how would i go about completely reformatting a hard drive
on xp, erasing everything that is on the drive?

Nate;
Clean Installation:
Disconnect all peripherals (camera, printer, scanner, etc)
Go to BIOS and set CDROM as boot device before hard drive.
Insert Windows XP CD and reboot.
At "Press any key to boot to CDROM" quickly press a key and follow the
prompts for a Clean installation:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...p_sg_clean.asp
Delete all partitions in step 5 if you desire to erase all data on the
hard drive.
Partitioning and formatting will be done automatically.
All data will be destroyed, back-up important data first.

After you are finished, you will need to load the appropriate drivers.

If your computer was shipped with Windows XP, these procedures may or
may not apply.
Check your manual or contact the computer manufacturer for more
details.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
An easier way to read newsgroup messages:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p...oups/setup.asp
http://dts-l.org/index.html


"nate" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:02c601c3552f$1f464a70$(E-Mail Removed)...
> how would i go about completely reformatting a hard drive
> on xp, erasing everything that is on the drive?

Hello
Pretty simple

1. What ever DATA you have back it up
2. In your system Bios make the cdrom primary boot device 1
3. Reboot pc
4. Make sure XP cdrom is in cdrom drive
5. You will be prompted to boot from cdrom or c
6. Choose cdrom and follow what it says to do
7. Choose NTFS format
8. It will ask you to delete partition say YES
9. Once you go past that,
10. Start formatting and your on your way

Alvin


nate wrote:

> how would i go about completely reformatting a hard drive
> on xp, erasing everything that is on the drive?

'clean install - wipes disk clean' - help site - ie

Windows XP Clean Install (Interactive Setup)
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...xp_sg_clean.as
p

backup should be done first

hth
God Bless
hutch


>-----Original Message-----
>how would i go about completely reformatting a hard
drive
>on xp, erasing everything that is on the drive?
>.
>

nate wrote:
| how would i go about completely reformatting a hard drive
| on xp, erasing everything that is on the drive?

I go to the HDD manufacturer and download their utility to
erase the HDD. This will put the HDD in the same state as
it was sold to you. Old data can at times work its way up.

--
Tampa Bay