• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

How do I reformat my computer?

I have an external hard drive and it is fantastic. I back up all my stuff on it, and have zipped programs on it so I can install them with ease. I also do a lot of work of my friends computers and it is so much easier to just take the USB hard drive there and install the programs off it or whatever. So if you have the cash I would recommend it.
Also your hard disk maker has lots of tools for formatting and partitioning the disk.

And thanks for the robocopy and xcopy tip. I will check it out.
 
RichardM:
Before you go to all that trouble, you might want to see if you can format the c: drive from within Windows. I'm inclined to think that it won't let you - you'll excuse me if I don't try it on my machine first
Click to expand...

I did that....ahem....and windows would not allow it. On that occasion I was glad Microsoft doesn't allow you complete freedom over your data. So you can't format the system disk from the OS in Windows. Aren't you lucky there are people like me to test these things for you?

Evildave, I read an article that cast grave doubts over the longevity of data stored on CD-R's - in some cases the disks were unreadable after less than two years. Admittedly you're unlikely to need any backup from that long ago, but just out of interest, have you tested any of the backup CD's from 1996 recently?
 
Last I heard, CDR media had an expected shelf life (in dark, dry, ideal conditions) of over 100 years. Let's check... (sound of evildave fishing out and dumping a cake box upside-down and sticking a disc in the drive....)

19971130 (November, 1997)
Hmm... browsing and randomly sampling the files, I have: no errors.

I found some nostalgic junk in the source code archive as well.

Now it may be that certain ultra lame media from certain manufacturers, or certain CD burners were junk. There were certainly a lot of coaster burns in the early days, and a lot of un-verified burns as well.

I guarantee I would have no tape media still readable from 1997. Not only for tape just outright rotting, but for having a device that could read the old junk, assuming it was even still readable.
 
Premature failure of CD-R/CD-RW/DVD media has been linked to adhesive labels used on them. I first learned of this from this Information Week article by Fred Langa. The Digital Preservation Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released an excellent 50 page guide (.pdf) on care and handling of CDs and DVDs for long term storage. Here is a one page summary (.pdf) of that guide. In short, if you store your backup media in a cool low humidity area and you don't use adhesive labels, you can expect the media to last for several/many years.
 
I use a 'Sharpie' marker. I would never "stick" things to the media. If not for the fact that the adhesive could 'rot' and the label could fly off in a drive while it's spinning, because the marker does an excellent job.

For a backup, I scrawl the date on the disc in YYMMDD format, add it to the top of the cake box spindle, and that's about it. No reason to do more. If it just has something like "040418" on it, I know exactly what it is. Generic computer backup.
 
evildave said:

I guarantee I would have no tape media still readable from 1997. Not only for tape just outright rotting, but for having a device that could read the old junk, assuming it was even still readable.
Click to expand...

This is already quite a big problem for some organisations, apparently.

There is at least one museum in the UK that came close to losing a lot of data, because they stored it on 3 inch floppies, and then threw away the machine with the 3 inch drive. They couldn't find another one, and had to make a public appeal. They've now transferred it to CD, which looks like it's going to be around for a while.
 
The longevity of CD-RWs is even more volatile than that of CD-Rs. CD-Rs use a dye which has its color changed by the writing laser. The dye can possibly fade over time, reducing the contrast between the "1" and "0" spots of the digital encoding. CD-RWs use an even more precarious method: the medium is an alloy which the writing laser changes from crystalline to amorphous and back again. This offers even less contrast than CD-Rs and require better lasers to read the information. They are only good for a limited number of rewrite cycles before they become unreadable as the alloy eventually stops responding to the writing laser.
 
While I agree with evildave about the value of external USB storage, a word of caution- these devices can be easily lost or stolen. I lost a USB key recently- I don't know whether it was stolen or not. Now I'm frantically trying to recall what was on there and how much damage it could do in the wrong hands.

Let me say two words relevant to such dongles-

1.Encryption.
2.Backups.
 
My USB drive is about the size of a paving brick. The current one contains a 3.5" 250GB HDD, and have an external power supply and cable. 250GB may be enough for my straight data backup for the next year or so. We'll see. It cost me about $230 to put together from off the shelf parts, from Compusa, so I imagine something similar could be built for about $200 if you shopped around.

