Reinstall windows

[otuatail]

I have been used to taking ot hard disk and put in a second pc as a second disk. Full format the first partition (Windows) . Return to the original PC and install windows. Disks do develop bad sectors after a period of time. See spinrite for further information.

Can i force windows to install from the dvd doing a full format first. NOT a simple clean out the registry quick format?

 

[torchwood]

Hi otuatail,


Course you can, even from a USB, a clean install overwrites whatevers on the disc and gives you the option to split the drive partition wise.
If you really want togo over board you can also run diskpart and wipe it beforehand
Clean Install Windows 7 - Windows 7 Help Forums
Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command - Windows 7 Help Forums

and dont forget theres Macrium free to make an image

Roy

 

[Megahertz07]

Disks do develop bad sectors after a period of time. See spinrite for further information.

When disk develops bad sectors it's a sign that the disk is dying. I wouldn't trust the disk. Run the manufacture disk diagnostic to see what it finds.

Think about replacing the bad disk with a small SSD (120G) for windows and programs and a HDD for data.

 

[otuatail]

This is not a 6 month old defective hard disk. Read up on Spinrite. Can someone answer my question and not answer a different question.

 

[Barman58]

If you read the answers to your question you will see that it has already been answered and then additional options given

 

[otuatail]

a clean install overwrites whatevers on the disc

This doesn't answer if it is a quick format clearing out the allocation table or a full format. How can this question have been answered.

 

[Barman58]

It has the ability to remove all existing partitions and if required create new manually or Automatically, The Disc/Stick can also be used for all DOS command line format options and the most secure of all Diskpart

 

[otuatail]

and windows will do a quick format (A simple yes or no could work here)

 

[Barman58]

Windows will do whatever format you tell it to

You have to use the options linked to in the answer from torchwood

This is not the Windows GUI format that defaults to Quick format but the Full format command line that defaults to full format and has a lot more options

Format2

Diskpart overwrites the data sectors so is even more secure than a full format

 

[Barman58]

This tutorial gives more direct answers on what you want to do ...

Command Prompt at Startup - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

[otuatail]

I have booted from a dvd. I asked windows to format the first partition. 100g. It formated this massive partition in less than one second. This is NOT a full format. So windows will not do full formats.

 

[Barman58]

It will if you boot to the command prompt, as I linked in the last post full control options are in the link I gave to Technet

Deleting the partition System and (possible) boot partition and installing to the empty space is better still

 

[otuatail]

Barman58
Command prompt at startup.

How do you get to command prompt at startup. You can go into a safe mode but the link you gave me shows

A) Go to step 3.
​

OR

2. Boot to the System Recovery Options screen, and select the Command Prompt option. (see screenshot below)

No help on how this step is acheved. I asume we are to go to the black screen dos level and type in format or fmt

 

[Barman58]

If you boot from the install disk you can get to the command prompt by simply Pressing The Shift-F10 combination at the menu, This opens a command prompt running in Memory (x: I believe), so a Format c: command should be all you need to format the c: drive (OS drive)

The system recovery options In the tutorial is actually a link to a detailed instruction on how to achieve this System Recovery Options - Windows 7 Help Forums, but basically boot the system and tap F8 to access the menu and then the safe mode with command prompt

 

[otuatail]

Pressing F8 only gives a choice of boot devices no command option. How can something as basic as this be so bloody complicated. Someone might need to do a full format for any number of reasons. I even tried deleting the partition and creating it again.

 

[Barman58]

As stated in the System Recovery Options - Windows 7 Help Forums tutorial you need to Tap the F8 key approximately every second until the screen pops up

 

[Barman58]

the light blue text in the posts are links to other full pages of detailed instructions with step by step advice that should give full information on what you need to do

 

[Megahertz07]

When you boot from the installation disk, go to install - Advanced - Format. It will do a quick NTFS format.
If you want to do a full format, boot from the installation disk, go to repair and launch a CMD window
type:
cd c:\
Dir c:\ (to make sure c: is the one you want to format
Type format c:

 

[TechnoMage2016]

I notice that "Spinrite"was mentioned a couple of times.
When Steve Gibson wrote that program, many years ago now, HD's were still in their infancy.
Way back then, I put out the $99 to buy the program. But I must confess that I've not used it now in many years. If I have any reason to suspect that a HD may be failing, I just replace it ASAP!
Failing or questionable Hard Drives are just NOT worth fussing around with.

When I set up a new OS on an old drive, I just instruct the Setup program to delete all the previous partitions. Then I let the new OS (Install Program) do it's own partitioning and formatting. Anything that was previously on the HD is well erased.

If a 100% clean HD is required, then just buy a NEW one, instead of re-using an old one.

Once in a while, when I get a used HD with a questionable history, I run a Low Level Format program on it, and that puts it back to Factory New! And like at the factory, the LL Format blocks out any failing or questionable sectors, so they will never be used. *
Every HD has its own Bad Sector Map, even though most folks don't know about it.
* On the large HD's today, a LL Format can take many hours (or days).

Cheers mate!
TechnoMage