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Format hard drive?? Worth upgrading video card??

Post Date: 2007-09-13
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cbrollie1000 View Drop Down
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Posts: 50 		  Quote cbrollie1000 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Format hard drive?? Worth upgrading video card??
    Posted: 13 Sep 2007 at 2:33pm

Hey guys! I was just wondering what is the simplest way to format a hard drive. I wanted to do this to my old P4 HP a450n since my wife has said it is moving really slow prolly from my little bro d/l pron... I am in Iraq right now and just started reading up on computer stuff. Want to do this while im waiting for my DS computer... After the format do I need to install windows xp over? Sorry if these are really noobish questions...

 
Also is it worth putting a better agp 8x card since it has a fx5200? Or should I start with a pci-e mobo? Any criticism is welcome. Thanks in advance! Confused
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Bill the Cat View Drop Down
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Posts: 1150 		  Quote Bill the Cat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Sep 2007 at 3:18pm

You can format a hard drive from XP's Windows Explorer AKA the File Manager. However, it sounds like you are trying to format the boot drive for the machine (the drive where XP resides). This is probably not a good thing to try while XP is running. Dead

Is there only one hard drive in the system (the "C: Drive")? If this is the case, you are contemplating a complete "memory wipe" which will erase everything stored on this computer. You would have to reinstall XP and all other applications, plus saving and restoring all of your data somehow.
 
Does this HP thing have USB ports? If so, I'd suggest buying a USB based external hard drive to back up your data. These things are suddenly cheap, but breath takingly slow. It would be a useful thing to share among all your computers for doing periodic data backups.
 
If you are talking about formating the boot drive, then basically what you want to do is reinstall XP from it's CD-ROM and do the format as part of the reinstall process.
 
Reinstalling your OS is a good thing to do once in a while. Before XP, people routinely reinstalled Win 98 every year or two. I'll be wiping my XP based P4 machine once I get my new DSO machine settled in. I've been using the same installation of XP for over six years. That's way too long.
 
AGP is so close to the end of it's life cycle, it's a Zombie, but the best AGP cards still aren't bad. They're just nowhere near as good as modern PCIe cards. I've played Farcry, Oblivion, and STALKER on a highish end AGP card, but it was sweating bullets to do so even at moderately low settings.
 
So it just depends on how much time and money you want to sink into this beast.


Edited by Bill the Cat - 13 Sep 2007 at 3:24pm
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cbrollie1000 View Drop Down
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Posts: 50 		  Quote cbrollie1000 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Sep 2007 at 5:10pm

I do no think I have another drive but I do have a external 320gb hard drive and can hook usb up to it. Yes I want to format it completly. I am tired of paying geek squad to format my drive. I just need to find a website to explain it in detail to me. Thanks for the quick reply man.
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Bill the Cat View Drop Down
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Posts: 1150 		  Quote Bill the Cat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Sep 2007 at 5:25pm
Formating your boot drive and reinstalling the OS is a little bit like performing surgery and putting the patient on a bypass machine while you stop their heart. At least briefly, your machine is a brick. However, like the patient, the computer is much better afterward.
 
The safest thing to do is look at HP's web site. Their tech support section probably gives instructions for the procedure specific to your machine and the CDs that came with it.
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cbrollie1000 View Drop Down
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Posts: 50 		  Quote cbrollie1000 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 13 Sep 2007 at 5:53pm
Alright I'll check that out. Thanks bro!
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