Re: Reformatting the C system drive




Ron Hirsch wrote:

I think that my C drive is having some issues, and I have a replacement drive to use if indeed the drive itself is beyond having a reformat resolve the issues. Before installing a new drive, which I'll preformat outside of the machine in question, I'd like to take a shot at formatting the existing drive in place, and then restore a current image of that drive via my True Image boot CD.

So I want to reformat my 400 GB C while it's in place in the machine. If I boot up into Windows, and go to a command prompt, and then key in "format c:" - will I then get a message staing that it cannot do that while Windows is running, and will do so the next time when I start a "bootup", following which of course, it will not boot up, as there will be nothing installed on the C drive. If this will work, I could then boot up from the TI recovery CD, which will run True Image from the CD, and allow me to restore an image that I created before starting this whole process.

But can I format the C drive this way? I see no path to do the format process in True Image ver 11 capabilities, or have I missed this.

I know I can remove the drive, and format it via an external USB connection to another machine, and then put it back in place. But I'd like to avoid the added work to do it this way.

How about my Knoppix or Bart PE disks - are they a usable choice also?

Ron Hirsch


One thought that comes to mind is that this is a lot of extra work
just to clone a hard drive, especially with TrueImage. TrueImage
has a "Clone" option. Our method has been to insert the new hard
drive into a suitable external USB or firewire enclosure or even a
HD "dock", select it as the target and let TrueImage do all of the
work.

.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: Reformatting the C system drive
    ... Before installing a new drive, which I'll preformat outside of the machine in question, I'd like to take a shot at formatting the existing drive in place, and then restore a current image of that drive via my True Image boot CD. ... But can I format the C drive this way? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: XP formating and installing
    ... devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.) ... > installing XP are right It would do me great help. ... To format type format c: ... You will get the option to repair or enter setup ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Formating the C drive
    ... When you boot from the CD, watch the screens for a notice that states, "If ... >> The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary ... >> to partition and format your drive. ... > installing XP. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: Reformatting the C system drive
    ... Before installing a new drive, ... Image boot CD. ... So I want to reformat my 400 GB C while it's in place in the machine. ... But can I format the C drive this way? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Format harddrive
    ... utility format the hard drive without installing Windows? ... is that I use True Image to create an image of my hard drive. ... does not format or perform a disc check before ... > The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)