Hoping for some help. Google is no avail. I am trying to reformat my computer. During the Vista reinstallation process I get to a screen that asks which partition to install Vista on. Options are:
Disk 0 Partition 1 RECOVERY (D:) Disk 0 Partition 2 (C:)
Not sure which to choose or why, exactly, they are partitioned in this way. My googling led me to believe that when I got to this point, there would be a "Format" button on the bottom to select. (There isn't)
My goal is to wipe everything and have a clean install. With XP it seemed easier....
Any help?
[ December 23, 2008, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: TL ]
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
Hmm. Manufactured computer? It sounds like it was originally formatted with a small secondary partition (the D:) to store data that might be necessary for recovery from some kind of system crash.
Is your original Vista installation still functional? It's usually possible to make some kind of boot disk with the command line features that allow you to do a full format of your drive.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Are you using a recovery dvd or a full Vista installation disk? Have you tried selecting one of the drives to see if the botton appears?
Another possibility is get a Windows XP or Linux disk and use that to delete any partitions it sees (Linux will more likely see the newer partitions).
Go for Fedora! Anyways, the D drive is recovery, install on C, you only really need to format and merge the two if D is bothering you or if its using critical amounts of space.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Do you have a full Vista install? There won't necessarily be a format option if you just have an upgrade disk.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Okay, I was able to do it. I deleted the D: drive after reading what it was all about and merged the resulting unallocated space with my C: drive. Then I restarted the vista installation process and, after having selected the C: drive, I chose 'drive options', after which the 'format' option did appear.
All thanks to the help of an awesome youtube video made by a gentleman who sounds like he might be fourteen.
Now I'm in the hunting-for-drivers phase of this process...
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
thats not going to be fun if its prepackaged/manufactured computer. The drivers may not exist.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
I'm sure the drivers exist. And in the case of Dell, they are easily downloadable.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Actually thats not true, I've had the case of a Dell where they're were NO (and me and a friend looked everywhere) supported drivers for XP anyways. The drivers for vista may well exist but not always as if its pre manufactured computer it could very well void the warranty to even so much as format it meaning that the drivers may not exist as the company may very well want you to use the recovery cd and only that.
Maybe my mom lucked out and got the one computer that had no drivers for it for XP, but surely the case of theyre always being downloadable drivers may not be the case.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote: I've had the case of a Dell where they're were NO (and me and a friend looked everywhere) supported drivers for XP anyways.
I seriously doubt this.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
Let me clarify, Blayne. Vista is being reinstalled. That means it has Vista before. I admit I assumed - and might be wrong - that Vista was the original OS sold with the laptop, and that the laptop's innards have not been switched out for different components. However, you seemed to make the same assumption when you said "prepackaged/manufactured computer." In that case, the drivers exist, and are almost surely easy to find.
I can easily imagine that if you buy a laptop then install a different operating system, that compatible drivers might be hard to find or might not exist. It sounds like you tried installing XP on a laptop that was originally sold with some other OS.
quote:The drivers for vista may well exist but not always as if its pre manufactured computer it could very well void the warranty to even so much as format it meaning that the drivers may not exist as the company may very well want you to use the recovery cd and only that.
You lost me on that one. Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
Some of the drivers were a little goofy. The problem was more 'Which specific driver' than 'there are no drivers'
I ended up shortcutting it and using one of those programs that finds all your drivers for you.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)