About reformatting?

[i_like_php]

ok can someone kindly tell me what does reformatting a drive do?

[redux]

re-formatting wipes all content from the drive...operating system that's installed on there, data, programs...everything. it's usually the last resort when fixing windows (format the drive and do a fresh installation. by formatting the drive first, you're making 100% sure that no traces of your previous installation are left on the drive).

[redux]

p.s.: was that question serious ?

[Ingoal]

Originally posted by redux
p.s.: was that question serious ?

i think so

[zweistein]

the format command "prepares a disk for use with the MSDOS operating system", but it originally prepares any magnetical drive for use with any operating system.

I reformat my hard drive about twice a year, almost every time with another OS .

[i_like_php]

yes redux the question was serious my computer has acting up and someone told me reformatting my computer would be best.

[redux]

needless to say (?): make sure to make a backup of all your data/information onto floppy/cdr/zip/whatever before formatting. often overlooked: your outlook address book (export it as file and back it up), your internet connection settings, your emails (you can export them as .eml files as well. there is another way - copying out a specific folder in your windows directory which contains all your "application data" for outlook...but it's fussy).
be also sure to have a boot floppy, or check if you can boot from the windows cd (works for win2k...not sure about other releases). also make sure you have all essential drivers to access your bare bones system (e.g. if you will boot from floppy first, make sure your floppy also has drivers for your cd drive...otherwise you'll format you HD, only to find out you then can't access your cdrom to start the windows installation )
ah...so many things to look out for...i wish you the best of luck, matey...!

format c:
are you sure (y/n)?

that's what a friend of mine calls "a*se clench moment"...

[hotnuts21]

OK,

So you can export your internet connection files, your emails, and your address book as .eml files. But where do you go to export them??

How do you find what to export, is there a setting in internet options or similar??

[Hierophant]

For your internet connections, the easiest way to back them up is with these two little know gadgets called paper and pencil. Amazingly enough they work without electricity as well.

For your email and address books in Outlook and Outlook Express you might try File -> Export.

[hotnuts21]

Paper and what?? Dont know what you are talking about I will do a search on Google and see if i can download a copy or two.

Sound good.

Anyway,

your outlook address book (export it as file and back it up), your internet connection settings, your emails (you can export them as .eml files as wel

As some of my internet connection details, are a few years old and hardly used I cannot remember what the passwords are. using one of those pen and pencil things will be no good, if i can only wirte down a few *******

That was why i asked,

[redux]

you could try and give Revelation2 a try http://www.snadboy.com/
didn't work for me, but that's under Win2K (which has, thankfully, patched that particular security issue).
something else i found while poking around...but this is probably for the experts only

Internet Dial Up Password

Have you ever wondered where Windows stores the Internet Connection Password when you
have enabled the 'Save Password' option in the 'Connect To' dialog box of the dial up connection.
Well this password is stored in the registry in the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\RemoteAccess\Profile\<connection name>

If you view the above key in the registry Editor then it probably will not appear understandable. If
you want to be able to understand the contents of this key and hence be able to edit this key,then
you will have to export this particular key and view it in Notepad.The password is stored in stored
as binary values and has to be converted into plantext ASCII before you are able to read it.

from http://users.ldproxy.com/maniac/passwd.txt

in the worst case, say goodbye to your old internet connections and switch to new ones

[seanf]

- Dragging your dial up connection onto your desktop should let you copy it onto a CD

- Email in Outlook Express: Tools > Options > Maintenance, click on Store Folder and copy the path. Go to this folder and go one folder up to "Outlook Express" and you can copy this to a CD

- Address book (Outlook Express): File > Export > Address Book

Favorites are easy. If you had WinXP you would just need to copy your folder name and you would have most of your stuff! If you use Trillian make sure you grab the config files

Sean

[mmj]

Originally posted by zweistein
I reformat my hard drive about twice a year, almost every time with another OS .

I tend not to reformat at all - I haven't really started again from scratch for years. Each time I upgrade my hard drive I just copy everything across. I reinstall windows sometimes - and of course I keep backups, but I've never actually reformatted from scratch.

I do have a system. My hard drive is not a complete mess. My directory structure is so deep and so complex that I wouldn't want to start again.

But if I had to, I could restore from CD. Getting a CD burner was a very good investment - it is so handy for when you have to take large files with you, and for backing things up.

[Hierophant]

Hmmm.. And to think, I just set the 3 X 5 card that my provider sent me with my username and password on it in the safe for backup.

Then again, I don't dial-up either so could actually retrieve the password from their website if I reformatted.

[zweistein]

Originally posted by mmj


I tend not to reformat at all - I haven't really started again from scratch for years. Each time I upgrade my hard drive I just copy everything across. I reinstall windows sometimes - and of course I keep backups, but I've never actually reformatted from scratch.

I do have a system. My hard drive is not a complete mess. My directory structure is so deep and so complex that I wouldn't want to start again.

But if I had to, I could restore from CD. Getting a CD burner was a very good investment - it is so handy for when you have to take large files with you, and for backing things up.

Well, I do it really really often, mostly because I try different kinds of software and my computer gets really slow (so slow the defragmenter doesn't help ). Then, I change operating systems very often (linux to windows 98, windows 98 to win2000, win2000 to XP, and so on...).