Formating Hard Drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mason
  • Start date Start date
M

Mason

My computer is running very slow but has tons of memory
still available. I have tried many things but to no avail.
I want to format my hard disk and reinstall the OS. . . i
right click on the C Drive ( in MY computer) hit format .
.. .then click the required key to begin. When i do this an
error message appears telling me that i must close out of
all screens or programs using the Drive itself. I do this
and it still gives me this message. Is there any way to
format the disk in another way.

Thanks

Dave
 
You can't format (erase) something thats in use (i.e. Windows)!

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:

1. Open your BIOS and set your CD Drive as the first bootable device.
2. Insert your Windows XP CD in the CD Drive and reboot your omputer.
3. You'll see a message to boot to the CD....follow the instructions.
4. The setup menu will appear and you should elect to delete the existing
Windows partitions, then create a new partition, then format the primary
partition (preferably NTFS) and proceed to install Windows XP.

5. Clean Install Windows XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html
[Courtesy of Michael Stevens, MS-MVP]

6. After installing Windows XP, be sure and visit the support website of
the manufacturer of the computer to download and install any available
Windows XP compatible drivers, such as video adapter and audio drivers.
 
| My computer is running very slow but has tons of memory
| still available. I have tried many things but to no avail.
| I want to format my hard disk and reinstall the OS. . . i
| right click on the C Drive ( in MY computer) hit format .
| . .then click the required key to begin. When i do this an
| error message appears telling me that i must close out of
| all screens or programs using the Drive itself. I do this
| and it still gives me this message. Is there any way to
| format the disk in another way.

Xp won't format the partition it's installed on since it has no wish to commit
suicide! ;-)

You can use your XP install CD and elect to re-format before you start
installation. Or you can use the CD to go to Recovery Console and run format
from a prompt.

Larc



§§§ - Please raise temperature of mail to reply by e-mail - §§§
 
You cannot do a format of your system disk while running your computer from
your system disk. That's akin to performing a lobotomy on yourself. You
might successfully cut into your skull and slice through your cerebral
cortex - but then what?

Instead, you boot up with a bootable floppy (your Windows XP CD is bootable)
and do the format and re-install from there.
 
Back
Top