HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS

if you have more than one hard drive, I recommend disconnecting all drives except the one that Windows will be installed on. This will guard against inadvertent data loss, and ensure the installation goes as smoothly as possible.

This guide is based on an installation of Windows XP, although the principles apply to all versions of Windows. Before you begin, make sure you have all the ingredients you need for the installation:

    Windows installation disk (and product ID number)
    Older Windows version disks - 95/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista (if using an upgrade option)
    All driver discs for system hardware (sound card/video card/motherboard etc.)
    Download updated drivers for all system hardware from manufacturer site
 

Boot Sequence

For most users, there will probably be no need to change the boot sequence. However, if required, it can be modified in your BIOS settings. To access the BIOS, you usually hit 'Delete' as the computer is booting up. The screen that appears when you start your PC will tell you what key to press, but the message is normally something like 'Hit Del to enter setup'.

Once you are in the BIOS setup menu, find the boot sequence option menu and set your optical drive (CD or DVD) as the first boot device, and your hard drive as the second. This means the computer will first check for a bootable disc in the CD drive and boot from that, or if there is no bootable disc in the drive, it will boot from the hard drive instead. Most systems will have this sequence enabled by default (if you have a floppy drive, the system usually checks this even before the CD drive).

If you have different operating systems installed on separate physical hard drives, you can switch the boot sequence in the BIOS to choose which drive/OS loads on startup.
Hard Drive Formatting

If you are installing a new version of Windows on your computer (clean install), make sure you format the hard drive using a low-level format first. This will fill the drive with zeroes, ensuring that all data on the disk is completely erased - particularly important if you have used the hard drive before with other versions of Windows (or another OS entirely). Even if your hard drive is brand new, it is a good idea to perform this step anyway, to ensure that the drive is error-free.

A good way of doing this is by using the software tool provided by the manufacturer of your hard drive - you can download this from their website for free. To check who made your hard drive, open Device Manager:

Right-click on 'My Computer', select 'Properties', then click on the 'Hardware' tab. In Device Manager, your hard drive manufacturer will show up under 'Disk Drives'.

Western Digital
Maxtor
Samsung
Hitachi
Seagate


While you do have the option of formatting a disk in either FAT32 or NTFS, there is no reason to use FAT32 unless you want to run a dual-boot configuration with, for example, Windows Vista and Windows XP on the same PC.

The XP setup (installer) program also gives you the option of formatting the hard drive. Here are some links to official Microsoft resources on the subject:

Microsoft's guide to formatting and partitioning a hard disk
Microsoft's guide to creating a dual-boot system
Microsoft's boot disk information page
Hard Drive Partitioning

This is an optional step in setting up your new system, and there is some debate about whether it is a good idea or not. In an ideal scenario, you should have a dedicated physical hard drive for your operating system and program installations, and a separate drive for your data.

If you only have one hard drive, however, I recommend creating a small (20-40GB) partition on which to install Windows. This should be the first partition you create, as it will be the fastest.

Due to the way hard disks are constructed, the read/write speed and access times are faster at the outer edge of the platters then they are in the centre. Because of this, the actual performance of the drive varies quite a bit depending on which part of the drive is being accessed - therefore, the Windows installation should be located as close to the outer edge as possible (the first partition).

The remainder of the drive may then be allocated to the second partition, which will be used for data storage. In general, I would recommend buying as large a hard drive as possible - but the larger it is, the more important it is to partition. For a 500GB drive, for example, I would have at least three partitions. This may help to reduce data loss in the event of something going wrong further down the line.

Note: A common question that crops up when dealing with drive capacities is the apparent discrepancy between the capacity claimed by the manufacturer and the free space that actually shows up in Windows Explorer. The reason for this is that while humans tend to count in base 10 (decimal), computers operate in base 2 (binary). So, what is referred to as a 500GB drive is actually 500 billion / 2^30 - which shows up on your system as 465.66GB. The "missing" 35GB is accounted for by this conversion.

Some interesting observations about partitioning (and some good links) can be found at the radified partitioning site.

If you want some serious partitioning solutions, the most reputable software in this field is undoubtedly Symantec's Partition Magic.
Installation Process

The actual installation should be relatively straightforward - simply insert your Windows XP disc in the drive and restart the computer. The computer should then detect the CD and proceed to boot from it, launching the XP installer program. You then follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation.

If your XP disc does not have Service Pack 2 included, you will need to either install it manually after XP has fully installed, or perform a 'slipstream' installation. For information on creating a slipstreamed SP2 disc, visit the Elder Geek site.

If you encounter problems booting from your XP disc, go to Microsoft's boot disc page. Remember that you must use the appropriate boot disc for your Windows version - XP Home or Professional, with or without included Service Packs.

Note: The ultimate boot CD is a useful utility for diagnostic/recovery purposes. Although you do not need this for Windows installation, it may come in handy someday, so I recommend downloading a copy from the ultimate boot cd website.