partition and format survivors

Can anything remain from a previous installation after a hard drive has been
partitioned and Formatted and Win ME installed. I saved quite a few apps on
a CD and selectively reinstalled some. But I've found that a new Zone alarm
download recognises a previous version and will not install, even though the
previous version was not opened.

This 'clean' was a nightmare in more ways than one. After partitioning and
reformatting, using a tried and trusted setup floppy, I found it impossible
to load the OS. After 'n' attempts I found an old pair of partition magic
rescue disks which, when used, announced that the drive wasn't formatted at
all????? What had been going on over the previous hours remains a mystery.
PartitionMagic at least allowed Win ME back in. Previously I kept getting
Scandisk looking at drive DO, not the CD ROM at I. All of which left me
wondering. How foolproof is partitioning and formatting using a setup
floppy. Is anything left behind that can in any way interfere with new
installs?

RoS

Jacky
Thu Feb 19 04:02:34 CST 2004

I don't know about Partition Magic, but you could
use in a similar way with the System Command Rescue disk, you can use the
tricks like converting the unknown paritions to NTFS and back to FAT32 and I
used this method to revive my hard drive paritions just a few days ago.
Jack

"RoS" <kermitbaby@bigpond.net.au> ¼¶¼g©ó¶l¥ó·s»D
:#q39ays9DHA.1672@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Can anything remain from a previous installation after a hard drive has
been
> partitioned and Formatted and Win ME installed. I saved quite a few apps
on
> a CD and selectively reinstalled some. But I've found that a new Zone
alarm
> download recognises a previous version and will not install, even though
the
> previous version was not opened.
>
> This 'clean' was a nightmare in more ways than one. After partitioning
and
> reformatting, using a tried and trusted setup floppy, I found it
impossible
> to load the OS. After 'n' attempts I found an old pair of partition magic
> rescue disks which, when used, announced that the drive wasn't formatted
at
> all????? What had been going on over the previous hours remains a
mystery.
> PartitionMagic at least allowed Win ME back in. Previously I kept getting
> Scandisk looking at drive DO, not the CD ROM at I. All of which left me
> wondering. How foolproof is partitioning and formatting using a setup
> floppy. Is anything left behind that can in any way interfere with new
> installs?
>
> RoS
>
>

Jacky
Thu Feb 19 04:03:53 CST 2004

Cos it will rebuild your partition tables and generally any information lost
during a format or highly likely anything else..
Jack

"RoS" <kermitbaby@bigpond.net.au> ¼¶¼g©ó¶l¥ó·s»D
:#q39ays9DHA.1672@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Can anything remain from a previous installation after a hard drive has
been
> partitioned and Formatted and Win ME installed. I saved quite a few apps
on
> a CD and selectively reinstalled some. But I've found that a new Zone
alarm
> download recognises a previous version and will not install, even though
the
> previous version was not opened.
>
> This 'clean' was a nightmare in more ways than one. After partitioning
and
> reformatting, using a tried and trusted setup floppy, I found it
impossible
> to load the OS. After 'n' attempts I found an old pair of partition magic
> rescue disks which, when used, announced that the drive wasn't formatted
at
> all????? What had been going on over the previous hours remains a
mystery.
> PartitionMagic at least allowed Win ME back in. Previously I kept getting
> Scandisk looking at drive DO, not the CD ROM at I. All of which left me
> wondering. How foolproof is partitioning and formatting using a setup
> floppy. Is anything left behind that can in any way interfere with new
> installs?
>
> RoS
>
>

anonymous
Thu Feb 19 10:43:14 CST 2004

Try "fdisk mbr" to write a new master boot record. =20
>-----Original Message-----
>I don't know about Partition Magic, but you could
>use in a similar way with the System Command Rescue disk,=20
you can use the
>tricks like converting the unknown paritions to NTFS and=20
back to FAT32 and I
>used this method to revive my hard drive paritions just a=20
few days ago.
>Jack
>
>"RoS" <kermitbaby@bigpond.net.au> =BC=B6=BCg=A9=F3=B6l=A5=F3=B7s=BBD
>:#q39ays9DHA.1672@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> Can anything remain from a previous installation after=20
a hard drive has
>been
>> partitioned and Formatted and Win ME installed. I=20
saved quite a few apps
>on
>> a CD and selectively reinstalled some. But I've found=20
that a new Zone
>alarm
>> download recognises a previous version and will not=20
install, even though
>the
>> previous version was not opened.
>>
>> This 'clean' was a nightmare in more ways than one. =20
After partitioning
>and
>> reformatting, using a tried and trusted setup floppy, I=20
found it
>impossible
>> to load the OS. After 'n' attempts I found an old pair=20
of partition magic
>> rescue disks which, when used, announced that the drive=20
wasn't formatted
>at
>> all????? What had been going on over the previous=20
hours remains a
>mystery.
>> PartitionMagic at least allowed Win ME back in.=20
Previously I kept getting
>> Scandisk looking at drive DO, not the CD ROM at I. All=20
of which left me
>> wondering. How foolproof is partitioning and=20
formatting using a setup
>> floppy. Is anything left behind that can in any way=20
interfere with new
>> installs?
>>
>> RoS
>>
>>
>
>
>.
>