format hard drive

Sometimes the mfg of the hd offers a MS-DOS utility to 0 out the hd
otherwise you need to boot to xp cd,repair,type:FORMAT C: /FS:ntf
or typeiskPart delete the partition
If recovery asks for password,press the enter key,if you need help,type:HEL
or for format type:FORMAT /?

>-----Original Message-----
>I have succesfully installed a new hard drive as new XP
>boot disk.
>
>The older (original boot disk) hard disk is now used as
>the slave drive. How can I format this to remove the old
>partitions?
>
>In disk management it shows a small FAT partition as the
>primary and the remainder as a NTFS partiton. I want to
>make the whole disk into one NTFS partition. However, if
>I right mouse click on the small FAT partiton it only
>gives me the help option. How can I remove this FAT
>partition and start a fresh and reformat the whole drive?
>
>Thanks
>.
>

OK so the other drive is slaved...is it jumpered correctly?
Make sure as that is the biggest hangup in my experience..
how something so small could be so significant... :/
Well anyway you have two options if working with a stock
XP system.
The first is through the MMC using Disk
Management...ensure you are an acknowledged Administrator
or the Root User (the first person to setup the system)
Then you SHOULD be able to click on the slaved HD and with
a rightbutton click bring up the context menu and select
delete partition for the primary FAT partition you have
and then you can create a new primary or extended
partition or whatever you wanted to do...

The second way and one I recommend more than the first is
to open up a command prompt by going to start menu select
run and type CMD in the little box and hit return
you should get something like this
C:\Documents and Settings\TRIAD.DVNT-N3FSLZ2J9J>
this is your command shell console whatever you want to
call it
Determine what the drive is named and format it there
type FORMAT /? and you will get the usage of the command
and all of its arguments like this:
C:\Documents and Settings\TRIAD.DVNT-N3FSLZ2J9J>format /?
Formats a disk for use with Windows XP.

FORMAT volume [/FS:file-system] [/V:label] [/Q] [/A:size]
[/C] [/X]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/F:size]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q] [/T:tracks /N:sectors]
FORMAT volume [/V:label] [/Q]
FORMAT volume [/Q]

volume Specifies the drive letter (followed by
a colon),
mount point, or volume name.
/FS:filesystem Specifies the type of the file system
(FAT, FAT32, or NTFS).
/V:label Specifies the volume label.
/Q Performs a quick format.
/C NTFS only: Files created on the new
volume will be compressed
by default.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if
necessary. All opened
handles to the volume would no longer be
valid.
/A:size Overrides the default allocation unit
size. Default settings
are strongly recommended for general use.
NTFS supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096,
8192, 16K, 32K, 64K.
FAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096,
8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
(128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).
FAT32 supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096,
8192, 16K, 32K, 64K,
(128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).

Note that the FAT and FAT32 files
systems impose the
following restrictions on the number of
clusters on a volume:

FAT: Number of clusters <= 65526
FAT32: 65526 < Number of clusters <
4177918

Format will immediately stop processing
if it decides that
the above requirements cannot be met
using the specified
cluster size.

NTFS compression is not supported for
allocation unit sizes
above 4096.

/F:size Specifies the size of the floppy disk to
format (1.44)
/T:tracks Specifies the number of tracks per disk
side.
/N:sectors Specifies the number of sectors per
track.

so if you wanted to format E Drive you would go
FORMAT E: /FS:NTFS /V:OTHERHD /Q /X

Yeah Something like that... but it all depends on da size
a da FAT sorry had to bust a little jk to break it up
some anyways that will probably work better especially
if you use the /X very important as it forces a dismount
of the drive so you can work on it.

Now if THAT doesnt work... then take your original
Installation CD... and boot from it like you are going to
install another XP installation and then use either the
recovery console or the installation section to delete
existing partition on that drive and reformat it to FAT32
or NTFS... then before you install the OS... hit F3 and
quit unless of course you want to spend 45-60min on an
installation.

Now if dat dont work ... heh heh well SOMETHIN is wrong
with your HD... pull that sucker out check the jumpers and
cables...remount and if it still dont work? Run a third
party partition software like PowerQuest Partition Magic 8
because you probably have a hidden partition that is on
there or something whacky...
Hope it helps you out let me know at
triad808athotmaildotcom

Happy Formatting

Greetings --

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered
the opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of
the installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of
boot devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)

HOW TO Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...B;en-us;316941

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

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


Bruce Chambers

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"John" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1699201c4172e$f28d56a0$a101280a@phx.gbl...

> How do I clean install windows xp. I've heard fdisk
> mentioned but what does it involve, booting up in dos?
> Any advice would be helpful
>
> Thanks
> John