Isn't there an option where I can tell the system to boot up to XP only
and then go in and reformat c: ? I know that option exists, so why?
You could boot into XP, copy the following files to your D: drive
C:\Boot.ini
C:\NTLDR
C:\Ntdetect.com
format C:, then copy the above files back. (If you have a powercut before
doing that, XP won't be bootable :^) Then you can use System Properties ->
statup options to disable the menu.
One caveat: if you've ever installed any XP programs into C:\Program Files
(the detault path for some dumb installers which don't take account of the
fact you're running from D
, formatting C: will likely result in a bad
day.