The seasonal FDISK-FORMAT-INSTALL

[Smoke]

You guys got any tips to make the "Fdisk/format/fresh XP install" go faster?

every so often I like to wipe her out .... seems to run better, plus I get another year of norton for free :mrgreen: (well I don't know if 2004 will let me (yet).

I have so much data saved on my hdd it's just sick... not to mention all the games to re-install, setting up email, imorting backups, and all the other minor things I'll have to tweak....

It's just such a mess to do.. I wondered if you guys had any tips?

[jester]

All of my important things, such as games and other programs I install on a seperate hd (other than what I have win installed on). You still have to reinstall say your games but if the game has 2 or more cds, usually need only the install disk. Far as other things like outlook, use the backup tool and again save the backup on another hd. To make things quicker have all your drivers(the most updated ones) saved so you wont have to re-download them. Dont forget to go into "my documents" and copy any saved game data, pictures etc onto another hd.

When ever I have to re-install, I go thru my start menu and make a list of all the programs that I want to install back on.

I dont know why you would want to take the extra effort to fdisk your windows hd when xp gives you the option to format the hd upon intial install setup.

I have 1 hd in my machine that I use for only backing up data/drivers which I found works best for me. Its not a big hd, just a 8g and I have 7g free so you shouldnt need a lot of space to put everything in one spot.

hope that helps ya some dude.

[undergroundtech]

Jester is right, if your using XP there is no need to fdisk, when you can format when doing your install.

[playafly187]

again, agreed like the others. when you format, just pop in the winxp cd, make sure that drive is the first boot device, and your off to the races.

as far as managing data, i do the following...

when I had only a single hdd, i would partition it into two equal parts. on the D drive, i would put all of my pictures, mp3, documents, etc. basically everything that i didnt want to lose.

I would then install all of my programs and such on the C drive. using the partition, when it comes time to format the C drive, everything I have saved on the D drive is left untouched.

but now, i have two drives; a raptor 74 gb 10,000 rpm drive (best investment ever) and an 80gb wd 8mb cache 7200 rpm. I partitioned the raptor into two equal halfs. I put windows and all of my programs on the C drive. I put all of my games on the D drive. the other hard drive is purely a storage drive. so far, this plan has worked without a hitch.

[Smoke]

I opted for a new hdd... left the old one for back up

I'm diggin my fresh install... aaaahhhhh... system resources!!!