Format

[Ron]

I'm lost. I have always done format C: /s from a DOS prompt to format my
hard drive. I can't get from here to there with XP Home. What is the proper
way to format a hard drive under XP? Thanks

 

[Chris Lanier]

Greetings --

The Windows XP CD is bootable and contains all the tools necessary to
partition and format your drive. Follow this procedure and allow Windows XP
to partition and format your drive.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Ron.

I have always done format C: /s from a DOS prompt to format my
hard drive.

Yes - and no. You've done this only after booting from a DOS floppy - NOT
from Drive C:. Even DOS will format the drive that it is currently running
on. In other words, you couldn't boot to Drive C: and then format Drive
C: - you had to boot from a boot floppy run FDISK or Format C:.

To format the "system partition" (almost always Drive C or the "boot
volume" (often also Drive C, boot from the WinXP CD-ROM and accept the
early offer to repartition (optional) and reformat the drive. Be careful to
limit the space to be used unless you want the whole HD to be in a single
partition.

After you have WinXP installed and running, use Disk Management to create,
delete or format any other volumes (primary partitions or logical drives in
the extended partition) that you want, and to assign or reassign drive
letters. The quickest way to find Disk Management is to type "diskmgmt.msc"
at the Run prompt. Study this program and its Help file carefully; there's
a lot to learn here!

Then you can throw away your Win9x/ME boot floppy (or at least hide it so
that you won't be tempted to use it). You'll probably never need it or
FDISK or Format.exe again.

RC

 

[R. C. White]

Whoops!

Even DOS will format the drive that it is currently running
on.

....will NOT format... - obviously.

Sorry 'bout that. ;^{

RC

 

[Ron]

I'm sorry, I can't find that option. Only Setup was available early on but
now I can't boot from CD because I can't get to the BIOS. See Other
formatting msg. Help, please..

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Ron.

If you can't get to the BIOS, that's a hardware problem, NOT a Windows
problem.

Please post the make and model of your computer - or the mainboard if you
built it yourself. Someone here should be able to tell you how to access
the BIOS for that model.

See Other
formatting msg. Help, please..

WHAT other message?

RC

 

[Alex Nichol]

I'm lost. I have always done format C: /s from a DOS prompt to format my
hard drive. I can't get from here to there with XP Home. What is the proper
way to format a hard drive under XP?

For the one the system is on, You do it as part of a reinstall of the
system after booting the XP CD direct. Enter Setup, and after the
license agreement take New Install. When it asks you to confirm where,
hit ESC; select and delete the current partition and make a new RAW one
to be formatted at the next stage

The important point is the delete. Without that it will just go ahead
and make a new install over the top of the old one

For others, Control Panel - Admin Tools - Computer Management, select
Disk Management and look lower right for the graphic of the drive.
R-click in a partition, other than that one, and you can Format