FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW TO FORMAT A HARD DISK
Make A Startup Disk.   [Instructions Here]
TEST IT:   Put in A: & boot up to it.

IF YOU'VE DONE THIS CORRECTLY, YOUR SCREEN SHOULD LOOK LIKE IMAGE 1

NOTE: You may need to change the system startup sequence in BIOS if your system doesn't boot to A: first.

There are two sets of instructions. One for NEW hard disks and One for USED.

IMAGE 1:

QUICK INSTRUCTIONS TO FORMAT A
NEW HARD DISK:

1) Start system up with Windows Startup Disk.
2) Type FDISK /MBR (Enter)
3) Type FDISK. (Enter)
4) For HDD's bigger than 2.1GB, enable Large Disk Support when asked. (Enter)
5) Choose Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive. (Enter)
6) Choose Maximum size YES. (Enter)
7) Press ESC to exit the FDISK program.
8) Boot to the floppy disk again (choose CD support) (Enter)
9) Type   FORMAT C: /s   (Enter)
10) Type in a name to call the hard disk.
(Volume Label) (Enter)
Hard Disk is now formatted.


QUICK INSTRUCTIONS TO FORMAT A
USED HARD DISK:

1) Start system up with Windows Startup Disk.
2) Type FDISK /MBR (Enter)
3) Type FDISK. (Enter)
4) For HDD's bigger than 2.1GB, enable Large Disk Support when asked. (Enter)
5) Choose Delete DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive. (Enter)
6) Choose Delete primary DOS partition. (Enter)
7) Choose partition 1. (Enter)
8) Type in Volume Label. (Enter)
9) Choose Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive. (Enter)
10) Choose Maximum size YES. (Enter)
11) Press ESC to exit the FDISK program.
12) Boot to the floppy disk again (choose CD support) (Enter)
13) Type   FORMAT C: /s   (Enter)
14) Type in a name to call the hard disk. (Volume Label) (Enter)
Hard Disk is now formatted.


QUICK INSTRUCTIONS EXPLAINED
FDISK.EXE - Microsoft disk partitioning utility.
The FDISK /MBR command will wipe the master boot record free of any viruses - often this command is overlooked but I suggest you do this to make sure you are virus free. If Anti-Virus is enabled in the system BIOS, you may see a screen warning you that a program is attempting to change the boot record, don't worry about that, it is you. You must allow this change for it to work.
Using the FDISK command, you can create partitions which are needed to hold your files. I recommend just one partition per hard drive for various reasons, I personally have seen a hard drives second partition totally disappear and I often get customers with the same complaint or data totally corrupted so stick with one partition.
The FORMAT command is used to prepare the partition(s) on your hard disk, ready to accept files. If you've foolishly created two or more, you should also format these partitions using your intended operating system.

INSTALLING AN OPERATING SYSTEM
I like to run my windows setup from the hard disk which saves having to dig up your CD everytime windows needs a file. Follow these instructions to do that.
Type C: to change to the hard drive. (Enter)
Type MD\win98se (Enter) to make a folder to store your windows files.
Type CD\win98se (Enter) to change into your newly created folder.
Type COPY D:\win98\*.* or E:\win98\*.* (Enter)
Type SETUP (Enter) to install.
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