Dell recovery disk, erase hard drive?

mercurystar999

I need to find the recovery disc to be able to erase the hard drive. Anyone know where i can find it on my laptop?

I'd like to erase my hard disk and re-install XP.

How hard is this to do for an novice/amateur?

Wheres the cheapest place to but ram from i'd like to add a 1GB stick.

Thanks

albertross_2

instructions should be in the manual. sometimes you press a key to use the restore partition, sometimes you need the disk.

www.crucial.com/uk probably not the cheapest, but guaranteed to work if you run their scanner.

enemes

Go to Start > Run >

Enter "cmd", which will prompt your DOS box to load

At the cursor enter: " format c:" - ( on the assuption that C is your hard drive, replace C with whatever your HD is)

This will clear your drive, and then re-install XP after it has been wiped.

mercurystar999

I forgot there is a partition, so how do i get it back to just the partition please? If i go back to the partition will it be back to the way it was when i bought it?

albertross_2

It varies, google the model and restore partition, or read the manual, ctrl F11 maybe, you will lose all your data, so backup if you need to.

enemes

mercurystar999 wrote: »

I forgot there is a partition, so how do i get it back to just the partition please? If i go back to the partition will it be back to the way it was when i bought it?

if you are re-installing XP, yopu will get the option to re-partition it anyway. Just be sure to format both partitions in the way I said earlier. Also back up or save all the files you need to keep.

Curiously though ... are you back tracking from Vista to XP, or are you obliterating an existing XP to overlay with a new one ( ie ... covering your tracks?)

albertross_2

You can't format c from inside XP, and formatting d is a bad idea if that is where the restore partition is.

mercurystar999

Is it worth erasing the hard disk or just going back to the partition?

Just by pressing ctrl and f11 will take me right back to the beginning then? All my downloaded stuff that i don't use will be gone and all photo's and mp3's will be deleted? I bought a external hard disk to put all the stuff i want to keep and i'll make a note of the things i use such as avg.

stephanie88_2

Last month I did a full recovery on my Dell Dimension 5150 PC with the ctrl F11 prompt. Just do it when you first turn on laptop and Dell logo comes up. Though obviously double check the ctrl F11 is compatible with your laptop. Make sure you back up the things you want to keep though! I don't have an external hard drive but my 80GB ipod did the job!

PC is starting up a lot quicker now and no more rubbish on it :T

albertross_2

yes, restore will put it to the state it left the factory in, no data, no mp3's, no avg etc., no service pack updates, just windows.

Why are you considering this?

mercurystar999

Its just got painfully slow. I only use it for web browsing and sometimes i type faster than it can show up on screen. I admit i use firefox and have about 11 tabs open but that shouldn't make that much difference?

Does it matter that i don't turn the laptop off and just close the lid?