anyone know how to format a hard drive that contains XP on it??

 

insert older windows bootdisk

format c:

 

are you going to reinstall xp?

 

if your hard drive came with a utility disk, bootup with that and you'll be able to wipe it clean.

 

Insert XP cd, reboot. You will be guided through the process to format and re-install XP on your newly formatted drive.

 

there is a lot of ways. they all depend on what end-product you want, and what resources you have.

 

big magnet

 

yea i was planning to put XP back on ive tried the way where u reboot with the cd in there, it didn't format it and it just erased XP and reinstalled it but everything else was still in there

 

sounds like you did an upgrade instead. there should be an option where it asks you if you want to format the whole drive before installing.

 

There is an option, like stated above, to completely format the drive.

You will have to "remove the partition" and then "create a new partition to install XP on" (make it the size of your HD to make things easier) and then install to THAT newly created drive.