How do I get WinXP Install to Format HD?!?!?

[reds4ever]

always keep a copy of DOS 6.2 handy on floppy, just in case....

[Zopperoni]

Originally posted by alva
Start-up in dos and format c: /q (q= quick format)

c: /q is the worst you can do.

If you want a good format, do:

format c: /u

"u" stands for ultimate, so that'll guarantee a good scrub

[alva]

What!!! There is no /x / u (extreme ultimate)

[Eroberer]

Hey guys, no one ever said if it safe to "unmount" this drive to reformat.

FYI, I did what Asher said, but only after installing WinXP on my second drive like I did accidentally the first time (but to no avail this time). That worked. Thank you, Asher!

Now, I just want to reformat my (now) D:, to get rid of all this extra crap.

[Eroberer]

alright guys, I've done a few things, and I can't get the format to finish. It starts, goes a long time as if it's doing something, then pops back up "this volume cannot be formatted." What's the deal?

[FrantzX]

Step 1:
Boot up the computer and go into the BIOS. Set the boot order like this: Floppy, CD-ROM, Primary Hard Drive. The Hard Drive will most likely be labeled. IDE-0 or the like. Save and exit.
What this does is that when you boot up, the computer will check, in this order, the floppy, CD, and hard drive for a bootable system. This means it will try to boot from the CD before the hard drive.

Step 2:
Stick the WinXP CD in the drive and boot the computer. The WinXP CD has a operating system on it, so it will go directly to the installation. From here you can format your hard drive before installing WinXP.

[Eroberer]

Done and done, Frantz. That's no longer my problem. I officially have a fresh, nothing but WinXP (or just the CD really) installation, but now I just have to reformat my D:, which I also installed WinXP on before I knew of this other method.

My problem is that all these reformatting methods result in the routine going to 99%, then quitting. I think it just can't format a drive with those hyberfil.sys files and others on it, which is annoying to no end, since I happen to know what I'm doing and know they don't need to be there. I just have to convince this computer that I know what I'm doing.

So what do I do to get it to reformat? Thanks!

[FrantzX]

You may want to scandisk those drives. Set it up to automaticaly fix errors and scan cluster by cluster.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Eroberer
So what do I do to get it to reformat? Thanks!

If you have DOS or *nix, a quick fdisk.

[Eroberer]

Frantz, I'll try it.

UR, do you know of any free formatting utils? Also, I do happen to have Red Hat 7.2 and Mandrake 8.1 on CD's. Do you recall if there is a way to just format stuff with those CDs?

[Urban Ranger]

AFAIK, you can simply just re-partition the whole D: drive again. This should fix the problem.

[Eroberer]

Thanks for the suggestion, UR. I loaded up my Mandrake CD and used xDrake to repartition. Unfortunately I had to install WinXP again, but it worked. Good thinking!

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Eroberer
Thanks for the suggestion, UR. I loaded up my Mandrake CD and used xDrake to repartition. Unfortunately I had to install WinXP again, but it worked. Good thinking!

Did you just re-partition the D: drive? Kinda strange that you needed to reinstall XP.

[Eroberer]

Well, what happened was I chose a FAT32 filesystem, and I think /www/var/ as the name or whatever, 'cus that's one of the only ones that allowed FAT32. I think it overwrote the boot sector or something, but in any case, I rebooted and it couldn't find an OS, and neither could the WinXP upgrade (had to root around to find my old WinME disc).

So that's why I had to install it again. It's all working just great now though. Thanks!