format hard drive

[Guest]

can any one help how do i format my c drive i have two c & f i have dissconeted the f drive as that is where i havd put the things i want to save . put cant find out hoe to format c drive need to wipe clean to get rubbish of hard drive i have a compaq computer runing windows xp when i click on properties and click format it comes up with ,, windows cannot format this drive quit any disk utilites and other programs that are using this drive . hope someone can tell me how to do it i have all cds to restore back to factory settings but need to get the crap off hard first.

gary.......

 

[Will Denny]

Hi Gary

Try the following article - which is dependent on what kind of Win XP CDyou have:

"Clean Install Windows XP"
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

 

[Miha Pihler]

Hi Gary,

just insert Windows XP CD and reboot your computer. Before computer boots to
Windows select to boot to CD (you might have to change boot order settings
in BIOS).

Soon after boot from CD starts, you will have an option to delete existing
partitions, create new ones and format them. Just make sure you don't erase
partition that holds your data!

Mike

can any one help how do i format my c drive i have two c & f i have

dissconeted the f drive as that is where i havd put the things i want to
save . put cant find out hoe to format c drive need to wipe clean to get
rubbish of hard drive i have a compaq computer runing windows xp when i
click on properties and click format it comes up with ,, windows cannot
format this drive quit any disk utilites and other programs that are using
this drive . hope someone can tell me how to do it i have all cds to restore
back to factory settings but need to get the crap off hard first.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Gary.

Think about it... Would YOU obey an order to commit suicide? Or to saw off
the limb you're sitting on? Windows won't, either. If it has just booted
from Drive C: and gets an order to format Drive C:, it will refuse. It will
happily format F:, but NOT the "system partition" that it just booted from,
or the "boot volume" (may also be Drive C where the format program is.
Even in MS-DOS, to format Drive C:, we had to boot from Drive A: with a boot
floppy.

In WinXP - unless Compaq has some quirks that dictate otherwise - set your
computer to boot from CD, insert your WinXP CD-ROM, and reboot. One of the
first choices you have to make is whether to repartition and/or reformat
your HD. Tell it yes. After it has formatted Drive C: and re-installed
WinXP, shut down, plug in your additional drive, reboot and use Disk
Management to deal with any partitions other than Drive C:.

i have all cds to restore back to factory settings but need to get the
crap off hard first.

This is the part that always worries me about OEM systems: I know how to
deal with a full retail version of WinXP, but I have no idea what "factory
settings" are for a Compaq OEM version, or whether you got a "full" WinXP
CD-ROM or only a "recovery CD". All I can suggest there is to read the
Compaq manual (or visit the HP/Compaq website) and/or hope that someone here
will be able to give specific instructions if they conflict with the
"generic" versions.

RC