It's still fairly portable but not easy to "lose", unless you are prone to lose something almost as big and almost as precious as a notebook computer, but if you're prone to misplace it, I suppose you could duct tape it to something awkward to make it harder to misplace.

Here's something you could attach to it...
http://www.smarthome.com/3285.html

Or I suppose you could glue a little orange bicycle flag to it or something like that to make it stand our wherever you put it.

I just leave the backup drive sitting on top of my computer. Unless I do drag it somewhere, but it's not all that bad for that.
 
A lot of good advice here. But before I reformat I try a windows reinstall first. If you are going to use fdisk, Partition Magic or the install CD, I highly recommend you partition your hard drive. Just out of habit I make 5 partitions c, d, e, f, g. If it is a large hard drive, I usually make C: smaller. I install the operating system on C: programs on D: and E, F, and G end up for data, storage and archive stuff. Then in the future if I have problems with my operating system, then I reformat just C:. You'll still have to reload your programs on D:, but all your updates and settings will be there and you won't have reload your data and anything else stored on E, F, and G.
 
evildave said:
My USB drive is about the size of a paving brick. The current one contains a 3.5" 250GB HDD, and have an external power supply and cable. 250GB may be enough for my straight data backup for the next year or so. We'll see. It cost me about $230 to put together from off the shelf parts, from Compusa, so I imagine something similar could be built for about $200 if you shopped around.

It's still fairly portable but not easy to "lose", unless you are prone to lose something almost as big and almost as precious as a notebook computer, but if you're prone to misplace it, I suppose you could duct tape it to something awkward to make it harder to misplace.

Here's something you could attach to it...
http://www.smarthome.com/3285.html

Or I suppose you could glue a little orange bicycle flag to it or something like that to make it stand our wherever you put it.

I just leave the backup drive sitting on top of my computer. Unless I do drag it somewhere, but it's not all that bad for that.
Click to expand...
I checked around and you got a good price on it.
 
It's still fairly portable but not easy to "lose",


Dave- This was just a 128MB USB key, maybe 1/4 x1/2 x 1 1/2 inches , you know the sort of thing. I plugged it into a pc at work to send a txt attachment I had saved on it, to save typing time on a client's pc. Then I was called away to deal with something.
I forgot about it for a few hours. When I went back it was gone and nobody had seen it. As the people and the PC concerned were our clients, I could hardly accuse them of outright theft, and just maybe I forgot I removed it in the rush, then dropped it.

My point is, these are exactly the things we use for storing the sort of personal data we can't afford to lose. (Or have in someone else's hands). They are small and because they are portable they are more vulnerable to "loss" than home equipment.

I have replaced it and put PGP on the replacement. Everything on there is encrypted. A hassle, but I'll sleep easier if this one vanishes.
 
Soapy Sam said:
It's still fairly portable but not easy to "lose",


Dave- This was just a 128MB USB key, maybe 1/4 x1/2 x 1 1/2 inches , you know the sort of thing. I plugged it into a pc at work to send a txt attachment I had saved on it, to save typing time on a client's pc. Then I was called away to deal with something.
I forgot about it for a few hours. When I went back it was gone and nobody had seen it. As the people and the PC concerned were our clients, I could hardly accuse them of outright theft, and just maybe I forgot I removed it in the rush, then dropped it.

My point is, these are exactly the things we use for storing the sort of personal data we can't afford to lose. (Or have in someone else's hands). They are small and because they are portable they are more vulnerable to "loss" than home equipment.

I have replaced it and put PGP on the replacement. Everything on there is encrypted. A hassle, but I'll sleep easier if this one vanishes.
Click to expand...
An alternative to portable storage is a USB flash memory card reader. It has the advantage of being able to swap out cards, just like a floppy drive. I use one with my laptop. My home desktop has a built in flash card reader from CompUSA that reads 5 different kinds of cards. A 256 Mb card start at $38 and a reader at $20. I can also use the cards in my camera. MWave
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom