Will everything I got be Erased?

/_\MECCA/_\ · 12-24-2005, 06:02 PM

I got Windows 98SE on my computer...but my computer been messing up(such as the computer never restarting AT ALL & freeze-ups) from the jump probully cause some system files are corrupted.......So I want to reinstall Win98SE but I don't know if the "reinstall" will delete all the files & info I got on my computer...I don't really have anything to backup to....Can anyone help me out here? ***And yes I know XP/ME/2000 are out there on the market but Win98SE seems much easiler so I perfer Win98SE till then***

palmmann · 12-24-2005, 06:24 PM

sorry, but reinstalling your operating system will format you're hard drive, deleting all data. may i suggest an external hard drive?

/_\MECCA/_\ · 12-24-2005, 07:12 PM

Reinstalling my operating System WON'T format or even re-format my hard drive......why would it format when it's already a FAT32?...Only way it would format if it's FAT16 upgrading to FAT32..Also I looked in my Windows 98 lesson book(which doesn't tell me about if it'll erase my info or not) and they don't say a thing about "formatting" during installation & they have pictures of the installation(or re-installation) step by step.... Can someone else help me out there?

**dragon2309** · 12-24-2005, 07:19 PM

yes, you are right, reinsalling an OS shouldnt format your drive unless you are changing file systems. A good way to absoolutely ensure that you data doesnt get deleted would be to create an extra small partition and put the important docs in there, then reinstall onto the C:\ drive again, once its up and ruinning the partition "shouldnt" have been touched at all, so you can just copy the files back out of there and carry on as normal.

dragon2309

palmmann · 12-24-2005, 07:38 PM

sorry, every time i installed 98 i had to format. guess it was just because the drives had no format yet.

davidireland · 12-25-2005, 04:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by /_\MECCA/_\

Reinstalling my operating System WON'T format or even re-format my hard drive......why would it format when it's already a FAT32?...Only way it would format if it's FAT16 upgrading to FAT32..Also I looked in my Windows 98 lesson book(which doesn't tell me about if it'll erase my info or not) and they don't say a thing about "formatting" during installation & they have pictures of the installation(or re-installation) step by step.... Can someone else help me out there?

Why'd you ask if you knew? Palmmann answered what he thought was right and you tell him he's wrong haha....

Happy Holidays Everyone.

ericvonzipper · 12-25-2005, 09:43 AM

You do need to format if you want a clean install, if you install in such a way to keep all of your files and folders, you keep the possible corruption. Partician the drive, you can move files, not programs to the partician, or back up files to a cd, again not programs because all the .dll that execute the programs will be gone. Use the boot up disk for Win98, make sure the bios is set to boot from floppy drive first. The floppy should give you options to start with cdrom support or not, start with cdrom support. you will see an a:\ at the end of bootup,type in format c: it will ask you to confirm and warn you that all will be erased, say yes... If you created a partician that will be drive D, your files will be safe there. I've done this close to 10 times, the partician is safe if you do it right. At the end of the format it will ask you a question, I usually just hit enter. Then you would have the win98 disc in your cd rom, reboot and pay attention to what drive is assigned to the cdrom, then navigate to the cdrom, after bootup you will again have a:\, because the floppy is still in, type, c: you are now on the c drive, type in the cdrom designation, d if no partician, so d:\win98
then you should be there, type setup.exe and it should load from the cd. There may be shortcuts, but this is what I know. have fun.
PS, I know people that have reloaded windows without a complete format, their problems weren't fixed.

[-0MEGA-] · 12-25-2005, 10:54 AM

Eric's right, the best thing to do is to format the hard drive, then install Win98 onto the hard drive. Re-installing onto a hard drive that hasnt been formated may leave some extra files on there and you may still have your problem.

