| Partitioning and formatting the hard drive: Once the BIOS has been configured, you will need to set up your hard drive so that it can be used by the operating system (Windows). This is called "partitioning" and "formatting". Each of these steps completely ERASES the hard drive, so it should only be done to NEW hard drives, or to those which you intend to wipe completely and permanently. Most modern hard drives are packaged with a floppy disk which will automatically partition and format the drive for you. Just insert the disk, power on the machine, and follow the simple directions on the computer screen. You will be prompted at some point to insert the "boot disk" or "startup disk" that came with your operating system. This disk can be found in the Windows software packaging, along with the Setup CD. VIDEO: Partitioning with EZ-DRIVE (this software comes with drives manufactured by Western Digital and Maxtor - two of the largest HD manufacturers).` If you do not have a boot disk available, one can be created by inserting a blank floppy disk into any existing computer that has Windows installed, clicking START -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove programs -> Start Up Disk -> and Create Disk. VIDEO: Creating a startup floppy Partitioning and Formatting can also be accomplished entirely with a Windows startup disk, although the process is typically quite a bit longer and more complicated. To prepare the hard disk with a Microsoft startup floppy, insert the disk, power on the machine, and wait the for prompt ("A:>") to appear. (Choose to start the machine without CD-ROM support, if asked). At the A:> prompt, type "FDISK" (without the quotes), and the press the [ENTER] key. Answer yes ([Y]+[ENTER]) to the question "Do you wish to enable large disk support". At the main menu select option 1 ([1]+[ENTER]) "Create DOS partition or logical DOS drive", then 1 again "create primary DOS partition", yes to "Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a primary DOS partition and make the partition active", then press [ESC] and power the computer off and back on when instructed (leave the boot disk in the floppy drive). VIDEO: fdisk Wait for the computer to restart and display the A:> prompt, then type "Format c: /s" and press the [ENTER] key. Answer yes when asked “All data on non-removable disk drive C: will be lost. Proceed with format?”. When the format is complete, you have the option of labeling the hard drive. You can type in a name (or just leave it blank) and press [ENTER]. At this point, your HD is partitioned, formatted, and ready to be used. VIDEO: format | 