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Format Windows XP


pitbull481

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A quick format just clears the file info, while a full format clears the whole hard drive.

(That could have been worded better but oh  well...)

A quick format is much faster, but a full format is better and will mark bad sectors.

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i am having trouble.when i have formatted before i never had trouble. but today (right now) when formating. it cant never pass 77% (files saving to computer). why is it doing this?

i always used  "Format the partition using the NTFS file system (not the quick)

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It just sits there or is it doing something?  That is really wierd.. I have had that happen once but then i just skipped the file and kept going.. Are you installing on the same partition that you normally do?

around 77% or 78% just says file _______ was not copied correctly. i checked if the disk is  scratch. and go done i even was using the dells operationg disk and did the same thing (stopped at 77%)

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Yeah I thought you couldnt install over an old copy of windows.. hmm.. something to try on the next reformat...

You know swimmer you are right........I had to sit here and think for a minute, you do have to delete that partiton first and then format.....I was thinking you could just go to the next screen and format it, but NOT !  :oops:

No wonder I usually delete the patition first....lol

Oh well at least I told Pitbull the right way.

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er.. you can install windows xp over an older version of windows without wiping the whole hard drive clean.. i did that on my last reinstall of win xp the setup simply deleted the windows folder and then starts install.. e.g so you dont lose all your files

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er.. you can install windows xp over an older version of windows without wiping the whole hard drive clean.. i did that on my last reinstall of win xp the setup simply deleted the windows folder and then starts install.. e.g so you dont lose all your files

Yeah, but I believe pitbull wanted a clean install, and from what he was saying it wasn't formatting right.

It's been a while since I installed win over win.

If you choose to setup on existing partition doesn't it restart and then starts setup again ?

I'm gonna have to pull out my guinea pig PC today and mess around loading XP on it different ways. for about the last 2 years I have only clean installed. Guess I need the practice.

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Hi Pitbull.

If you are going for a complete clean install of XP you might try deleting the partition that you are trying to format, then add that partiton again and do a full NTFS format.

thats is the 1st thing i did, "delete partition" than i did a full NTFS format.. this is my 5th time since yesterday to now that i keep trying to format winxp but keeps getting stuck at 77% and above  :angry5:

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Try booting to the WinXP CD and this time choose R and go in to recovery console, choose what setup you want enter and it will ask for admin. password, if you never put a password just leave blank and hit enter.

At the prompt TYPE: chkdsk /r and then enter, it may take a while but it may fix any problems you may have on the disk.

When it's done just TYPE: exit and it will reboot and then try to partition and format again.......Hope that works man.

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If you are booting from the WinXP CD, deleting the existing partition, creating a new one, then doing the long format and install and it fails, you might consider the drive is hosed.  How old is the drive?

i just got computer last year and bought a 120gig (second drive) beginning of this year

i tried to format the winxp on the HDD that came with my gateway computer and on the 2nd HDD (120gig) i bought. and did the same thing

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