Thinking of formating

Rage85

Rage85

Rage85

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Joined
18 Nov 2010
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531
(please note i am clueless with pc stuff)

I have had windows 7 installed for over a year now and i'm thinking of giving it a format before installing the new fifa and football manager games that are coming out shortly, my PC is running fine but i want to do it before i move into the new house with my wife anyway. so a couple of questions.

1. on my old computer i just used to go into the bios, set it to run the cd (windows xp) and do it from there, is it easier with windows 7? do i just have to run the cd?

2. I have a few things i want to save for when i do the format, i dont have an external hard drive or anything so what can i do? amazon cloud? dropbox? Things i want to keep include Music/videos/photos/notepad files.
 
How big is your hdd and how much free space do you have.
I have re-installed windows before on the same partion, all existing files files and folders were saved in a folder called "windows old".
 
Sorry to hijack, but I'm considering nuking my install as well (over 2 years! It's getting bloated). I have so many precious settings and programs that I can't bear to go through again though. This time I'm going to get all my basic stuff installed then image that bad-boy so I can do a quick re-image in future.

Any checklists from people that do this on a regular basis to make it a smoother transition? I'm on a 120GB SSD so no room for a windows.old on there. Nearly all of my apps are installed on other drives, so I'm wondering if there's a way to reinstall them on the new OS without going through the whole rigmarole of running installers? If not, will I have to back up settings and then format my programs folder (on a different drive) and start over?
 
Last edited:
Idleman said:
How big is your hdd and how much free space do you have.
I have re-installed windows before on the same partion, all existing files files and folders were saved in a folder called "windows old".
Click to expand...

how do i check that? :D

this is my system

XFX ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Lost Planet 2 PC Game - Retail
Gigabyte P67A-UD3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge)
Antec High Current Gamer 520W Power Supply
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD105SI)
Creative T3130 2.1 Speaker System (51MF0395AA003)
Samsung SH-S223C/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black/Silver/Biege) - Retail
 
Just click on "My Computer". This will show you your drive( including partions), the size, space used and space free. Just post back what it shows.
 
Rage1999 said:
853 GB free of 931
Click to expand...

Aright, download the partion manager in the link. http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm

Make a partion of about 100gb. This will include your existing OS, files and folders.
Next, create a second partion the same size.
Install your OS on the second Partion. When the installation is complete, all drivers and updates installed, you can now start transfering your files.
I would however, recommend making separate partions for your video and music files.
When you have finished transfering your files, delete the old partion( the one with the existing OS) and then extend the new partion using the space left by the old partion.

First Partion= Existing OS.
Second Partion= New OS installation.
Third Partion= Videos.
Forth Partion= Music.

I would also recommend getting a second 1TB drive and clone your existing drive. Will make life a lot easier. ;)
 
Idleman said:
Aright, download the partion manager in the link. http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm

Make a partion of about 100gb. This will include your existing OS, files and folders.
Next, create a second partion the same size.
Install your OS on the second Partion. When the installation is complete, all drivers and updates installed, you can now start transfering your files.
I would however, recommend making separate partions for your video and music files.
When you have finished transfering your files, delete the old partion( the one with the existing OS) and then extend the new partion using the space left by the old partion.

First Partion= Existing OS.
Second Partion= New OS installation.
Third Partion= Videos.
Forth Partion= Music.

I would also recommend getting a second 1TB drive and clone your existing drive. Will make life a lot easier. ;)
Click to expand...

I've downloaded it but can't even see how you create a partion, i am clueless with computers and will probably **** something up, if i lend my mates external hardrive, put everything i need on that, can i just format using the windows cd? and then put everything back on? job done?
 
Rage1999 said:
I've downloaded it but can't even see how you create a partion, i am clueless with computers and will probably **** something up, if i lend my mates external hardrive, put everything i need on that, can i just format using the windows cd? and then put everything back on? job done?
Click to expand...

You can, but i would still recommend partioning your drive before re-installing the OS.

Found some video guides which may help. It really is very simple to do. Also get anotheer drive to use as backup, better safe than sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6_wwuBp0iI
 
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