My laptop crashed big time last night, it wouldnt turn on at all. I have the original system recovery disc that is for it. I ran the recovery disc and it all seems fine now. The only problem is that obviously it removes all programms that were installed. My hard drive is still as full as it was when I did a defrag about a week ago, does this mean that I have to reformat the drive, to remove the programs completely to allow room to reinstall them. If so how do I do it.
Any help appreciated.
Regards
Anne.
p.s. I am sure when my 12yr old was downloading something it must have put a virus on it, as it worked fine before then. Anne.
reformatting a hard drive.
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anner
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reformatting a hard drive.
Researching Wilson, Reid, S(c)later and Ross in Glasgow. Mcgregor, Ross, White, Pirie, Gaffney, and Math(i)e(w)son and Ross in Dundee and Perth.
Yorkshire: Butterworth, Todd, Angell, Bearpark and Nutbrown. To name but a few.
Yorkshire: Butterworth, Todd, Angell, Bearpark and Nutbrown. To name but a few.
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Currie
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Hello Anne,
I’m assuming that you have windows XP and that the Recovery CD will work much like an Installation CD and I’m not sure whether all of them do.
When you format a drive it means that everything on the drive is deleted. If you have anything important on the drive that you want to keep e.g. photos, documents etc you will have to try to copy those to somewhere else before you do the format. If the computer has only one drive (C?) it will mean that everything on the computer will be deleted.
It sounds like the Recovery Disc may have done a repair of the windows installation and left all of the program files and personal files in place although the programs possibly no longer work. There is probably an available option to format the disc but it might be jumping into repairing the current installation before you get the chance to use it.
If the program files and other non Windows stuff is still lurking there they should be visible in Windows Explorer. You could also check add/remove programs in control panel to see what’s still installed although possibly broken. Check your documents folder to see what’s there. Uninstalling the programs you don’t want will make more space. A reinstallation of the ones you need may just override the old one and not take up much extra room. This could result in a messy situation but may work. A new basic Window XP installation probably shouldn’t take up much more than a couple of Gigabytes.
Maybe you could try the above before deciding whether to go ahead with a format. Because Windows won’t destroy itself, to format you’ll have to use a program that is on a CD sitting in the CD drive when the computer restarts, such as the Recovery CD or some sort of Disc Utility. The hard drive manufacturers usually provide a small program which can be used to format their particular brand of drive but there are others such as on a Linux Live CD etc.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348
Half way down the above page you’ll find this heading.
How to partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program
See point 6 to bypass the repair and move to the format/installation area. From that point on you’re basically deleting the old partition and creating/formatting a new one for the new installation. I don’t think I’ve worked through this process myself as I use other methods but if you decide to try it just yell if you strike a problem. For Windows XP you would usually format the disc as NTFS.
When you install Windows XP on the formatted disc it will end up exactly as it was when you bought the computer. The Windows version will probably be Service Pack 1. To operate such a computer securely on the internet the installation of Service Pack 2 and the 100+ security updates since SP2 will be the first priority. These should arrive via Windows Update and will probably total about 500mb. You’ll have to reinstall programs and the like, preferably after SP2 is installed and you’ll have to reactivate the Installation with Microsoft.
Even if you decide not to format it might be a good idea to check whether the Recovery operation has put you back to Service Pack 1 and whether you need to get Windows Updates up to date. To check this Right click My Computer and click properties.
Hope the above makes sense. Post back if you get stuck.
Alan
I’m assuming that you have windows XP and that the Recovery CD will work much like an Installation CD and I’m not sure whether all of them do.
When you format a drive it means that everything on the drive is deleted. If you have anything important on the drive that you want to keep e.g. photos, documents etc you will have to try to copy those to somewhere else before you do the format. If the computer has only one drive (C?) it will mean that everything on the computer will be deleted.
It sounds like the Recovery Disc may have done a repair of the windows installation and left all of the program files and personal files in place although the programs possibly no longer work. There is probably an available option to format the disc but it might be jumping into repairing the current installation before you get the chance to use it.
If the program files and other non Windows stuff is still lurking there they should be visible in Windows Explorer. You could also check add/remove programs in control panel to see what’s still installed although possibly broken. Check your documents folder to see what’s there. Uninstalling the programs you don’t want will make more space. A reinstallation of the ones you need may just override the old one and not take up much extra room. This could result in a messy situation but may work. A new basic Window XP installation probably shouldn’t take up much more than a couple of Gigabytes.
Maybe you could try the above before deciding whether to go ahead with a format. Because Windows won’t destroy itself, to format you’ll have to use a program that is on a CD sitting in the CD drive when the computer restarts, such as the Recovery CD or some sort of Disc Utility. The hard drive manufacturers usually provide a small program which can be used to format their particular brand of drive but there are others such as on a Linux Live CD etc.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348
Half way down the above page you’ll find this heading.
