Formatting Vista

Forevermore1337

Forevermore1337

New Member
I am just about to install windows vista on my new computer. I tried to put XP on first, but discovered that my XP CD was actually an upgrade... Anyways, when installing Vista, will it auto-format, or will i have to manually format the new hard drive. If so, how much should be set aside for backing up and recovery.
Any help is welcome.

Thanks.
 
as long as the file system is compatible, Vista will not force you to reformat but will give you the option if you want to. You should not reserve any space as a backup. Backups are only really useful on a completely separate hard drive, not a separate partition. Vista's normal system recovery reserves its own amount based on your hard drive size.
 
Once you are booted from the Vista dvd in the installer is running it will depend on whether or not the drive is bare needing a new primary or you simply want to reformat an existing one. On a new build with a new HD bare you would proceed to the drive tools section or simply use a 3rd party drive tool to see the drive partitioned and formatted.

Before anyone could answer as to how much drive space should seen with a second storage partition knowing the size of the hard drive itself would be a help here.
How much will be stored?
How many softwares will be installed(games/apps)?
How large are the files and how many is simply another question to throw on top of that even.
 
Ok thanks. That's exactly what i needed to know. I just wanted to make sure i wasn't going to accidentally partition away half of my drive.
 
First have a look at how the Vista host drive here is split seeing a storage partition added there. You'll have to ignore the top and bottom two since the top is an unfinished multiple boot of different Linux distros in the works plus two optical drives seen at the bottom in the image here.



The next drive seeing "My Book" since each drive was labeled is the external usb drive seen inbetween the XP and two optical drives.
 
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