Can anyone help with formating a HDD with xp?
953365
Please check if you have sufficient RAM for XP, first, Sir.\n\nXP needs 512 MB RAM to function properly.  1 GB is recommended.\n\nPlease insert the installation CD in the drive.\n\nNow reboot the system.\n\nYou'll be prompted if you want to boot from CD, hit enter or the key it asks for Yes.\n\nXP setup will load on. wait for it to finish.  Then click on the Install option.\n\nLet it go till it comes to the place where it asks you to select the drive on which you wish to install it.  If you have a partitioned disc with a lot of data you might want on the "D" drive, leave that as it is.  Choose "C" drive and click on erase and install.  It may have the options Delete, then Format and then Install, also.  If so, go this route.\n\nOnce this is done, please go through with the rest of the installation as usual.\n\nThis should resolve the issue, Sir.\n\nHave a nice day.
1185696
Ahh i got it i understand u say can not be formatted on disk as hard drive Bec U are using windows.. u need to get win 98 Or  me or 2000 or XP cd rom and put cd in ur cdrom then restart ur computer then boot up the cd boot up to get win 98 startup u enter yes with cd support and setup or etcs and u want to format u say Yes  then reinstall the win etcs that is ur answer ur questions. i m computer tech A+\nGood Luck and all u can do it for all best of U
102382
When you start the installation for XP, it'll ask you to format or remove the current partition.  You can remove all partitions and reformat this way.
624275
format the hard drive, clean install windows
231292
Don't just format your hard drive.  Wipe it using DBAN, see sources, or a similar tool.  Formatting, alone, will leave much recoverable information on your drive.\n\nAfter wiping, as the other posters have already said, format your drive and reinstall your operating system from the original CDs.
159510
put xp OS CD in drive, when u get to the format section, make sure u delete the existing partition, create a new partition and format it as NTFS.
228822
I had a friend who did the same thing, he put xp on and realized it could barely boot up. Just put in the win98 cd and let it format the drive during installation. Make sure you have all the drivers for 98 BEFORE installing. Find out what drivers you will need. That is the hardest part by far.
921077
Honestly if you are trying to fix your computer, reformatting it will only wipe the data off of the hard drive, there is a lot more to fixing the PC than formatting the hard drive.\nIf you want to 'fix' the laptop by wiping it out and installing XP fresh, then the best way is to boot from the XP CD you got with the laptop. Some laptop don't ship with CDs now, you have to make them (using a utility included with the OS), buy them from the company, or access a hidden partition containing the discs (usually pressing F6 before the windows boot screen)
18272
Try using ScanDisk if you using Windows 98/Me.  I don't think that tool is available for Windows XP.  Try accessing the drive on another PC.  If the jump drive came with drivers (especially for Windows 98) try reinstalling them.\n\nIf these steps don't work, probably you won't be able to access it anymore.
44426
You can format the hard drive by taking the disk that came with it and putting it in at start up. Doing this will wipe out EVERYTHING on the computer.
430844
*****WAIT do not listen to the knuckle heads telling you to reformat*******\nDo a repair installion and enter your legal key.\nYou go through the initial steps as if you were installing XP, at the Windows XP (Professional, or Home) Setup >press ENTER >Windows Xp Licensing Agreement >press F8 >Windows Xp (Professional, or Home) Setup >press R. This will repair your Windows Xp Installation files, and will not affect your programs, data, etc.
798794
Put the XP CD in the drive and boot from it.  Go through the steps to install the operating system.  You will be asked to format the C: drive or leave it.\n\nReference step 10 in http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html\n\nYou can also use a tool like Darik's Boot and Nuke (dban) - which is available as a bootable CD.  It will thoroughly wipe you hard drive making it virtually impossible to recover any data that was once on it.  see: http://dban.sourceforge.net/\n\nLastly, if you don't know how to CORRECTLY burn an ISO image, reference the instructions for your particular burning software here:\nhttp://iso.snoekonline.com/iso.htm
130510
If you want to format, you need at least a boot diskete or cd rom with the file Format.com of Microsoft. after this, you need the boot/install disk for the O.S. you want to install!! if you want to format and use again Windows XP there is no way to do without the oem install provided disk or the standard install disk. Other procedures aren´t so easy (as example, make a image of the disk, format and reinstall the image, but it implies that your have created that imege without failures, if not, you will reinstall the errors and/or the viruses you want to eliminate with the format)
568671
Easy use Killdisk wipe just the C partition.  Then let Windows setup format it in NTFS and prceed with Install.see sources
841305
the only way is to do a complete reformat of your hard drive and relaod windows XP
771574
you should start with FDISK, delete the existing partition, create a new partition, then FORMAT the new partition. Just formatting doesn't clear off the old garbage, where FDISK does. the original installation disks for Windows 2000, XP Home and XP Professional all ask you if you want to use this option.\n\nif you just want to format the disk as is, open Explorer or My Computer, RIGHT CLICK on the Disk Drive you want to format and go. you will be asked if you are sure. \n\nBe sure you have an OS install disk because formatting erases the old stuff, but doesn't put any new stuff on. \n\nYou could also try LINUX. the distributions are free. Use FDISK the same way to clear the partitions and ready the disk for Linux.
49406
check if you have  your disk   in the  ntfs format.\nif yes then you acnt format it in the dos mode.\n\nuse the windows xp installer disk and  it would help you format it  properly.  and delete and make partitions too :)\nlook at the following screen shot\n\nhttp://www.theeldergeek.com/images/XP%20Pro%20Setup%20Graphic/II.gif\n\nHope it answers  your query.\n\nregards paradiso