formatting

[Dennie]

if i format my pc this way:

http://www.filecram.com/viewfile/5111614.htm

will it keep all of the critical files?

[M1CH431]

Formatting a drive gets rid of everything on the drive. Also, what way where you talking about?

[Dennie]

ok the link's up

[Dark Blade]

I thought there was only ONE kind of formating, but maybe I'm wrong 

It's taken like 10 minutes, but I see the picture.

For those who don't want to wait, it's a picture of My Computer, a it shows a pop-up/menu thing that can be described as follows:

Code: [Select]

Title (it doesn't say title; this is just to tell you): Format Local Disk (C:)
Capacity :(drop-down menu) 37.2 GB
File System: (drop-down) NFTS
Allocation Unit Size: (drop-down) 4096 bytes
Volume Label: (typeable space, but not filed in with anything)

Format Options (the following are in tick boxes:
Quick Format:
Enable Compression:
(greyed out)Create an MS-DOS backup disk at start up:
 
Well, that's my contribution.

Why do you want to format? If you wanted to delete much of the information that you've added (i.e. programs, documents, pictures, etc.), use System Restore. You would use that if you wanted to clear all of your data and sell your computer with the hard-drive still attached.

[Dennie]

for some reason the only restore point is like a week ago

[street1 (RIP)]

Do you have your original restore disks?

[contrex]

That image shows the normal Windows XP format dialog box.

I thought there was only ONE kind of formating, but maybe I'm wrong 

It depends what you mean by formatting. It can be applied to a new partition or disk or an already existing one. It is a process where everything on the disk or partition is blanked out and a new filesystem is created. This filesystem can be one of a number of different types: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2, ext3, ReiserFS, and I daresay some more.

The important point is that, essentially, afterwards the disk or partition is BLANK. Everything on it has gone.

Sometimes specialist tools can recover the information, sometimes not. It depends what you want to do. If you want to re install an operating system, a simple format is fine. If you want to dispose of the computer and you are worried about people restoring your data and looking at private information, get a secure file deleter program.

[Dennie]

dont have the restore disks

[contrex]

dont have the restore disks

Why do you want to format it then?

[street1 (RIP)]

dont have the restore disks

Have you tried--> Here?

[GX1_Man]

dont have the restore disks

Get ready to see this a lot:


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