Formating HD

[dennis]

hi,
before installing my windows i formated my HD to get rid
off my files, i did it through DOS by typeing in "format
c: /s" but after i completed the installation i went to
the defragmanter and analyzed and saw on the map that
there were a lot of system files, and i mean a lot, on the
disk, still from the previous operating systems.
and on top of all this, before installation the XP OS, it
formats the hard drive to NTFS, making this the second
format. so there were 2 formats which took pretty long
time and there are still files on there that do not belong
there. IS there a different kind of format out there that
i dont know about? what is the best method of getting
everything off the hard drive before installing fresh
windows? !! Quick way !!

 

[James Williams]

I have a hard time believing that if you formatted the drive during
setup (let alone earlier in DOS) that there would be leftovers. Of
course, I've been wrong before....

How do you know that these system files are left over from the previous
OS? What are the files that don't belong there?

(j)
James