I have won the exasperation prize…now I need some advice…

[captmix]

I have already posted here with the problems with my first build. Something was giving me the BSOD with XP and finally I couldn’t even light up my screen.

I had worked with XP after the 1st and 2nd installation and had a number of programs and updates installed but it gave me no end of boot up problems.

So…the thing to do was a complete new installation of XP (3rd time) and rid this machine of its evil spirits. Did that, including formatting (I thought!) and it looked like my problems were vanquished. Happily updated everything, registered XP (again), and began to install one program at a time to see which driver was giving the problem.

Tried to install Quicken and it wouldn’t as the message said it was already there. How could that be? Didn’t show in installed history. Then did a “search” and there it was! In fact all the files and folders from the first installations of XP were there, including, probably, the offending driver(s). Even though XP said with a full installation all data would be lost!

Damn! XP wouldn’t let me delete all those old files and folders and I couldn’t reactivate them. Tried to format C drive (with RAID 1 set up) using disk manager and XP wouldn’t allow that.

Using the old computer I did a Google search for a program to wipe or format my hard disks. There are many out there but which one? I looked at “Killdisk” which requires a floppy to do the deed.

What would you do to clean off these disks and get XP installed properly and cleanly? What program is best to wipe these disks clean? Installing XP did not give me a choice to “format” only that all data would be lost. Not so. Is there a format program CD that would go into the depths of the hard disks to delete old files and folders leaving XP alone? I would prefer to start with clean, wiped disks though.

Tom

[doctorgonzo]

Killdisk should work. You can also go to the drive manufacturer's website and download their zero-fill or diagnostic utility, which also runs on a floppy.

The reason you need to format from floppy (and the reason you couldn't format the C drive from within Windows) is because a drive can't format itself. If you are using the C drive, you can't format it, because it is already in use. You need to boot from A to format C.

[Statica]

In the new installation of XP that you put in, did you remember to delete all the partitions and make new partitions? If it is a clean install that you are looking for, then make sure you delete ALL the partitions on the drive, even if your new partition schema is the same as the previous one.

[captmix]

Doc…fast reply! Okay, I can see now that C can’t format itself. I did go into the Maxtor site but couldn’t find their “zero-fill” utility for SATA ATA drives. I would assume that the Killdisk floppy would clean both drives in RAID 1? I did put the Killdisk program onto a CD but haven’t tried it yet. Question…is it possible to transfer the Killdisk data from the CD onto a floppy. Kind of a dumb question I know but I am still in the learning process!

Statica…there was only one partition for the installation of XP. Checked that in Disk Manager.

But this partition issue has me thinking. (Yes, I try and do that once in a while!) This site and others has posted about putting the OS into its own partition and then the HDD can be formatted in the future and leave the OS alone. If I understand this procedure correctly…that means each partition has its own drive letter? Is that assigned by XP?

How big of a partition should be set up for just XP? My disk set up is two Maxtor 120GB SATA in RAID 1.

Tom

[doctorgonzo]

Originally posted by captmix If I understand this procedure correctly…that means each partition has its own drive letter? Is that assigned by XP? How big of a partition should be set up for just XP? My disk set up is two Maxtor 120GB SATA in RAID 1. Tom

Yes, each partition has its own drive letter, and you can change that within Windows (other than the C drive).

I would make the Windows partition 5-10 GB if you went this route.

I've never used Killdisk, so I don't know how to put it on a flpppy. Generally, though these progrmas are self-extractors that you just extract to a floppy disk.

[Statica]

120 GB on a single partition is just calling for trouble in the long run. There are a number of issues that you need to think of, some of them are:
1) The larger the drive, the longer diagnostics (chckdisk, defrag etc) take place
2) Its like putting all your eggs into one basket; if you are forced with the possibilities of a reinstall, you will likely lose everything (we all know that backups are always about 2 minutes too late).
3) The system drive itself is usually prone to high defragmentation, temporary files (internet or otherwise), page files etc will keep your drive getting defragged

Usually I'd recommend that you partition to at least 3 drives for a HDD size that you sport. One for your OS and system files (device drivers etc), about 10GB in size is plenty; another for programs - diligently install programs to the second partition and finally one for your document files - documents, pictures, mp3s etc etc (dont worry, you can change the My Documents and My Pictures and My Music pretty shortcut folders to reflect whichever folder on whichever drive you wish). The reason is that even if you have to do a reinstall, all you would need to do is delete and recreate your system partition and you're good to go. You dont lose all your documents, programs might not work, but at least you can do an installation in the same directory as the old installation that way you dont lose most of your customizations either. This also keeps your drives healthy; the page file would normally sit on the OS partition, so would temp. internet files etc; you defrag them more often than the other partitions.

In answer to your question, yes when you create a partition (rmbmer in the blue screen install of XP, it asked you to create a partition; well instead of using the default max size, simply make multiple partitions) XP will automatically assign drive letters. The system partition on a 1 disk (multi-partitioned drive) is C:\, other than that you can change your drive letters around to suit your whims once you get XP started (disk management console).

And finally; even if you are using one partition and you want to do a real fresh install, getting rid of buggy drivers etc; well go ahead and first delete the partittion and then recreate it.

---

My recommended partitioning scheme especially for Windows OS, is based on file lifetime rather than simple sizes. This is an example from one of my systems
C: OS & device drivers about 10GB
D: Programs and other longer lifecycle files 40GB
E: Documents, pictures, and other files that I frequently view and will stay on my drive perpetually - 15GB
X: Somewhat of a swap drive; files I am working on that will be burnt onto CD, like music rips or other files that will spend very little time on my computer about 10GB
Of course that is not for a 120GB drive, but you get the idea.

HTH

[captmix]

Statica…you sure make a lot of sense! That is what I am going to do if I can get my disks cleaned off for a fresh start. If I understand the partition system correctly I can, store files/folders, defragment, format, delete, etc, by individual letter partitions?

Can’t remember if when XP asks during install for partition size that I can make as many partitions by size as I want?

This still makes me wonder if there is a wipe program CD out there that would nice to have on hand to format/wipe clean a partition if it becomes necessary in the future.

Thanks Doc and Statica for your help in this, EXASPERATING, first build!

Tom

[Statica]

This is a good site to read about installation; step 10 talks about multiple partitions. NB: The images on the left are clickable to expand the screen view. http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

Or http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/O...allxphome1.htm

[seagull]

I have" DriveWorks" on CD. It will do all the things that you guys talked about in the posts.

[captmix]

Thanks for your help Statica; I think this infernal machine is working now! I researched the links you gave plus some more on Google. Earlier I had searched for info (like “Eraser”) on programs to clean up hard disks that would do mine. But generally these software programs are intended for destroying classified documents, financial records, etc, of which I really didn’t need to be so thorough.

The simple solution (as a retired Marine this kind of solution works best for this brain!) apparently was to choose “D” in setting up the disk which destroys data on the whole disk, then to set up partitions (as you recommended) which further formatted “C” for the OS. Then afterwards in Disk Manager I formatted the other two partitions before installing programs, documents, pictures, etc.

The last couple of days I have been a tad tense each boot up time but so far it’s working just fine. More tweaking to do but that’s fun too.

This first new build has been really frustrating in addition to being more expensive than intended. But the help on this Forum has been invaluable in getting through this!

But dang it all…I sure learned a lot about computers anyway!

Tom