How to format a hard drive from Vista

Ok. Apologies for the persistent questions, but to boot from the CD involves having the CD in at startup, and then what do I press during this?
 
No worries, everyone has questions at some point.

To boot from the CD, just throw it in and restart. After showing the initial BIOS screen, you will see a "Press any key to boot from CD..."
Just press the any key ;)
 
Okay, thanks! I'll reply again on the newly formatted hard drived computer. If that makes any sense.
 
I have two question about my own Vista laptop. I want to do a complete reformat but the Sony only came with three sony (I think reinstall discs) will these discs reformat my system or do I need a Vista reinstall disc. Second, I have like a few hundred emails that I keep on my computer and I want them, so would backing up my hard drive on an ex bring my emails on the ex too?
 
I have two question about my own Vista laptop. I want to do a complete reformat but the Sony only came with three sony (I think reinstall discs) will these discs reformat my system or do I need a Vista reinstall disc.

It should say on the discs what they are, for example does it say "Install disk: 1 of 3" or is each one labelled such as "Operating System"/"Drivers" etc...

Second, I have like a few hundred emails that I keep on my computer and I want them, so would backing up my hard drive on an ex bring my emails on the ex too?

What email program do you use?
 
The discs all say Windows Vista Recovery Media for Windows Vista Products and then VGN-FZ100E Series Recovery DVD

I use Windows Mail
 
Those might be image discs. So it won't format per say, it will delete the FAT records and place the image over the hard drive.

With Windows Mail, here's a tutorial on how to backup your data to retrieve later on.
 
Okay, I have a bit of a problem. When I start up the computer, the only way for me to boot from the CD is to press F12 when a logo plays for the motherboard I currently use. Unfortunately when I do so, I open up the 'boot menu' successfully but I can't do anything from there. It shows up, but pressing up, down, enter, or any key won't do anything. Its like my keyboard hasn't turned on yet (it lights up when on, in this situation its off, and it normally turns on when vista starts up) This problem similarly happens when I have to turn off my computer unexpectedly (i used to have overheating issues) And then a message pops up saying 'your comp was shut down unexpectedly' and gives me options for safe mode and such. already highlighted is the 'run normally', and it automatically is chosen in 30 seconds. I built the computer myself, so mabye that has something to do with this all. Is there another way to format the hard drive without the CD? or how can I get the keyboard working before vista starts up?

Obviously the keyboard must be functioning though; pressing f12 successfully takes me to the boot menu.
 
That is an interesting problem indeed... What type of keyboard is it? USB?
 
Yes, its a USB keyboard.
I thought perhaps I could take out the hard drive, replace it into another computer, format it there, and then put it back in this one. Would that work?
 
Back
Top Bottom