losing any files i want to keep such as my music files on itunes and such??? i have never reformated a computer before...does it completely restore it to how it was when i bought it from the store? also, will it make my computer run faster? i want to reformat it b/c my computer is slow sometimes and itunes always take 3 or 4 mins to open, i have 1900 songs, 7.66 GB of music, could this be the issue in itunes taking a long time to open??? any suggestions???

7/3/2006 4:20:55 PM

http://smallbusiness.bellsouth.com/internet/onlinebackup.asp

7/3/2006 4:23:36 PM

Short answer:

Back everything up first, reformat, copy data back.

7/3/2006 4:23:49 PM

how do i back my files up? just copy them to a disc??

7/3/2006 4:26:03 PM

You have to take your HD out, and flip it over, then make duplicates of all the files so they go on the other side of the HD.

7/3/2006 4:28:57 PM

^ HAHA. gg!

Quote :

"i have 1900 songs, 7.66 GB of music"

Quote :

"how do i back my files up? just copy them to a disc??"

If you mean 9 discs (CDs) then yes.

[Edited on July 3, 2006 at 4:29 PM. Reason : GG]

7/3/2006 4:29:05 PM

Quote :

"i have 1900 songs, 7.66 GB of music, could this be the issue in itunes taking a long time to open??? "

no, i have over 40gb of music and mine opens fast like.

by far the easiest way to reinstall windows is to get another hard drive, install windows on that drive and then plug in your old drive and copy your files/settings to your new windows install.

take the opportunity to get a new and faster hard drive than the one you own, its a cheap purchase and can do wonders for your pcs speed.


having said all that though, i would really get someone to help you do this. since you're asking these questions i doubt you'll be very successful on your own. find that computer geek friend or get someone off here for $20-$30 to help you.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-52,GGLG:en&q=how+to+install+windows+xp

7/3/2006 4:54:00 PM

Find yourself a patchover cable. Connect your computer to a friends (like setting up a home network). Transfer whatever files you want to your friends. Reformat...then reconnect your computers and send yo shit back.

7/3/2006 6:49:04 PM

A second harddrive is the best way to go by far. Especially if you're running windows on a 5400rpm drive, need at least a 7200rpm. The amount of space used to store your music will not slow down your computer unless you don't have enough free space left for windows to use as mem.

[Edited on July 5, 2006 at 11:11 AM. Reason : .]

7/5/2006 11:10:44 AM

grab a 2nd hard drive, they cheap these days. You can pick up a 250GB SATA drive for 70ish with no rebates now.

7/5/2006 11:33:07 AM

god i'm not even gonna read this thread, i figure its full of really bad advice

GameOver4U...i've had to do exactly what you are asking...i had to reformat and i was worried about losing my music files

heres what eventually happened...i got 4 dvd's, burnt my music on them, and reformated

i guess at this point you are like where does this help me

well let me tell you, after i reformated my music files WERE STILL THERE

so the short answer to this thread is "you can reformat, and not lose your music files"

7/5/2006 2:52:55 PM

What? lol, you've got to be kidding me. plz tell my you are joking... unless you did a REINSTALL of Windows and not a FORMATTING. GameOver4U you will loose all of your music if you reformat without backing up to another hard drive or burning them to DVD's.

7/5/2006 2:58:51 PM

Quote :

"i figure its full of really bad advice"

lol, gg dnl

7/5/2006 3:06:34 PM

drunknloaded...perhaps your music files were on a seperate partition?

Above all else, if you have to reinstall windows create a second partition to store your data on...saves this headache in the future.

7/5/2006 3:26:57 PM

^ also a viable option, but requires some computer know-how has well.

7/5/2006 3:34:21 PM

Quote :

"i want to reformat it b/c my computer is slow sometimes and itunes always take 3 or 4 mins to open"

So the problem isn't wanting to reformat ... the problem is doing some computer maintenance. $20/hour and you can probably find some people on this board who can come there and fix whatever the problem seems to be.

Also, find and post your computer specs here. If you have 256MB of RAM or less, reformatting and/or computer maintenance won't do crap.

7/5/2006 7:32:29 PM