winxp format problem

[Guest]

I have a computer with a 20gig hd and another 120gig hd. I want to remove the
20gig but the operating system is on it and my programs (i have all on discs)
are on the 120gig. I cant simply pull out the 20gig because i get the
message"no operating system installed"....I am very familiar with fdisk and
formatting win98se....I have the set of ebds for winxp as well. I just want
to use the 120gig hd only....i dont care about transferring data. Thank you
for any help

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I have a computer with a 20gig hd and another 120gig hd. I want
to
remove the 20gig but the operating system is on it and my
programs (i
have all on discs) are on the 120gig. I cant simply pull out
the
20gig because i get the message"no operating system
installed"....I
am very familiar with fdisk and formatting win98se....I have
the set
of ebds for winxp as well. I just want to use the 120gig hd
only....i
dont care about transferring data. Thank you for any help

If you don't care about whatever is presently on the 120B drive,
just remove the 20GB drive, reset the jumper on the 120GB to
"only" (or "master" if there is no "only" setting) and follow the
instructions below to install Windows on it.

Just boot from the Windows XP CD (change the BIOS boot order if
necessary to accomplish this) and follow the prompts for a clean
installation (delete the existing partition by pressing "D" when
prompted, then create a new one).

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

or here http://windowsxp.mvps.org/XPClean.htm

or here http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/clean_install.htm

 

[Ash]

I have a computer with a 20gig hd and another 120gig hd. I want to remove the
20gig but the operating system is on it and my programs (i have all on discs)
are on the 120gig. I cant simply pull out the 20gig because i get the
message"no operating system installed"....I am very familiar with fdisk and
formatting win98se....I have the set of ebds for winxp as well. I just want
to use the 120gig hd only....i dont care about transferring data. Thank you
for any help

Backup all your important information, then shutdown the computer.
Remove the 20GB HDD, then rebott with your WinXP Install/Rescue/Whatever
disc. It should ask you whether you want to formta the drive, etc ...
You said you're familiar with this, so it shouldn't be a problem. After
re-installing Windows, you need to reload your drivers and re-install
all you programs. The computer will be like just when you bought it,
'cept it'll have a 120 Gig drive, of course.

Oh, you'll have to re-activate Windows XP and possibly reinstall SP2,
depending on how old the computer is, and whether you installed it the
first time or not.

Hope that helps! Post with follow-up.