Today, almost every more or less experienced PC user may face a situation when it is almost useless to restore the operating system in any way, it will be easier and faster to reinstall it again. However, it should be remembered that the best option for installing the system is not to overwrite the existing copy, but to install the OS on a formatted partition. Consider the issue of formatting your hard drive.
Instructions
Step 1
In general, direct formatting of a disk using the BIOS was only possible in the days of the first Pentium. Today, to solve this problem, you should use a boot disk. Let's agree right away that you have a bootable disk, since the description of its creation is beyond the scope of this article.
Step 2
Let's consider formatting a hard drive using a Windows XP boot disk (in the case of Windows 7, you definitely won't miss the formatting process, since during the installation there is a disk formatting button in one of the menus).
Step 3
In order to start from a boot disk, you must set the necessary parameters in the BIOS. To access the BIOS immediately after the computer starts booting, press the DEL button. However, the button may differ depending on the motherboard model. To find out the required button for sure - refer to the instructions that came with the motherboard.
Step 4
In the BIOS menu, select the menu item Adavanced BIOS Settings -> First Boot Device and install the CDROM here. Item names may also vary slightly depending on the motherboard model.
Step 5
Save the BIOS settings, after which the PC will reboot and then boot from the installation CD.
Step 6
After booting from the disc, the "Install Windows XP Professional" window appears. In the menu that appears, select "To restore Windows XP using the Recovery Console, press [R = Restore]".
Step 7
Then press the R key to launch the Recovery Console.
Step 8
Select "System Restore". The Recovery Console will open.
Step 9
Let's say that one copy of Windows is installed on your PC on drive C. As a result, the following console message will appear
C: / WINDOWS
Which copy of Windows should you sign in to?
Step 10
Press button 1 and then press Enter.
Step 11
In response to the message "Enter the administrator password" - enter the password or press Enter if you do not want to set a password.
Step 12
Then you will see the following message:
C: / WINDOWS>
Step 13
Type the command on the keyboard:
format with: or format with: / Q / FS: NTFS
where Q is fast format and FS is the file system.
Step 14
Press Enter, then answer "y" to the question that appears.
Step 15
Wait for the end of the formatting process.
