Sometimes, it is necessary to reformat the hard drive of your computer. You may be at that point where it is necessary to reformat while running Windows XP, then, this should make light work of the task. Please make sure that all files and documents are backed up in a safe place. Doing the reformatting of the hard drive this can help resolve some issues you may have been having with your system before. It may be a fix for minor things like storage problems. Virus infections and some difficult to identify and fix problems.
When you reformat your have all files backed up. All things contained on the disk will be erased. If you intend to install XP, have the necessary discs that come with what applications you plan to reinstall. All drivers, programs, etc. need to be re-installed after the formatting.
Formatting a Secondary Hard Drive
Step 1
Select the My Computer option. You can get to the My Computer option via the Start Menu. Choose ‘manage.’
Step 2
Computer Management will present itself as an option. Choose ‘storage’ located on the left. Click ‘disk management (local)’ it is located on the right side.
Step 3
You will now be able to see all drives on your computer. All the lines represent a separate drive. And every box is a partition on the drive. It is distinguished by megabytes (MB) and gigabytes (GB. There will be one partition for every drive. These have to be delete. Right click select the partition. Choose “Delete Partition”.
Step 4
Locate the “Unallocated” drive. Right click and choose ‘new partition”. There will be a wizard to walk you through.
Step 5
Using the new wizard, make sure the “primary partition” option is chosen. Then pick ‘next’. Be sure to make the maximum equivalent to the size. If this is not set do it. Select next. The computer will choose the primary available driver letter. You can adjust this by using the drop down menu and keying in your preference. Click ‘next’.
Step 6
The last part is allowing the wizard to help you format the new partition. Select “NTFS” as this is a more secure and faster option. The ‘allocation unit size’ should be the default. Key in the new name for your volume label field, Make the name simple. Please do not use any spaces. If the drive has not even been put to use, click the ‘perform a quick format” option. Oppositely, the box will be unchecked if it has. Make sure the ‘enable file and folder compression” box is not selected. Choose ‘next’. Select ‘finish’.
Step 7
The wizard will format the drive and the process may take a few minutes. Do not close any windows.