Formatting The Hardrive

[chip2388 0]

My computers been running abit slow ever since i got back from my holidays and i also get error messages

 

I have a restore disc but got told it won't restore the computer to its previous state, instead i got told to format the hardrive what does this do exactly?

 

Any help much appreciated,

 

Thanks in advance.

[rikko 20]

Formatting the hard drive wipes it of all data. You'd then have to re-install windows etc.

[LeazesMag 0]

Formatting the hard drive wipes it of all data. You'd then have to re-install windows etc.

28875[/snapback]

 

yes. Good idea if you have problems like you have, but first get a CD-Rw disk or two and transfer any data you want to keep.

 

Before you do the above, you could try running an up to date pop up stopper, and spyware utility because any spyware you have particularly can slow down your PC quite a lot.

 

Also disable any start up programmes you don't want anymore. Defrag your pc as well, you should do this on a regular basis.

 

All these things help, but you might be surprised at how much a difference a spyware cleaner like Spybot or Ad-aware might quicken it up.

Edited September 5, 2005 by LeazesMag

[themags 0]

depending on what sort of PC it is, the restore CD might infact also format the hard disk

like Leazes said be sure you back up all your data if you do decide to format.

 

might be an idea to make another user account with admin rights then you can just burn the whole of you C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USERNAME to cd, which will get my documents, my pictures, my received file and all that in one

 

if you run the restore, once your online, install a firewall straight away and then head over to Windows update

[Guest Sima]

Zonealarm is a good firewall, but is basically the SP2 firewall with more bells & whistles.

[LeazesMag 0]

Zonealarm is a good firewall, but is basically the SP2 firewall with more bells & whistles.

29000[/snapback]

 

yep i use the freebie zonealarm

[chip2388 0]

Cheers for that LeazesMag went into Argos today to buy a few DVD-RW but my driver isn't reading it for some reason, it is capable of writing DVD's.

 

I've scan disc, defrag my computer regularly and i've got rid of a few games which i don't play any more to free up more space and also ran a few clean up programs.

 

How long does formatting a harddrive take? I have a C drive which is about 30GB which i use to store pics and work, but i also have a drive E which is 90GB which i use to store videos.

[rikko 20]

You only need to format the drive with windows on it. Assuming thats the 30 gig it wont take too long. 2 minutes for a quick format, which just sets all space on the HD as free space. Probably about 10-15 for a normal format which re-writes the file allocation table. Unless you've got HD problems a quick format is fine.

[Mark 0]

If you have XP just do a system restore, you dont need a disk or out. Thats what I do.

[chip2388 0]

Yer forgot to say i tried it using one of the auto points but unfortunately it doesn't work. I did make a check point manually a few months ago but it won't let me go that far back.

[Mark 0]

Just format, doesnt take that long. Just make sure you have all the drivers you need.

[LeazesMag 0]

Cheers for that LeazesMag went into Argos today to buy a few DVD-RW but my driver isn't reading it for some reason, it is capable of writing DVD's.

 

I've scan disc, defrag my computer regularly and i've got rid of a few games which i don't play any more to free up more space and also ran a few clean up programs.

 

How long does formatting a harddrive take? I have a C drive which is about 30GB which i use to store pics and work, but i also have a drive E which is 90GB which i use to store videos.

29182[/snapback]

 

Sorry mate can't help you there, my HDD is 80 gigs but not formatted it yet since it was new anyway.

 

You touched on something I have found though, I meant CD-RW disks BTW, but I have tried to use a DVD-R for permanent storage of mp3 files and some utilities instead of a CD-R or CD-RW, and I have tried formatting the disk to use Nero In-CD and Roxio Direct CD, but the DVD writer won't recognise the format.

 

It will only put them onto CD-R or CD-RW disks. Is this normal ?

Edited September 6, 2005 by LeazesMag

[chip2388 0]

Not too sure on that either mate. Although i take ICT at bloody college they teach you all the useless spreadsheet and database programs. Might have to swap the DVD-RW's back for some CD-R's.