upgrade.

http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/mica/pc-crash.gif

[Ausatco]

V1r,

I was in that position - Win95 and did not have an upgrade to Win98, only the full version. I saved all my data, formatted the hard drive and then took the opportunity to set things up to minimise pain at a later date should reformatting and reinstallation be necessary.

If your hard disk is big enough, think about partitioning it into a number of logical drives, or if you have a desktop PC with more than one physical drive the following will work:-

You can partition a hard disk into as many logical drives as you want. Your one C drive could be partitioned into C, D, E and F, etc. Or you can use different physical drives to the same effect.

I like to keep C for ONLY the Windows system.

I install all my apps into D.

I use E for all the data files that my apps generate. If I want to back up all my data, I just back up the E drive - easy.

I use F for saving all my downloaded software and upgrades and nothing else. This includes any saveable stuff from the Windows update site.

The benefit of this strategy is that if it all goes pear shaped:-

1) Back up the E drive to retain data.

2) Format C. (Nothing lost because it contains ONLY Windows, no data.

3) Reinstall windows to C

4) Reinstall apps (from CD, floppies, etc)to D. Reinstall downloaded programs and updates to apps from F.

5) Restore data to E if necessary.

Its a pain, nothing can stop that, and it takes ages, but it's orderly and nothing is lost.

I have three physical drives, but you can do it with any combination of physical drives and logical drives in partitions. If you have one big 30gig drive formerly known as C, you can easily partition that into c, d, e, f, etc. Even if they're all on the one big drive, if you have to format C the others on different partitions will be ok and untouched. Of course, if the drive itself dies, you've lost everything. That's why I use 3 physical drives. I don't use tape for backups, but I do make sure any backups are on a different physical drive to the original data.

I have found that using the above system, 2 or 3 Gig for a C drive is sufficient for Windows 98 and its virtual memory. The other drives you can size to suit yourself.

Hope this is of use - you don't have to do it exactly this way, but the principle is sound, I think - well, it works for me. It's a strategy I developed the hard way :(

AA

[ 25 August 2001: Message edited by: Ausatco ]

[M.Mouse]

Ausatco

Your formula makes a lot of sense but have you backed up elsewhere to account for the case of HDD failure?

[Tinstaafl]

I've done something similar.

I have Win98 & all my applications on the C: partition, my data on D: & an E: partition that is just large enough to hold a CD-ROM. I also have Linux installed on its own set of partitions, but still use the Windows D: drive for my data storage.

Most software seems to scatter large numbers of files in amongst Windows & storing information in the registry, requiring a re-install after a clean install of Windows. Didn't seem to be any benefit from separating applications from the Windows.

I've set Windows & all applications to use the D: partition for the certain system folders & files eg desktop, favourites, off-line web pages, email etc. I also use the D: partition to store compressed installation files for downloaded software should I need to wipe the C: partition.

The CD size partition makes it easier to store a disk image prior to installation burning a CD.

For back up I have a spare laptop drive in a caddy that plugs into my laptop's PCMCIA port. All I need to do stick the PC-Card in the slot, wait for the HD to be recognised & then copy the D: drive in it's entirety.

[Ausatco]

M Mouse,

My system is far from perfect :D but it is a reasonable compromise (I think) between security for a home system and $$ outlay.

I have three physical drives. One is system (C). One is D, E, F and G. The third (H) I use for data backups. I figure I'd be pretty unlucky to lose my data drive AND my backup as well, and if I do, c'est la vie (Gallic shrug of shoulders)

My "mission critical" stuff - work that I do at home, works in progress - is usually text based or Excel. I make floppy backups of them as I go as well as periodic backups onto the 3rd hdd. But family stuff with large files, like photo editing - well, I'm relying on not losing 2 hard drives at once!

Edited because I never get it right the first time :D

AA

[ 27 August 2001: Message edited by: Ausatco ]

[RW-1]

No problem V1,

You can try doing what ausatco has outlined, but I wish to point out one other thing, if your full version disk of 98 is from MS, install into a laptop, it may, or may not have the specific drivers for all the installed devices on the laptop.

So if you do install it, create a boot disk with CD support (if it has one) just so you can get into the system by diskette if necessary, if 98 installs ok, but cannot detect sound (usually that and possibly modem, if internal and not pcmcia) then you can go get them from the manufacturer's website then install.