Formatting a hard drive

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I have two hard drives in my computer. Initially I had a 40Gb as the master
drive but after a while it had problems with library files and other things
not working. Not being very good with troubleshooting I decided to cut my
losses and start again. I bought the 2nd drive (120Gb) and installed Windows
there, using the 40 Gb for storage. I'm now having problems with the 2nd
drive and would like to format both drives completely (I was told I need to
delete the master boot record?) because I don't think I can troubleshoot it
myself. I was wondering:
1) It's been ages since I installed windows and can't remember if I need to
install mother board drivers?
2) Can I format the slave drive by right clicking on the drive in My
Computer, then install windows on it and then format the other drive (now the
slave) with the now master drive?
Sorry this is long and a bit confusing!
 
You should install mobo chipset and other hw drivers, from manu.sites or
cd's and not rely on win default drivers.
In your case the simplest method would be to disconect the drive you want to
finish up as slave, connect the other as master, the partition/format and
install with the win cd. Obviously you will lose all 'stuff' on that drive
in the process.
Once win is updated and your AV installed, shutdown and connect other drive
as slave re boot and use disk management to delete any partitions on the
slave, re partition/format
If you do it the way you suggest your boot record will be on the 'wrong' hd
 
Thanks for the help.
If I remove partitions on the slave using disk management will it remove the
master boot record? I have a feeling there's a virus in there somewhere or
something has become corrupted so I want to strip everything completely down
and start again. I've got all my files backed up and have disks for all the
important stuff.
 
Loorah said:
I have two hard drives in my computer. Initially I had a 40GB as the master
drive but after a while it had problems with library files and other things
not working.
Click to expand...

If you describe the troubles, there are several people on this forum
that can help you fix the problems so that a reformat and reinstall will
not be necessary.
Not being very good with troubleshooting I decided to cut my
losses and start again. I bought the 2nd drive (120GB) and installed Windows
there, using the 40GB for storage. I'm now having problems with the 2nd
drive and would like to format both drives completely (I was told I need to
delete the master boot record?) because I don't think I can troubleshoot it
myself.
Click to expand...

You're underestimating yourself.
I was wondering:
1) It's been ages since I installed windows and can't remember if I need to
install mother board drivers?
Click to expand...

No, you need to do this only when building a machine from scratch, in
which case you use the utilities disk that came with the motherboard.
2) Can I format the slave drive by right clicking on the drive in My
Computer, then install windows on it and then format the other drive (now the
slave) with the now master drive?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can format D: from C:, where C: is the system drive.
Sorry this is long and a bit confusing!
Click to expand...

It seems you want to do a "clean install." To do a clean install, you
have to boot from the install CD (or DVD). Reformat both drives. I
advise you to install Windows on the smaller drive, and use the larger
one for data and backup.

I would set up three partitions on the 120GB drive (they will show up as
drives D:, E:, F:). You can do this through the Computer Management
tools. Do this before you store anything on the 120GB drive. Use one of
the partitions to back up the C: drive. The other two I would use for
data storage. Backup C: immediately: do not do any work with your
machine until you have done so. Then backup C: at regular intervals,
after have first cleaning out any viruses etc.

I urge you to learn how to keep your system clean and running trouble
free. Your computer should not be in such a state that you think the
only way to solve your problems is to start over. Windows has its flaws,
but with reasonable care, it will work very nicely for many years. If
you don't want to do it yourself, then I advise you to get it serviced
regularly by a reliable technician. You get your car serviced regularly,
don't you? Why not your computer?

HTH
 
'Loorah' wrote, in part:
| I have two hard drives in my computer. Initially I had a 40Gb as the
master
| drive but after a while it had problems with library files and other
things
| not working. Not being very good with troubleshooting I decided to cut my
| losses and start again. I bought the 2nd drive (120Gb) and installed
Windows
| there, using the 40 Gb for storage. I'm now having problems with the 2nd
| drive and would like to format both drives completely (I was told I need
to
| delete the master boot record?) because I don't think I can troubleshoot
it
| myself. I was wondering:
_____

If you don't know what caused 'problems with the second drive', why do you
assume that (backing up your data, reformatting both drives, reinstalling
Windows XP, reinstalling all the updates, all of your applications, and all
of your anti-malware protection) will prevent the same problems from
happening again?

If you detail the problems in a post to this newsgroup you will likely get
the help you need rather than the help you asked for. Asking the right
question is the start of any problem solving process.

