UAXP install with HD format options

[mikep56]

Hi All,

I have been using nLite for about 6 months now, so I am pretty comfortable with it. I have 5 computers in my house that are always being upgraded, replaced, etc. (with a 6 year old and a 4 year old, well you can understand!).

When I use nLite on a newly purchased HD, obviously I need to do a full format before installing any SW. But when doing a re-install of Windows XP, I choose a quick format.

So I have 3 questions:

1) Is it possible for nLite to do a full format unattended, where I don't have to select the partition to format and the file system to format to? I always use NTFS, and almost all of my PCs have only 1 HD.

1A) If this is possible, would having multiple HDs in the system cause a problem, or can nLite select the master drive on IDE0?

2) Is it possible for nLite to detect if the HD is formatted, and if so, to do a quick format instead of a full format?

If these scenarios are possible, then I would only need to boot with my nLite CD, and it would automatically select whether to do a full format or a quick format, depending on the condition of the HD.

Thanks for a great application and for any responses.

Mike

[beats]

1) Yes, but technically this is standard NT functionality.

Add AutoPartition=1 under the section [Data] to your winnt.sif to auto partition the drive.

Add Repartition=No under the section [unattended] to kill all partitions on the primary drive and have it NTFS formatted.

1A) No. The above options will always use the primary bootdrive (IDE0/SATA0), unless some other drive is configured as the bootdrive in the BIOS.

2) No, since the above options will kill all partitions that are available on the primary drive. If you want to select a Quick or Full format manually, you can't use the Autopartition=1 option. Unfortunally, NT's partitioning options are quite limited...

Edited November 9, 2007 by beats

[mikep56]

Hi Beats,

OK. As Meat Loaf once sang, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. Now, if I chose to setup nLite to do a quick format all the time, if it went to quick format a new HD, would it be able to determine that it needs to do a full format without user intervention? And just to clarify for myself, is it true that you cannot do a quick format on a new HD that hasn't been formatted yet?

Lastly, how would I go about setting up so I have the option to do a full or quick format? I guess a single click for all that automation is still pretty good.

Thanks for your quick response Beats.

Regards,

Mike