windows XP killed the hard drive can it be used for win 98

HI
I have been handed a hard drive that someone installed windows XP on. This was a second install of XP on a second computer. Is it possible to clear XP off the drive and use for Win 98 or as a slave?
Thanks
Lewis

 

Mount the drive as a slave and format.

Or just mount the drive if it's going to end up the main drive as master, boot with a win 98 startup disk and format.

 

Please explain to me how Win XP killed the HD.

Are you sure it was XP and not the improper use of XP ?

I have as yet to see Windows ( any version ) kill a Hard Drive. The user YES. Several times.

The answer is yes. But only after reading the notes by Tony.T

BillyBob

 

TontT, I stand corrected!

We had the same Idea, but I was in a hurry and totally left out using fdisk.

Another option would to look at the drive and go to the manufacturer's site and download the setup software for the actual drive.

 

Win98's Fdisk will have a problem deleting a NTFS volume on the drive. If you were to get Delpart, and copy it onto the floppy (it will fit, really small) and then use it to delete the partition(s). M$ created this specifically to do this.

 

Also if I remember correctly the machine should be booted DIRECTLY to the Floppy from a power off state in order for things to work correctly.

A Friend of mine had a problem wtih changing partitions and once he powered down and restarted directly to the floppy all went very well.

I believe the main reason for needing to boot this way is so that RAM ( Random Access Memory ) gets cleared completely. Just a Windows restart may not do that.

I myself have cussed Windows several times until I found that I as the User was not doing things properly.

BillyBob

 

HI
Thanks for your help. I want to format the hard drive but I am not having any success. Please could you help with a step by step description for formatting my hard drive.
Thanks again
Lewis

 

I can be of no help here because it has been YEARS ( back to at least the days of Win95 ) since I formated an HD.

But, Post #2 by TonyT looks good to me.

But I will add that I believe the machine needs to be booted DIRECTLY TO THE FLOPPY. And not the HD first.

In other words the boot order in the BIOS needs to be set Floppy then the HD. I believe especially if the HD had and NTFS on it.

These are my thoughts anyway. And I may be learning here also.

BillyBob

 

step by step description for formatting my hard drive
Here is a copy and paste from an old text file and did some editing. If you just want to format, go to the second paragraph section below.

Here is how to use fdisk and format to ready the HD for Win98.
At windows Startup Menu select without CD-Rom support
At A:\> type fdisk enter
press "Y" enter for large disk support
at FDISK Option select "1" enter
at Create DOS Partition or logical DOS Drive select "1" enter
Verifying drive integrity, **%
press "Y" enter at do you wish to use the maximum available size for Primary DOS Partition
and make the partition active (Y/N)..?
Verifying drive integrity, **%
you then get a message to RESTART your system for changes to take effect
To create a second partition, you must create a extended partition and then create the logical drive(s) or other partitions.
YOU MUST REBOOT and format AFTER FDISK.

Press Esc and then Ctrl,Alt,Del, with bootdisk/Startup disk still in the floppy drive
At windows Startup Menu select with CD-Rom support
Note: Before the A:\> appears this time, there will be a message giving you the drive letter(s) for your CD drive(s). It will not be the usual letter, it may be E:\ in this case. Use this letter in place of the X in the next section below.
at A:\> type format c: (this will only format the HDD)
At WARNING, ALL DATA WILL BE LOST press "Y "
Formatting and the size of your HDD (i.e. 19,09.84M for a 20Gig)
after format enter a name for the HDD or just press enter you can name it later

Installing Windows.
Insert Win CD on CD drive.
Type in this command at the prompt.
X:\win98\setup

Install the motherboard drivers as the very first thing. Then do the video, then the sound card if not onboard. It would be a good idea if you have a internal modem to remove it from the computer before the installation of windows. Most of them are PCI cards, and Win98 has a problem with them during the hardware setup.

 

Nice layout Markp62!! I think that the drive desigantion for win as 'X' may cause another question but very nice description!!!

 

Thanks for your help Everbody.
I have got the hdd in and working with your help. Great.
Thanks again
Lewis