12-24-2005, 06:02 PM	#1 (permalink)
/_\MECCA/_\ Bronze Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 30	Will everything I got be Erased? I got Windows 98SE on my computer...but my computer been messing up(such as the computer never restarting AT ALL & freeze-ups) from the jump probully cause some system files are corrupted.......So I want to reinstall Win98SE but I don't know if the "reinstall" will delete all the files & info I got on my computer...I don't really have anything to backup to....Can anyone help me out here? *And yes I know XP/ME/2000 are out there on the market but Win98SE seems much easiler so I perfer Win98SE till then*
$/_\MECCA/_\ is offline$

12-24-2005, 07:12 PM	#3 (permalink)
/_\MECCA/_\ Bronze Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 30	Say Whaaaaaaa??? Reinstalling my operating System WON'T format or even re-format my hard drive......why would it format when it's already a FAT32?...Only way it would format if it's FAT16 upgrading to FAT32..Also I looked in my Windows 98 lesson book(which doesn't tell me about if it'll erase my info or not) and they don't say a thing about "formatting" during installation & they have pictures of the installation(or re-installation) step by step.... Can someone else help me out there?
$/_\MECCA/_\ is offline$

12-24-2005, 07:19 PM	#4 (permalink)
dragon2309 P.I Dragon Join Date: May 2005 Location: KENT, UK Age: 20 Posts: 8,425	yes, you are right, reinsalling an OS shouldnt format your drive unless you are changing file systems. A good way to absoolutely ensure that you data doesnt get deleted would be to create an extra small partition and put the important docs in there, then reinstall onto the C:\ drive again, once its up and ruinning the partition "shouldnt" have been touched at all, so you can just copy the files back out of there and carry on as normal. dragon2309 __________________ Intel Core2Duo E6600 @ 3.1Ghz - (__CPU__) eVGA 680i SLi - (__MOB__) 4Gb Corsair Dominator DDR2-800 (4x1024Mb) - (__RAM__) 250Gb Western Digital SATAII 7200rpm - (__HDD__) nVidia BFG 8800GTS OC 320Mb - (__GFX__) LG DVD+/-RW 18x DVD-RAM - (__OPT__) Triple Boot - [XP Pro] + [Vista Ultimate] + [Ubuntu 7.10] - (__OS__) [3DMARK'03 :: 25,587] --- [3DMARK'05 :: 13,989] --- [3DMARK'06 :: 8791] - (__BENCHMARKS__) dragon2309.co.uk - a little slice of geek

12-25-2005, 09:43 AM	#7 (permalink)
ericvonzipper Bronze Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 54	You do need to format if you want a clean install, if you install in such a way to keep all of your files and folders, you keep the possible corruption. Partician the drive, you can move files, not programs to the partician, or back up files to a cd, again not programs because all the .dll that execute the programs will be gone. Use the boot up disk for Win98, make sure the bios is set to boot from floppy drive first. The floppy should give you options to start with cdrom support or not, start with cdrom support. you will see an a:\ at the end of bootup,type in format c: it will ask you to confirm and warn you that all will be erased, say yes... If you created a partician that will be drive D, your files will be safe there. I've done this close to 10 times, the partician is safe if you do it right. At the end of the format it will ask you a question, I usually just hit enter. Then you would have the win98 disc in your cd rom, reboot and pay attention to what drive is assigned to the cdrom, then navigate to the cdrom, after bootup you will again have a:\, because the floppy is still in, type, c: you are now on the c drive, type in the cdrom designation, d if no partician, so d:\win98 then you should be there, type setup.exe and it should load from the cd. There may be shortcuts, but this is what I know. have fun. PS, I know people that have reloaded windows without a complete format, their problems weren't fixed. __________________ Socket 754 Athlon3700 ECS 755 A2 mb 1024meg Ultra pc3200 512meg Ultra PC3200 120gig 7200rpm 256meg 9600 (Sapphire) soundblaster 1024 Last edited by ericvonzipper; 12-25-2005 at 09:50 AM.

12-25-2005, 10:54 AM	#8 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Concord, NH Age: 20 Posts: 27,082	Eric's right, the best thing to do is to format the hard drive, then install Win98 onto the hard drive. Re-installing onto a hard drive that hasnt been formated may leave some extra files on there and you may still have your problem. __________________ Desktop // Laptop Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.0GHz // Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz Asus Rampage Formula X48 // Intel PM45 ATI 4870X2 2GB GDDR5 // 512MB GDDR3 9800M GTS 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 940 // 4GB DDR3 800 750GB SATAII w/32MB // 200GB SATAII 7200RPM Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 21391 // 9179

12-24-2005, 06:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
palmmann banned Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 979	sorry, but reinstalling your operating system will format you're hard drive, deleting all data. may i suggest an external hard drive?

12-24-2005, 07:38 PM	#5 (permalink)
palmmann banned Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 979	sorry, every time i installed 98 i had to format. guess it was just because the drives had no format yet.

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