Reformatting the Hardrive

[Slick]

I've been trying to completley erase my hardrive latley
because it has been a long time and XP has been running
slow so why not start with a clean slate. But when I try
to delete the Windows xp partition it tells me it cant
because it need that partition for something. What is
this?
Please help ASAP!

 

[Jerry]

Did you boot from a floppy? That's the only way to reformat the drive.

 

[Redmond]

To reformat see this site can help..there are others but this is a great
site.
Go here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm
Click the "F" and scroll down to: Format

 

[Michael Stevens]

I've been trying to completley erase my hardrive latley
because it has been a long time and XP has been running
slow so why not start with a clean slate. But when I try
to delete the Windows xp partition it tells me it cant
because it need that partition for something. What is
this?
Please help ASAP!

Click on or copy and paste the link below into your web browser address box.
Should I format?
http://michaelstevenstech.com
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
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[Michael Stevens]

Did you boot from a floppy? That's the only way to reformat the drive.

There are other options.
Click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address box
if using the web based newsgroup.
Format XP
http://michaelstevenstech.com/format_XP.htm
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Guest]

What do you mean boot from a floppy? just put a floppy
disk in the drive and start the computer?
Thanks

 

[Frank Jelenko]

If you have a WinXP Install CD, it will give you the option to delete any
partition. And, to create and format a partion in any unallocated space on
your hard drive.

 

[Alex Nichol]

What do you mean boot from a floppy? just put a floppy
disk in the drive and start the computer?

You may have first to hit the appropriate hot key (often DEL or F1 or
F2) as the initial power on memory count happens, so as to get the BIOS
setup, then set the Boot Order to be A:, then C:, then CDRom in the
BIOS Setup page (or adjust in the Boot page if there is one). Then have
the floppy concerned in the drive and Exit saving settings.

For repair of XP, set normally CD first, have the XP CD in the drive and
boot that.

Either
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

Or instead of New INstall, take Repair Installation
This will retain your existing software installations and most
settings. But Updates will have to be run again, especially SP1;
It is important to activate the basic XP Firewall before you ever
connect to the net to get the patches, so as to be protected against
things like the BLAST worm.

 

[Guest]

The above linked site michealstevenstech.com is a good site and has the appropriate information on it however I believe that it misses the real question. What do you do when windows setup tells you that you can not detete the existing partion because part of the setup is being executed from that partition. You must change the boot order in your bios to boot from CD.... BUT you must also completely shutdown your computer and start it up again for it to do any good. If you are not getting the end-user liecenvce agreement screen then you need turn your computer off and restart. it. I read post on this site for hours and restarted my computer many times before I figured this out on my own.

Hope that helps some dazed and confused people.