If you only have one partition and it takes up the full space of the HDD and thats the same partition that WinXP is installed to and if your planning to format it then I would just delete the partition and make a new one.

BE WARNED! Once you delete the partition it is quite difficult to get the data back.  I know people who can do but I have no idea myself how to recover the data.  Just be sure you really want to loose everything beofre deleting a partition.

You need to make the new partition active before you can format it.  I would just make it active and if you want to re-install windows, then let windows do the formatting.  If you dont want to install windows then after you have made the partition active, resart your computer, boot up into DOS and then format the HDD (note* if you do this in DOS it will format it to FAT32 format).

If you are unsure about using fdisk then take your time and read the on-screen instructions.

So, just to confirm...

I should delete the single partition the hard drive has, make a new partition, make it active, then use the Win98 disk to format the computer to FAT32?

Im certain I want everything to go.

Can I also just check... I want the hard drive to be clean and with nothing on, but will I, in the future, be able to install Windows or whatever by putting the CD in the drive and booting to the setup program?

Providing the CD you have is bootable, and the legal ones are, then yes.

The WinXP disk should offer to upgrade to NTFS automatically.

Good, thats all okay. Thanks, Serious.

I made a partition, but it only made it about 2gbs in size (its a 40gb drive). I tried formatting and it worked, but it only formatted those 2gbs. I made another extended partition and that allowed me to define the size (up to about 38gbs or whatever), but didnt give it a drive letter, so I cant format it.

Ideally, I want the drive to have only one partition, containing all of the size of the disk, and it to be formatted.

Can anyone tell me where Ive gone wrong, or why it hasnt worked?

Thanks.

At the start you get a message to treat something as large.  I cant remember off hand straight away.  but you should answer yes to that and then you will be able to input the full size you want in MB.

Perfect! Thanks very much.

right, what are you wanting to do with this drive?

is it going into another machine?

-just delete the contents when it is in another machine

is it getting a different operating system on it?

-use the formatting tools of that operating system

i cant see why you would want to wipe a drive apart from that, unless you are selling it, in which case why not wipe it with the computer you are posting on here from

if your deleating the old partitions, and making one new big one... and your going to put xp on it...

just boot up from the xp cd and it will let you do all of that before it starts to install

Sweenster, the computer I was using to post messages is a Mac.

Also, I wasnt putting another OS back on. I was selling the machine, but not the software.


Its all done now - thanks for the help.