Phil Weldon

|I have two hard drives in my computer. Initially I had a 40Gb as the master
| drive but after a while it had problems with library files and other
things
| not working. Not being very good with troubleshooting I decided to cut my
| losses and start again. I bought the 2nd drive (120Gb) and installed
Windows
| there, using the 40 Gb for storage. I'm now having problems with the 2nd
| drive and would like to format both drives completely (I was told I need
to
| delete the master boot record?) because I don't think I can troubleshoot
it
| myself. I was wondering:
| 1) It's been ages since I installed windows and can't remember if I need
to
| install mother board drivers?
| 2) Can I format the slave drive by right clicking on the drive in My
| Computer, then install windows on it and then format the other drive (now
the
| slave) with the now master drive?
| Sorry this is long and a bit confusing!
 
Thanks for the advice.
There are lots of problems with the computer, dll files keep going missing,
or can't be found even if they are still there. This means that some programs
just don't run. The ethernet drivers just deleted themselves so I can;t
network with my laptop, though I can use the internet. The DVDRW drive
doesn't really work, I put a new blank DVD in and it tells me its full or
right protected. I want to swap the hardrives over anyway so that the smaller
one has the operating system on it so I thought a clean start would be the
best option. Ideally I would love to pay a technician to look at it but I am
a poor student and can't really afford it. I think it picked up a worm on my
college network ages ago, I think I got rid of it but my computer hasn't
really been the same since then. I try to keep things running smoothly, but I
guess I don't really know what I'm doing. I virus/adware/spware scan
regularly and run a disk check. I tried to keep an eye on startup and running
programs but I'm a bit worried I'll make things worse or delete something I
shouldn't.
 
I think I had a virus on the first drive and I thought that starting again
with my backed up documents might sort it out as I know there's no problems
with any of that. I'm not too good at explaining the problems I'm having but
it seems library files are missing/corrupted/invisible. Drivers seems to
disappear and can't be reinstalled-I can no longer network the computer wired
or wireless. The DVDRw drive doesn't really work either.
 
Loorah said:
I think I had a virus on the first drive and I thought that starting
again with my backed up documents might sort it out as I know there's
no problems with any of that. I'm not too good at explaining the
problems I'm having but it seems library files are
missing/corrupted/invisible. Drivers seems to disappear and can't be
reinstalled-I can no longer network the computer wired or wireless.
The DVDRw drive doesn't really work either.
Click to expand...

How do you know you had/have a virus? What antivirus did you use (name
and version of program)?

If you had a virus, either it has damaged system files or you have a
hardware problem such as a failing hard drive.

To check for viruses/malware:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

To check for hardware problems:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Troubleshooting

If you are, as you said, not good with troubleshooting and/or the
procedures are too difficult (and there is no shame in admitting this
isn't your cup of tea), take the machine to a professional computer
repair shop (not your local version of BigStoreUSA).

There is really no other answer - either you troubleshoot in a
methodical, deductive way or you let a professional do it for you.

Malke
 
I used macafee and it picked up a worm, I think it was a Beagle or something,
it was ages ago and I can't remember. I had it looked at and was told to
reinstall windows. I've had this problem twice now and can't afford to go to
a professional as they're expensive. What is a failing hardrive? This has
happen to both drives, is it really that likely that both drives are failing?
It seems the system isn't recognising library files which made me think it
was software based. I know people are incouraging me to troubleshoot the
problem but I've got a load of junk on my hard drive that I not longer need
and so am happy to just start again. If the problem persists after that then
I'll sort it out cos in my experience, If I screw around with my computer it
usually makes things worse and I'm not paying a techinician when I can format
it myself. Sorry if that sems to offend anyone but I'm a student and have no
money.
 
Loorah said:
I used macafee and it picked up a worm, I think it was a Beagle or
something, it was ages ago and I can't remember. I had it looked at
and was told to reinstall windows. I've had this problem twice now and
can't afford to go to a professional as they're expensive. What is a
failing hardrive? This has happen to both drives, is it really that
likely that both drives are failing? It seems the system isn't
recognising library files which made me think it was software based. I
know people are incouraging me to troubleshoot the problem but I've
got a load of junk on my hard drive that I not longer need and so am
happy to just start again. If the problem persists after that then
I'll sort it out cos in my experience, If I screw around with my
computer it usually makes things worse and I'm not paying a
techinician when I can format it myself. Sorry if that sems to offend
anyone but I'm a student and have no money.
Click to expand...

Then back up all your data on both hard drives, format them both,
install Windows on the system drive. Here are instructions:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-to
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#reinstall_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

It would also be smart to test the hard drives and the RAM. Go to the
link I gave you before (and here it is again) and see how to do that.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Troubleshooting

Failing hard drives and/or bad RAM can also cause your symptoms. There
is no point in installing an operating system (software) on faulty
hardware. Since testing hard drives and RAM is easy and the tools are
free, it is smart to be sure your hardware is healthy.

Malke
 
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