Member Avatar for Greenapple_tech

I have Pentium III with 550 mhz, with system windows 98 SE version 4.10.2222A, x86 family 6 model 8 stepping 6, 190 MB RAM. my computer is very slow so my friend told me reformat the harddisk. we lost the win 98se cd but it is saved in drive D: of my computer. how can i reformat the drive C: without win 98 cd but installed on D:? if i reformat the drive c: it doesnt affect the drive d:?
please help me. sorry but i'm only a beginner hope you can help me.
thank you in advance

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Helpful follow-up to points from and — practical checks and safety notes that often save data when working with an older Win98 setup installed on D: and an intended reformat of C:.

Formatting one partition will not automatically erase a separate partition, but drive letters can change in a boot/recovery environment. Before any format, confirm which physical partition holds the Windows files and which is the target. From a boot prompt (or any recovery shell) explicitly list each volume to verify contents:

C:
dir
D:
dir

Make sure the partition that contains the WIN98 installation files or a setup.exe is not the one being formatted. Use a partition viewer (FDISK or a GUI partition tool) to inspect the partition table and which partition is marked active; do not delete or move partitions unless that is intended.

Back up everything that matters and make an image if possible. Priorities: My Documents/Desktop files, browser bookmarks, email (export from Outlook Express or copy mailbox files), dial-up/network settings and any device driver installers. If available, create a full disk image of both partitions (store it externally) so a complete restore is possible if something goes wrong.

If D: really contains a full Win98 setup, a reinstall from those files can work — but always re-check drive letters during the installer and avoid repartitioning unless necessary. If the D: copy is only the running OS (not a full install image), the original install media or a recovery image may be required. Finally, because Win98 is obsolete, consider migrating important tasks or data to a more modern, supported system once recovery is complete.

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Member Avatar for Catweazle

Two things you need to do in preparation. The first is to use Add/Remove programs to create a startup diskette.

The second is to ensure you have the CD install keycode for Window 98, as you won't be able to install it, even off the hard drive, if you don't have it. If you've lost the keycode, download and install Belarc Advisor and its report will give you the keycode for your current installation.

When you've got that ready, you need only boot from the Startup disk, navigate to the directory where the Windows install files are located, and run setup.

Member Avatar for lloyd

after you got your cd key and back up your data, go to d: directly 2 click setup icon. may easier than comand line.
other thinking is just defrag your c: it may works well.

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