hi i want to format my laptop but i want to keep one folder with all the files needed for the windows 95 setup in it! I want to do this becuase i have a laptop with only a floppy drive and it took me ages to install it on to my laptop! So is there any way of keeping one folder while formating the rest? Partitioning maybe? Please help computing.net!!! Miles

The "whole deal" with "format" is that it deletes EVERYTHING on the drive. I spose you could screw around with partion magic, and try and make a partition to put the files in, but here are a few things to think about. Do you, in fact, have the installation CD for the operating system you are installing? You should, or you PROBABLY have a pirate system if so, there ARE work arounds, several ways to do this. FIRST HOWEVER, DO NOT under ANY circumstances tell us WHAT brand and model of laptop you have, this would just make the guesswork too easy. Some workarounds. Unless you can pull off the first,(partion magic} and I don't even try this myself, format will not "save" anything at all. so 1 You can buy a laptop drive "cable adaptor" that will allow you to plug the laptop drive into an IDE port on your desktop cable, and handle the drive there. You can copy the setup files to your desktop drive, then even fdisk and reformat the drive, and then copy the setup files back again. 2 Assuming you actually HAVE a legit CD or other media, you can go ahead and fdisk and format the drive, and then using a laplink/pcanywhere/null modem cable, and a little old program like laplink3 (ll3.exe) or File Maven, you can copy the setup files over the cable from either your desktop hd or it's cd drive. Now, did you learn a lesson from all this? No? Well, the lesson is, when you set up a computer like this, (especially with no cd) then when you fdisk, make a second, small partition for the setup files, so that next time you feel the need to format the thing, you can format the C: partition, and leave the setup files alone.

thanks for that But how do i make a small partition using fdisk? pls help!

Hi milesnuk, name, hi everyone, You must know that if you have only one Partition taking all of the space of the disk: - you won't be able to create another Partition with fdisk - you could create new partitions with partition magic (commercial program) if you had enough available space in the partition - there are free utilities similar to partition magic... Have a look there -> http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=partition&tg=dl-20&search=Go%21! you will find several utilities (free or free-to-try) such as Ranish Partition Manager, Acronis Partition Expert 2003, etc. Have a good day, Gérard from Paris, France

Boot from a floppy and use DOS commands to delete everything on the drive except the folder you want to keep. To delete a folder and everything under it type: deltree foldername example deltree c:\windows or deltree "c:\program files" You need to use quotation marks around long file names. To delete all the files in the root folder type: del c:\*.* This is effectively the same as a quick format.

I should have mentioned that you need to move the folder that you want to save to the c:\ (root) folder before you delete the folder that it is in. Use the move or copy command mov c:\windows\options\cabs c:\ or copy c:\windows\options\cabs c:\

Still can't connect to Freeserve? If your entire hard disk is presently partitioned as a single primary partition you cannot use fdisk to create a smaller second partition. You'd have to use fdisk to delete your present partition and start from scratch. This is destructive and will delete your present setup - isn't that what you wanted to avoid? Partition Manager is non-destructive, works well and is fairly easy to use. You'd be able to downsize your present partition and create a second smaller partition from the free space. Then just copy your folder of Win Cabs to the new partition. Partition Manager is commercial software. I think there's a trial version but it does not allow you to actually create partitions. Ranish Partition Manager is freeware although I've never tried it. I don't know if it's non-destructive like Partition Manager. It might be worth looking into however. Try a Google search. You could, from DOS, using a bootdisk, delete all the folders that you don't want to keep. If you have the deltree command available then this is fairly quick and straightforward. You could then reinstall Windows from your folder of Cab files. If you want to start from scratch and use fdisk, you'll need a boot disk and type fdisk from the A: prompt. You'd need to delete your present partition (destructive), then create a new primary partition smaller than the total size of your HD - then create a smaller extended partition using the remaining space. As mentioned in an earlier post, a null modem (serial) or parallel Laplink cable and an old piece of DOS software like Laplink or FastLynx is useful for transfering files from a desktop to a notebook that doesn't have a CD ROM drive or NIC. P