reformat or reinstall?

[andyjz]

Due to the wonderful ATI AIW video card driver problems I am reformatting again. I just wanted to know if I should reformat or if I can just reinstall Win 98 over the top without reformatting the hard drive?

Thanks

 

[medic]

If you are sure you can't fix the problems I would boot with a startup disk and format C: /q

/q switch will only take a few seconds


BACKUP!!

 

[andyjz]

What does the /q mean and do I have to wipe the drive first so that I'm not reinstalling over the top of everything else?

 

[Anavrin]

/q is format's quick erase switch. It just tells your computer "Okay, I've declared this drive empty" rather than going through it all and emptying the contents.

I'd recommend a good wipe of your harddrive. Reinstall everything then. Oh, and don't install an OS and then upgrade. Ie: don't install Win95 and then use the Win98 upgrade CD.

I've had nothing but trouble from OS upgrades in the long run.

 

[medic]

The /q switch stands for quick!
You don't need to wipe the drive as Format will let you install fresh.

 

[Modus]

The FORMAT command has, since at least 1995, not really wiped the drive. It simply wipes the FAT and then performs a cluster-by-cluster read/write test to pick up bad sectors. That's why it's relatively easy for a program like Lost & Found to recover from a botched FDISK and FORMAT. Actually, FORMAT /Q does exactly the same thing as FORMAT, only without the bad sector test. It's just that FORMAT does not allow the /Q switch on a fresh partition.

Modus

 

[andyjz]

So how can I erase the drive? Will DEL c: work?

 

[Modus]

They just told you.

format c: /q

Modus