HD install on a "blank " HD-Best way?

Forum: HD Install
Topic: HD install on a "blank " HD-Best way?
started by: Techie

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Posted by Techie on Aug. 03 2004,14:49

Hello all:

After a month of lost shipments, incorrect shipments, and waiting, I finally got a new LCD screen for my laptop.  Now that it is functional again, I want to install DSL on the hard drive.

The hard drive is currently "blank", ie: it has been fdisk'ed and formatted (FAT16) under DOS. There is currently one big FAT16 DOS partition on it. There is no OS on it, and I want DSL to be the only OS on it.

Should I just do a HD-Install onto the current partition, or should I reformat / repartition it in some way before I do the HD install?

Any input would be appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!    

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Posted by Techie on Aug. 04 2004,15:56

OK, since noone has posted a reply, I'll share what research I have come up with...not sure if it is correct or not.  

This is what I did:

1) FDISK the drive using a DOS boot floppy, Windoze Staryp Floppy or, better yet, TOMSRTBT

2) Boot to DSL "live" by booting the PC from the CD-ROM (normally)

3) Enter a terminal, and from the command line run:

       sudo su
then
       mkfs -V fs -c -v /dev/hda1  (Change drive designation as    
                                               needed)
The last command will "make" a file system, and check the drive for "bad blocks" while it is at it (best when using and older used drive)

Alternately, one could use a "drive wiping" floppy before fdisk-ing, such as the ones I have seen mentioned here...

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