DU Computer Experts - Need help here (Installing HDD)

[Heyo]

Hey all....

Well I really needed a new HDD after my old 40 gig crashed, so I have just been using a 6.4g that I had to run windows and get online..


Now I got another 40 gig from a friend of mine, which has been used but is good..

The drive seems to be divided into 2 partitions...

So, normally, I had my C: drive, then D: is my CDRW and E: is my DVD-ROM drive..

So now that I have installed this new drive, I now have F: and G:

.. F: is a small 2g partition, and G: is the remaining portion of the drive

What is the best and fastest way to #1 get RID of the partition so it is ONE drive.. and #2 completely wipe and reformat the drive??

(I dont need a boot sector on this dive, I use my 6.4 g C drive to boot and run windows and this new one will be to store games and programs)

Do I just go to a Dos prompt and do a format.. if so do I format F: or format G:... do I fdisk F: or fdisk G:?

Help!

:shrug:

Heyo

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Easy way:

Goto the website of the manufacturer. DL a software package they have there that will allow you to repartition, format and copy the image of your 6.4 drive over to the new one.

I use these all the time, when setting up new drives, and they are a godsend.

[Heyo]

2. It's a Western Dig.

Checking out the downloads on their site....

[Heyo]

5. That worked like a chIZZarm!!

... THANKS!!!

How did it format the drive so fast?? It look like 2 seconds...

:shrug:

Heyo

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. Magic.

;-)

[Heyo]

9. I call upon thee, mighty eMule...

...lay your adornments upon my 40 gigs!

I await your annointment, o eMule!

:bounce:

Heyo

[sir_captain]

10. Because it didn't really format it

just wiped the partition table (kind of like the table of contents)

Unless there was some super sensitive data on there, though, this is just as good.

[Heyo]

11. Yup!

It made in a single drive, under a single drive letter, and it opened up all the free space....

So I'm square as dice, homie...

:toast:

Heyo

[short bus president]

3. Which windows?

In 2000 and XP, you can use the "Disk Management" tool to futz with partitions. I forget where they place it - I always just click "help" and locate "disk managament" in the index. Anyways, you should be able to click and delete the partitions there instead of booting to dos and using fdisk. Then just right click in the empty space where they used to be, make a new partition using the full volume, and format it.

[blue sky at night]

4. Hold on...

First off, I need to know what version of windows you're running.

If you're running NT/2000/XP all you have to do is right click on "My Computer", then "Computer Management", then look for "Disk Management." When you click on the "Disk Management" tab, it will open a window showing all the drives connected to your computer. Locate the drive you want to format, right click and select "Delete Partition." This will delete the current partition and return the drive to a "raw data" state, at which point it needs re-formatted. It may need to restart after you delete the partition (its been a while since I've done this and I can't recall off the top of my head if it does or not.) After deleting the partition, it should show up in the Disk Management screen as an unpartitioned drive. Right click on the drive and select "format." I recommend formatting the drive in NTFS as its the most efficient file system that Windows recognizes. It will give you a list of options for formatting, just leave everything at its default setting. After clicking OK it should take it some time to format (the bigger the drive the longer it takes.) When this finishes the drive will be ready to use and should appear in "My Computer."

If you have any additional questions post again and I'll keep an eye on this thread.

[Heyo]

6. Thanks!..

I'm on XP.. I ended up using Western Digital's handy dandy little application that did it lickety split..

Thanks for the help though.... I have been succesfull thanks to ya'll.. :)

Heyo

[ngant17]

7. fdisk

I'd low-level format disk F, which will delete all partitions and remove master boot record, using this command:

fdisk /mbr
(be careful with this command).

fdisk /? for options

after fdisk, reboot and use:
format /s

for this disk F.