start up disk

kevplumb

kevplumb

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hi people
just fitted a slave hd for the domestic service engineer (ok breezer )
need to format it apparently i need a start up disk which i can produce from windows xp
question how :?
 
as its an additional HD can you not go mycomputer>new hd letter> format.

or take the HD out put it another pc and ask that one to format it (thats how i do it)
 
Yes, no need for an additional disk with XP. As Breezer says, just go to My Computer and right click on the new drive and select Format.
 
Yes, forgot the new drive bit. It doesn't have any partition info yet..

Open a RUN prompt (START>RUN) and in the box, type compmgmt.msc and press <ENTER>. This will open the computer management console. In the left window, under Storage, click on Disk Management. You will now see both drives in the right window. Right click on the new one (The one that says 'unallocated'), and select New Partition. The wizard is fairly easy to follow. Unless you want otherwise, just select a Primary partition using the same format as your existing drive, FAT32 or NTFS. When the wizard finishes, the drive will start to format.

Cheers

Ian
 
:oops: i forgot to mention my other pc has win 98, not xp, i have yet to have a hd it can not see (better not tempt fate)
 
Strange - I have bought several hd's over time and each has come with a floppy disc for diagnostics and configuration - Looking at new WD caviar floppy right now 'Data Lifeguard Tools' Western Digital.

If having problems try looking on the makers site, they usually have bags of info and downloads here :- http://support.wdc.com/

P
 
pipme said:
Strange - I have bought several hd's over time and each has come with a floppy disc for diagnostics and configuration
Click to expand...

Sounds like you buy retail boxes, which include low level diags and translation sw for systems that can't handle large drives on their own. Usually more expensive cos of the box. Note some of the Western Digital s/w is only useful for their drives

In Windows 98, you run FDISK to create the partition, XP has it's own interface, the management console.

BTW, ebuyer is cheap for disks (www.ebuyer.co.uk)
 
To be honest, I have thus far had no HDD problems whatever, the drives I have bought have been extras ( about 4 since early 90's ) and boxed.
Today they are relatively cheap as chips :wink: I like to buy reasonable quality when I can, probably just a 'feel good' thing .. WD have been pleasing so far !! The one I am looking at is a mere 20GB bought at a sale - boxed - pretty cheap.

The WD site was an example really, I am sure the other makers have the same excellent sites ... data on their different drives dwgs, of 'jumper' positions, fault finding etc. ... Good isn't it ? :D

P
 
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