How to partition and format your hard disk by using the Windows XP Setup program
See point 6 to bypass the repair and move to the format/installation area. From that point on you’re basically deleting the old partition and creating/formatting a new one for the new installation. I don’t think I’ve worked through this process myself as I use other methods but if you decide to try it just yell if you strike a problem. For Windows XP you would usually format the disc as NTFS.
When you install Windows XP on the formatted disc it will end up exactly as it was when you bought the computer. The Windows version will probably be Service Pack 1. To operate such a computer securely on the internet the installation of Service Pack 2 and the 100+ security updates since SP2 will be the first priority. These should arrive via Windows Update and will probably total about 500mb. You’ll have to reinstall programs and the like, preferably after SP2 is installed and you’ll have to reactivate the Installation with Microsoft.
Even if you decide not to format it might be a good idea to check whether the Recovery operation has put you back to Service Pack 1 and whether you need to get Windows Updates up to date. To check this Right click My Computer and click properties.
Hope the above makes sense. Post back if you get stuck.
Alan
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anner
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Hi Alan
Thanks for your reply, I am going to try the first option to start with. I am not overley confident with doing technical things, so will only try to format as a last resort.
If I did do a format would I lose windows xp, I only ask as my laptop came with it preinstalled and therefore I have no disc, (unless of course it is on the recovery disc). All a bit of a worry for me.
I have just checked the documents and there seems to be nothing there, also on the add or remove there are no programmes that i have put on, only the original ones. Again just checked and it has sp2.
Many thanks
Anne.
Thanks for your reply, I am going to try the first option to start with. I am not overley confident with doing technical things, so will only try to format as a last resort.
If I did do a format would I lose windows xp, I only ask as my laptop came with it preinstalled and therefore I have no disc, (unless of course it is on the recovery disc). All a bit of a worry for me.
I have just checked the documents and there seems to be nothing there, also on the add or remove there are no programmes that i have put on, only the original ones. Again just checked and it has sp2.
Many thanks
Anne.
Researching Wilson, Reid, S(c)later and Ross in Glasgow. Mcgregor, Ross, White, Pirie, Gaffney, and Math(i)e(w)son and Ross in Dundee and Perth.
Yorkshire: Butterworth, Todd, Angell, Bearpark and Nutbrown. To name but a few.
Yorkshire: Butterworth, Todd, Angell, Bearpark and Nutbrown. To name but a few.
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AndrewP
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- Location: Edinburgh
Hi Anne,
Re-formatting removes ALL programs and files, including your Windows operating system. Windows should be on your recovery disk, but you need to know that with confidence before you re-format the disk. There is no undo button for FORMAT.
If you do choose to re-format your disk:
AndrewP
Re-formatting removes ALL programs and files, including your Windows operating system. Windows should be on your recovery disk, but you need to know that with confidence before you re-format the disk. There is no undo button for FORMAT.
If you do choose to re-format your disk:
- Back up your files (My Docs and any other place you use on that disk).
- Not only My Docs, but you need to find your e-mail storage and your e-mail address book - these are stored elsewhere and should be backed up.
- I would also back up Desktop, Favourites and Templates (if you use them).
- Make sure that you have the disks for all of the programs that you want to re-install.
- Have plenty time on your hands to set the PC back up again.
AndrewP
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anner
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Hi Andrew and thank you for your help. I think I might take it to the doctors, as I might make a mess of it and as it is only 18months old I dont want to ruin it. Blooming kids!
Regards
Anne.
Regards
Anne.
Researching Wilson, Reid, S(c)later and Ross in Glasgow. Mcgregor, Ross, White, Pirie, Gaffney, and Math(i)e(w)son and Ross in Dundee and Perth.
Yorkshire: Butterworth, Todd, Angell, Bearpark and Nutbrown. To name but a few.
Yorkshire: Butterworth, Todd, Angell, Bearpark and Nutbrown. To name but a few.
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LesleyB
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- Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:18 am
- Location: Scotland
Hi Anne
Depending on what happened to it, and if it is startign up and working OK, it may just be possible to turn the clock back to several days ago, before the disaster, and avoid any further hassle.
Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.
Depends what has happened - it things are really messed up that may not even be an option!
Best wishes
Lesley
Depending on what happened to it, and if it is startign up and working OK, it may just be possible to turn the clock back to several days ago, before the disaster, and avoid any further hassle.
Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.
Depends what has happened - it things are really messed up that may not even be an option!
Best wishes
Lesley
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anner
- Posts: 131
- Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2006 9:37 pm
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Hi Lesley, and thank you. The laptop wouldnt start up until I did a system recovery on it. I have a man coming tomorrow to take a look.
Regards
Anne.
Regards
Anne.
Researching Wilson, Reid, S(c)later and Ross in Glasgow. Mcgregor, Ross, White, Pirie, Gaffney, and Math(i)e(w)son and Ross in Dundee and Perth.
Yorkshire: Butterworth, Todd, Angell, Bearpark and Nutbrown. To name but a few.
Yorkshire: Butterworth, Todd, Angell, Bearpark and Nutbrown. To name but a few.