format hard drive

How do you format the hard drive?

--
Walt

Insert the Vista DVD into your DVD drive and reboot your PC. Allow the setup
to run and follow the instruction in this article from my website

What if you don't have the original Vista DVDs because Vista came
pre-loaded on the PC?

The app of which you speak is PC Decrapifier.

I knew it was PC something but couldn't think of the full name
at the time I replied to the post.

Hi Peter,

You should have a recovery drive/disc in which you can re-install the
operating system. This would remove everything and then re-install Vista.

If you are downgrading, i.e., to say Windows XP then, again, assuming you
have the CD you can format before you install the operating system using the
XP disc.

There are also ways of formatting using a floppy disk.

While I understand your question, you haven't said what you intend to
actually do that requires you to format your hard drive?

Thanks John - Actually we got this laptop from my father-in-law after ours
was stolen, so he had a whole whack of additional programs installed by the
vendor which is just eating up memory, space, etc.

Also, the way that he setup the user profiles on the system really drive me
crazy, and I've tried every other way - but formatting - to correct them, but
I can't seem to figure out an easy way to do this via the admin tools on
Vista.

I found the recovery disks last night so I'll be backing up and trying the
formatting method next...

Thanks

If you are using 'recovery discs' then these will automatically reformat and
re-install Windows Vista for you.

I can't actually bring the application to mind at the moment, but maybe
someone else will. There is an application that you can download (free I
believe) that you can actually use to remove all the rubbish that OEM's add
to the windows Vista installation. We all get dumped with Norton or Mcafee
and wished we had never seen them.

Personally, when I purchase a new PC the first thing that I do is install my
retail version of Vista. I do make recovery discs of the original OEM copy
just in case I give the machine away after a few years, but I much prefer
to start with a full retail version of Vista because I know I can install it
on another computer (after my original one has become no use to me), whereas
with an OEM copy it is tied to the machine it was originally installed on.

John,
You gave a lot of good information here thanks.
Now I have a question along these lines. I am installing an additional hard
drive, a larger one on my HP Desktop, I am running Vista Ultimate. What I
would like to do is install everything on my system now to the larger drive
and keep the smaller one as a drive for other uses. I guess that I can use
Complete PC Backup and Restore but then how do I restore everything to the
new hard drive? Also if I can do this do I have to partion, initilize and
format the drive to NSTF system first ? At the same time I am updating memory
to 6GB.
I am a student, going for my Masters in IS so I have a lot of programs on my
computer for different things. I have even thought of mybe using Windows
Server 2008 w/Hyper-V but not sure how that would work either, I do have this
program but never installed it.
Any help that you can give will really be appreciated and if you have other
ideas please let me know.
Thanks

If I were you I'd simply install the programs you want onto the larger HD
after loading your Vista Ultimate on it. I don't understand why you need to
use Complete Backup and Restore in the process of installing whatever it is
you want onto the larger hard drive. Once you get the larger hard drive
installed, simply go to disk management on the smaller drive where you have
a Vista on it, and right click the larger one and quick format it to NTFS.
Then install whatever you want to it. This will give you a dual boot. If
you want to use the other drive as a storage drive, without the OS on it,
then once you install Vista on the larger drive, you can format it if you
like from diskmanagement and use it as a storage drive. When you're on the
larger drive, it will be labled C:\ and you can easily navigate to whatever
drive letter your smaller drive is and you can install programs to Vista on
the larger drive by installing them in Program Files on the smaller drive.
You can drag and drop whatever files/folders you want to the smaller drive
if you want to use it as a storage drive.

As you probably know, starting here is a good resource for Win Server 08
and Hyper V.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserv...perv-main.aspx

CH,
Thank you for the good information, I think that is probably the way that I
will go then.
I have a few questions then for you because I want to make sure that I
understand what you are saying so I don’t screw things up when I do it.

You say to install the programs that I want on the larger hard drive after I
install Vista on it. I may have a problem here, my PC came with Vista Home
Premium preinstalled and then I purchased the upgrade to Ultimate and
installed it. I do have the Disc for the upgrade but will this allow me to
install a second version of it to my second hard drive or am I
misunderstanding you here?

Also, in addition to formatting the new drive will I have to partition it as
well?

You mentioned that, this will give me a dual boot and when I’m on the larger
drive, it will be labeled C:\
and you can easily navigate to whatever drive letter your smaller drive is
and you can install programs to Vista on the larger drive by installing them
in Program Files on the smaller drive. I don’t quite understand this, can you
maybe give me a little more detail on it?

Also, you gave me some web sites about Server 2008 Hyper-V, are you
suggesting that I do anything any way with it as well?

Thank you again for the help

In this case, you will have to use the upgrade on your existing OS on your
original smaller HD. *You don't have Vista on a DVD right now* to install
on the new larger HD, since your PC and it's smaller HD came pre-installed
with the OEM as I understand it unless you somehow acquired a Vista DVD. I
don't know of any OEM PC manufacturers who are sending Vista DVDs with PCs,
but there are probably exceptions out there. I know Lionel Manchaka the VP
of Dig Media at Dell made that promise when Vista RTM'd and he promptly
broke it. He tweets, so when I get around to it, I'll tweet him and ask him
whazzup with his broken promise.

Tyserman's smaller HD Preinstalled Vista Home Premium
Tyserman's larger HD raw and needs to be formatted
Tyserman has Ultimate Upgrade to Upgrade his OEM installed VH Premium

You will have to upgrade on the preinstalled VH Premium and then choose a
way to image it to that other HD because like all OEM box purchasers you
were given no free standing Vista DVD. You always have the option of going
out and buying any Vista DVD that will allow you to follow the upgrade path
using your ultimate upgrade (you can google for that).

As to Hyper V, I think you said you were a comp science major now in
college, and I would strongly urge you to become familiar with it if that's
the case. Microsoft's websites, including the ones I gave you and the team
blogs offer all kinds of resources now to get you started.

Hyper V is deployed in conjunction with Win Server 2008 as its core, and
often Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager intergrated with Operations
Manager. You can also find groups to learn about it, but I don't see any
NNTP newsgroups. I'm sure there are tons of web based forums, and some from
MSFT.

It is very much part of the present and future either on the enterprise or
small business level. I went to the Launch, and the guy sitting next to me
who is IT manager for 39 branch banks, told me he will save considerable
money and time deploying Hyper V to manage all the computers in his
branches.

Microsoft uses Hyper V to manage Technet, MSDN, and http://www.microsoft.com
and all their websites, as well as in the management of their campuses, and
their setup at Redmond. We had a lecture from one of the guys who manages
IT for Microsoft who outlined how they were using it, the millions it saved,
and the huge time savings and efficiency it confers on MSFT corporate's
management of their websites and the resources that their various campuses
need.

Technet gets about a million hits a day, MSDN 3 million, and
http://www.microsoft.com handles about a billion using Hyper V to run all of
them.

I would imagine your school has profs who should be familiar with Hyper V
who can help guide you in becoming familiar with it.