Formating win98

[Guest]

hi.
i'd like to know is if there is a way to completely remove windows 98 from my hard drive and reinstall it again from the start,cause i have noticed that certain files do not get deleted after a format.
thanks.

 

[hammerhead]

If you boot from a DOS disk and 'FORMAT C:'

Everything is wiped.

I'm curious, which particular files remain?

 

[ejsmith2]

If there's anything left after a format, something is screwed up. I usually use the "format c: /u/c", but even with "format c: /q/u" everything should be completely wiped.

 

[Guest]

in particular a driver file from my sound blaster live.after a format and while installing the drivers from the cd,its pops up a note saying this X driver is in X folder,overwrite or cancel.or something of that sort.cant remember exactly.
i have also heard lately that windows really never leave your hard drive even after a format..and this occurance backed this saying up.now i can only speculate about this but another thing is..that my internet was beggining to slow down(memory recourses were starting to get limited i guess)and the games started to stutter.after the format,the internet is still slow,the same way it was before,no stutter though.so this also got me more suspicious.

 

[Guest]

* format c: /u/c , format c: /q/u *
mind explaining what these are?all i know of is format c:..?

 

[hammerhead]

I suspect your sb live is installing a driver that is also contained in the Windows installation.

It is probably msjstick or somesuch.

It wasn't left on your hard drive after formatting, it was already installed from the Windows CD.

 

[hammerhead]

Oh yeah the format switches...

/u : unconditional, writes hex (f6 I think) to every byte on the disk.

/q : quick format. I think it just overwrites the File Allocation Table (FAT). Only works on disks previously formatted.

/c : No idea, never heard of it.

 

[ejsmith2]

The joys of ms-dos....

"/c" tell the format to re-check any cluster/sectors that are marked bad, and see if it can reclaim the area. I've had really old hard disks that mark sectors as bad when I shut the computer down wrong, but will hold data and pass the norton scan disk. It's just an old habit.

BTW, there a "/z" switch I use all the time to. It lets you specify whether you want 4k cluster, 2k cluster, 32k clusters....

 

[Guest]

*I suspect your sb live is installing a driver that is also contained in the Windows installation.*
yeah i thought about that too...but the os is windows 98 first edition..and well the sound card is what..a year old or so?or that doesnt matter...

anyway thanks for the help.

 

[hammerhead]

Yeah, fair point.

But if it's a driver for something like the gameport, Win already has it.