How to Format a Hard Drive That Has Windows XP Pro

Formatting your hard drive can make your computer work more efficiently.

Do you need to wipe your computer clean and start from scratch? Is your hard drive so cluttered with junk that you just want an easy way to get rid of it all? Formatting an existing hard drive is probably the best way to make your computer feel new again.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Windows XP disc

1. Back up all your data contained on your hard drive. This may not be possible if you got a BSOD (Blue screen of death). If you can't access the hard drive the way you normally do, you can still probably get your data off but you'll have to slave it, meaning that you'll need to connect it to another drive.

2. Insert your Windows XP Pro disc into your optical drive. Make sure you know your Windows XP CD key beforehand, or you won't be able to use your new install and might as well not even reformat.

3. Restart the computer. Access the BIOS boot menu. You can usually access the boot menu by pressing "F10" or "F12" upon startup. The startup screen will indicate which key to press.

4. Select the CD Drive to start the boot process.

5. At the Welcome to Setup window, press "Enter."

6. Press "F8" to accept the licensing terms. Since you previously installed Windows XP Pro, the computer will prompt you to repair it. To bypass the repair, press the "Esc" key. All available partitions are shown. Delete the partition, usually the largest partition.

7. Recreate the partition. To create the partition with the maximum size, press "Enter." Alternatively, you can specify the partition size by typing the size in megabytes for the new partition, and then pressing "Enter."

8. Select the partition where you want to install Windows XP Pro by using the "Arrow" keys. Then press "Enter."

9. When prompted, select the "Format the partition by using the NTFS file system (Quick)" option. Then press "Enter." The Windows Setup Program formats the partition.

10. Follow the onscreen directions to install Windows XP Pro. After installation has completed, restart your computer and reinstall the necessary drivers.

Tips & Warnings

• Follow the same steps to format a hard drive that has Windows XP Home.

References

• Microsoft Support: How to Partition and Format a Hard Disk by Using Windows XP Setup Program