[bluz2n]

I have a PC running XP Home with an external drive that has imaging software (Norton Ghost)that I back up to. I also have another PC that has Windows ME. How can I erase/format the HD with ME so I can use my external drive to put a mirror image of my XP machine on the erased HD?

Thanks!

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it is simple to format your hard drive. to erase it and then reformat is a little different.

[shotgun]

it is simple to format your hard drive. to erase it and then reformat is a little different.

[Tyger]

I would consult the maker of the hard drive, they may have software on their website that you could use for imaging and fomatting the drive. You could also remove the drive from the case and make it a slave in the machine, but XP will have a many problems if it isn't used in the machine that the image is from, and I don't know the advisability of trying to use an external drive as a bootable device for an XP system.

Actually new drives are quite cheap these days, you can pick up an 80 gig drive for forty or fifty dollars and use it to backup your system, or as the main drive and keep the old drive for backup. This would be a lot simpler than trying to run an OS on an external drive.

I think I missed something there, you don't want to format the external drive, just to use the solfware on it. Just temporarily hook the ME drive as a slave in your current system and do the imaging.

Edited by Tyger, 18 October 2005 - 04:36 PM.

[shotgun]

It would be better to get a new hard drive so if this project dosent work you can always put the old one back in. my guess on how to do what you want to do is this. you would want to put all of your of your files on the external drive. if there is anything on your external you might want to take anything off that you have on it and put it on your hard drive. after you would take the all of the files off your external then just right click on your drive c and select copy and then open up your external drive and right click and select paste and then it will copy your xp hard drive to the external. then with the other hard drive in your computer
(go to next post).

To copy all of your files on your computer do this type in c: and it will look like this C:\> and then type copy D: or whatever your external drive letter so replace D: with your external drive letter so it will look like this C:\>copy D: but d being replaced with your external drive letter. then I think it will copy the stuff to your hard drive. but make sure your external drive is large enough and or that your other hard drive is big enough. Im not 100% sure that this will work either because if it does work then it might not know what any of your drives are but i dont know that. here are the steps in order down below


1. Take anything off your external that is on it.

2. Right click on hard drive and select copy and then paste it on your external.

6. If C:\> isint the selected drive type in c:.

7. Type in copy D: and replace D for your external drive letter.

8. Restart your computer and find out if it worked.

Edited by shotgun, 18 October 2005 - 05:34 PM.

[shotgun]

it might be a smart idea also to buy a new hard drive instead of using the old. then what you would have to do is get a boot disk and type fdisk and then select the number 1 for the one questions and slect the letter y for the letter questions. after you do that then you have to shut down your computer then turn it on and then type format c: but make sure the startup floppie is in and after you do that press spacebar for the volume label and then you can do the other steps.


1. Take out old hard drive and put in new.

2. Start computer with startup floppy.

3. Type fdisk after done loading.

4. Select 1 and Y for each question.

5. Shutdown computer not restart.

6. Turn on computer with startup floppy in.

7. Type format c: and press Y and then enter.

8. After done formatting press spacebar when asks for volume label.

9. Continue off step 6. on other post.

Edited by shotgun, 18 October 2005 - 05:21 PM.

[bluz2n]

I may have caused some confusion with my question. I have a PC with XP Home that has an external drive connected. I use Norton Ghost to make an image of that PC as a backup and send it to the external drive.

My second PC has Millenium as it's OS. I'd like erase the HD in it and hook the external drive to it and restore it with XP. In the end both PCs would look identical. I don't plan to use the external drive as anything but a backup.

I wasn't sure how to erase the HD, and I didn't know if I would encounter other problems.

[shotgun]

it would be better to start on a new HD

[shotgun]

it would be better to do it on a new drive so you can use the old drive for backup