Xp format

I was just wondering why you can format a drive without reinstalling OS again. Or just delete everything except the OS.

"careless25" wrote:I was just wondering why you can format a drive without reinstalling OS again.

If the OS is on C:, you can format the D:, E:, or any other drive. Or is that not what you had in mind?

"careless25" wrote:Or just delete everything except the OS.

That's possible but would probably take some time to delete files/folders around the OS.

Care to elaborate on your post?

I wanted to remove every program installed, every fiel dleted from the hard drive without re-installing the XP again.

"Vino Rosso" wrote:careless25 wrote:
I was just wondering why you can format a drive without reinstalling OS again.
If the OS is on C:, you can format the D:, E:, or any other drive. Or is that not what you had in mind?

oops typo there i meant why you can't.

I only have one drive which i want to clean but leave the OS on it. If it is time consuming is it better to format the whole drive and re-install XP or go about uninstalling and deleting everything except the OS files?

C25

getting into basic terms, you have 3 options.

1, a complete reformat and reinstall, which will clear all files and leave you with just the operating system (or in a 'like new' condition if using the recovery type disks, and not an XP disk)

2, A repair instalation, which replaces the operating system with the origional version, but also leaves most files intact such as word documents and photos.

In either case above, you will have to go to microsoft to catch up with all the updates and service packs.

3, spend time uninstalling programs (after researching them) and deleting files from the documents folders etc, untill its at a point where your happy.


If theres nothing you really want kept, and you just want to start over, option 1 is the quickest and easiest. Option 3 is not really recommended, and has prove to be a waste of time on many occasions.
But... it all depends WHY you want this done

bcause format will remve everything from he drive that is formatted, amnd prepare a new surface to data. i would uninstll programs without formaing, and it is best solution if you dont like touch system. some say it is waste of a time but it is good if you dont want touch system and you cant format a drive partition without touching certain files, all or nothing. So 1- ADD REMNOVE programs, uninstall them from this place, do not delete manually cause you will leave alot entries in registries. then delete other manually

okay thanks a lot for the suggestions.

Now the laptop that i want to format has a partition which i want to merge. Is that possible in Xp? or do i have to buy a program to do that?

Thanks,

C25