formatting hard drive

[Kyle]

I need to format my internal 20 GB hard drive So I was
wondering where the best place to do this was at because
there is an option to format if you right click on the
drive in windows explorer and I have also heard that you
can make a bootable floppy disk and format the c drive
from there so I was wondering which was the best and what
preparations i need to make to make it so i can install
windows xp pro after I format it. I would also like to
make it so i donm't ruin my hard drive

 

[Norm]

Change you bios to boot from the XP cd and follow the prompts to format the
drive and install. You cannot ruin a hard drive by formatting it, no matter
how you do it.

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

You cannot format a hard drive you are 'in'.

Boot with the XP CD and follow the instructions on the screen.

Cari
www.coribright.com

 

[Jake]

-----Original Message-----
I need to format my internal 20 GB hard drive So I was
wondering where the best place to do this was at because
there is an option to format if you right click on the
drive in windows explorer and I have also heard that you
can make a bootable floppy disk and format the c drive
from there so I was wondering which was the best and what
preparations i need to make to make it so i can install
windows xp pro after I format it. I would also like to
make it so i donm't ruin my hard drive
.
Copy and paste below URL to your browser, open it and

scroll down to: "How to Format":

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm

 

[S]

-----Original Message-----
I need to format my internal 20 GB hard drive So I was
wondering where the best place to do this was at because
there is an option to format if you right click on the
drive in windows explorer and I have also heard that you
can make a bootable floppy disk and format the c drive
from there so I was wondering which was the best and what
preparations i need to make to make it so i can install
windows xp pro after I format it. I would also like to
make it so i donm't ruin my hard drive
.
This may help...

I wanted the same thing and I used the install XP CD and
followed the fresh install steps and it listed options to
format quick or format. Select format and it will clean
off the old system. Remember it will be formatted NTFS
(not recognized/seen by FAT)

 

[Alex Nichol]

need to format my internal 20 GB hard drive So I was
wondering where the best place to do this was at because
there is an option to format if you right click on the
drive in windows explorer and I have also heard that you
can make a bootable floppy disk and format the c drive

You cannot format the disk where Windows is while running from it.

If you must reformat 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. I suggest first trying the Repair
re-install instead of the New one - that will rebuild the system (and
unwind all updates) while retaining third party software and data