reformat C: drive - geek-type help needed ...

[Guest]

can anyone out there PLEASE tell me how to completely reformat a hard disk? ... I've got a spare IBM Thinkpad laptop computer model 600X ... the hard disk is an 18.6 GB model that currently has Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Version 2002 – Service Pack 2) installed on it ... it boots up and works OK for the "odd jobs" that I use it for – but I keep running across annoying old "junk" and confusing registry settings that I'd really love to clear out ... (some of these go back to the days when this was a Windows 2000 system – before an upgrade to XP Pro) ... basically I just want to kill EVERYTHING that's already stored on the hard disk and then "start over from scratch" with a completely new install of Windows XP Pro ... I seem to remember that in the good old days you could just type something like: "format c:" at a DOS prompt – and kiss all the clutter goodbye ... it doesn't seem to work that way anymore ... Windows keeps telling me that the hard drive is the "boot drive" and is "in use" and therefore can't be reformatted by any meddlesome humans ... (yes, HAL, I know that – but I still want to pull your plug) ... so ... I've got a floppy drive A: that I am able to boot up from – but the only "startup" disk that I know how to make from Windows XP Pro doesn't include the necessary drivers to access the hard drive ... in other words, I can boot up into DOS from the A: floppy drive – but then C: is an "unrecognized drive" which I can't access in order to format it ... I can also boot up from the Windows XP Pro CD – but then Windows doesn't want to let me format the C: drive ... instead it just wants to "reinstall" or "upgrade" or "repair" Windows XP ... I've tried all of those – but some of the old junk registry settings still keep cropping up from time to time ... what I think I need is a "how to" guide on creating a 3.5 inch bootable floppy disk which includes all of the drivers necessary to access and reformat the C: drive ... I'm reasonably sure that once the hard disk has been reformatted then I'd be able to make a fresh install of XP Pro and get on with my life ... and yes, I have full administrator privileges and no IT department involved ... anybody got any suggestions? ... please? ...

[Lordzorak]

When you boot from the CD and try the reinstall (or maybe one of the other options), does it give you a screen at some point showing your partitions? If so, try deleting all your partitions, then recreating them. Before the installation can continue, it will have to format those new partitions. This also gives you the chance to change how many logical drives you have. Instead of one big C drive, you could add a slightly smaller C drive and then add a D drive for maybe data storage or other uses. Backups of critical data may then be easier. If you need to create a boot disk, you can try the following from MS: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305595 Hope this helps. Z Edited January 13, 2010 by Lordzorak

[TConnolly]

Greeting Ron. How have you been? Before you proceed with Lord Zorak's suggestion, is the Win XP Pro installation CD that you have an upgrade licence? If it is an upgrade licence then it will only work if it can verify that it is upgrading a valid license, that is, its going to look for a hard disk that already has a valid prior version of windows installed. If it doesn't find anything on the hard disk then it is going to ask you for an installation disk for the previous version of windows. If you have that disk then all is well. If you don't then you are going to have some difficulty. So if it is an upgrade license then make sure you have the Win 2K CD handy for verification.

[Chrisk81]

Ron, check out this link it has a really good description on how to do this. fo course you will have to view it form another PC or at least print it out before you reformat. http://lifehacker.com/157578/geek-to-live-...xp-from-scratch

[Guest]

Thanks Lordzorak ... you were absolutely right about booting from the CD and then deleting the existing partition ... my problem was that I was booting from the CD – but then mistakenly letting Windows reinstall/repair/etc. without doing the deletion first ... thanks again for your help ... Greetings Alaric ... I've been much better lately – things are definitely picking up in my line of work ... as for the software license, etc. I "think" that I've got a good disk ... it was supplied with the laptop when I bought it (used) from its former owner ... if it turns out that I've got something "troublesome" then I'll be happy to buy a new copy of my own (assuming that you can still BUY a copy of Windows XP Pro) ... Thank you Chrisk81 ... the link that you provided was exactly the step-by-step procedure that I needed – with lots of helpful "look before you leap" warnings too ... so ... now I've got the hard disk completely scrubbed off – and Windows XP Pro reloaded ... now to reload all of the drivers and other stuff that I need to turn this into a useful machine ... thanks again to all ...