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Maybe some clarification... Posted by ChuckD [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: Re: Sorry why go this route? I have had problems with all, Yak, Fri, 16 Dec 2005 08:14:33 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Yak's on the right track (sorry).
Set your BIOS to boot from the CDROM and start up with your Win2K or WinXP in the drive. The early stages of the install (the Blue Screen stage) will allow you to wipe out and make new partitions. No need for a floppy unless you have special drivers needed at the early stages of install (ie, SATA, or Promise controllers).
BUT BEFORE YOU DO!!!!...
Assuming you have one hard drive in each machine, consider two partitions for each drive, a "C:\" and a "D:\". The idea is to place the OS in the C: and everything else on the D: so that in the event of a meltdown you only have to reformat the C: and reinstall. Less worries about whether you've backed up your data before you wipe it out. Also a good place to store drivers, Service Packs, etc. I typically copy my entire OS profile (C:\Documents and Settings\<username>) to another partition.
That said, gather together the latest Service Pack for the OS and the latest drivers for your hardware and burn them to a CD. If you already have multiple partitions, and you're satisfied with the layout, just put them on another partition than the C: and only reformat C: when you do the install, no need to 'Zero out' anything.
Then proceed with the OS install, bring it up to current patch level from MS Update and defrag it.
Fred Langa is an ex Editor and Editorial Director of Windows magazine and Byte magazines. He now is free lance and has a weekly newsletter that I highly recommend for it's easy to use, but still technically sophisticated content. I've been supporting Windows platforms for ~10 years and still find good stuff in his letters.
C.
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