Formatting hard-drive

[Benaksoy 0]

I want to do a clean reinstall of Windows XP but I want to keep some files on my disk. They're mostly things I don't want to download again on my 56k such as patches and drivers. My computer ate up my last CD-R tonight, so i ask you: Is there anyway I can keep these files during a format other than burning them? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[BraTTy 0]

I do this all the time, I have multiple hard drives tho.

I move files to another drive,thru network or by plugging the drive to another computer

[Benaksoy 0]

Hmm, I'm wondering if it would be possible for me to partition my HD, use one to backup my files on and then to format the other one. Maybe? :/

[Llauma 0]

Try making a new partition with Partition Magic and move the files to that partition.

Partition magic site

[BraTTy 0]

Yes that will work fine

You said you were reformatting,so you plan on reinstalling your Operating System...you have those cds ready?

Make sure before you reformat your boot drive or the one with your OS anyways

[bn880 5]

I jsut wanted to point out, the only reason to reformat is when you develop some bad sectors due to swap file R/W or other issues. You should be able to do everything you want like clean the /windows /program files etc. folders and then reinstall without formatting. In addition you can start by deleting most/all non system files through windows and defrag after.

Formatting is done in exceptional events...

EDIT: If you really want to format then, yes ok you can do it. Make all sorts of room on your HDD, defrag it, make a new partition (FAT32), move the files over there, then you can format the partition where you had windows installed.

[Grizzlie 0]

If u r reinstalling XP i would advice u to use NTFS instead of FAT, except situation u want to connect this disk to other puter without XP.

[Placebo 28]

I think bn880 suggested making the new partition Fat32 so that you can access the backup files that will be put on it through Dos?

[qUiLL 0]

what file system thingy does linux use?

[bn880 5]

If u r reinstalling XP i would advice u to use NTFS instead of FAT, except situation u want to connect this disk to other puter without XP.

Yeah FAT32 is safest for backups, ease of access from other OS's and floppies.

Also stick to FAT32 on small HDD's, it's actually faster on the smaller ones.

[Badgerboy 0]

I think bn880 suggested making the new partition Fat32 so that you can access the backup files that will be put on it through Dos?

Shouldn't be necessary.

NTFS - Can read FAT32

FAT32 - Can't read NTFS

Format your primary in NTFS, drag the files over from the backup, then format that other partition with NTFS. (If you are going to keep it as a partition)

[bn880 5]

No way man, a backup is best made on FAT32 in order for it to be read by more OS's including ones fitted on floppy drives. NTFS is a PITA in real emergencies.

In addition, it's not filesystems that read filesystems, it's operating systems that do reading from file systems.

[kegetys 2]

You can get read access to NTFS partitions fine from DOS with NTFSDOS and from Linux with just support for it in the kernel... Writing is alot more limited but read only should be fine for taking backups...

Quote[/b] ]what file system thingy does linux use?

Most (hard drive based) Linux distributions use ext3, ext2 or reiserfs by default. XFS is also a good choice. But you can use whatever filesystem your kernel supports and even by default it supports a bunch of them, including fat16, fat32, umsdos (unix filesystem on top of FAT) and NTFS (read only though)