Reformat Dell

[beth]

Anybody ever reformat a Dell hard drive, and any particualar thing that I should know?
I know how to do xp format using non-brand pc, but I don't know about the dells.
Any advise before I get started??

 

[stacyt]

Dells come with a recovery CD. If you boot from the disk it should give you the option to put the system back to its original state.
Just make sure you backup any data.
If you want to you can use a regular XP cd, boot from that and install the drivers for the hardware after install is complete. I would make sure though that you can obtain the drivers, and probably download the latest drivers from their site, and copy them to cd.

 

[jlem]

If your dell is like mine it came with a Windows CD. It is nice because you can install just windows and not all of the other 3rd party crap that comes with computers. You just install windows by booting up from the windows CD, and then the drivers from the ( Drivers, Utilities, and Applications CD ).

 

[beth]

Yes, that was what I was thinking. Just installing xp and forgetting about all the "extras" that are useless for the most part.
I just figured that since it was a brandname pc it might not be "simple" to just install xp.

 

[bradttu]

It's not any different that doing a nonbrand PC. Just do it as you normally would. I've done it numerous times!

 

[black99l]

i just reformatted my drive. I used the XP disk (couldn't find the recovery CD). it took about 30 mins. really easy, took all the useless junk of that dell loves to stick on the drive.

 

[fishman830]

lol i end up doing it once or twice a year..