I dont know if im posting this thread in the correct spot but hopefully some one can help me. I bought a laptop and have had it for about 3.5 years. Its getting pretty full of crap and i wanna format. Now heres my problem. I had my luggage stolen awhile back along with my system discs. Is there any way i can format and still get everything i started with or at least the important stuff? The onlyt disc i have now is my Xp disc.
The word format means to completely erase the disk and rewrite the file allocation table. So the short answer to your question is no However, you could try these alternatives: 1)Backup all of your data on an external hard disk or CD/DVD-ROM. Put the Windows CD into your machine and reboot. Then completely reinstall the OS. The downside to this is that you will loose all of your installed programs, as well as your OS specific settings 2)Boot into Windows and upgrade it from the CD. All of your personal files will stay on the disk, and your Windows settings will remain. However your system will have a new registry and some of your programs may not work. 3) Optimise your current installation of Windows (recommended) . Run the Windows defragmentation tool, and run disk cleanup Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools> Then download and install CCleaner. It's a free Windows registry and file cleaner.
Well honestly i do system cleans and defragments often and allready have ccleaner on my pc. Im thinking about going with your first option, but what do you mean by OS specific settings? I can deal with reinstalling programs.
By OS specific settings I mean your Windows preferences. The way you choose to dress the desktop, or which view modes you prefer when browsing your files. It's no biggy of course, just a pain in the arse! Actually I think Windows has a wizard called 'transfer files and settings' which you can use to restore your settings on your new installation. Theres one other thing to bare in mind - your original restore CD has your PC manufacturer's additional software/drivers that a retail XP CD will not have. HP have a special control panel utility for their computers for example. Again this is no real biggy as most of the time you can download these additional programs from the manufacturer's website
The file allocation table is a component of the FAT filesystem, NTFS does not use this and neither do other filesystems. Low level formatting is uncommon, and formats the surface of the disk with the actual HD controller, while high level formatting is used by software.
Every file system, no matter whether it's NTFS or ReiserFS, uses some form of file allocation. Otherwise how would you computer keep track of where your files are located?
You give the impression by using the term file allocation table to FAT, which is a proprietary file system from MS. Unix FSs like ext2 use a i-node structure, so different from a FAT.
