Partition help!

[FireByyrd]

I need to partition and reinstall XP all over again because something went wrong. How would I go about doing so? Just boot up the XP and delete the partitions?.. I don't have anything important, I just want to safely and cleanly erase everything and start all over (just like a new drive), and install windows xp again and format again. IS there any steps to take before reformatting, because I'm worried that I will overwrite some data somehow and have corrupted things. Could someone help me out, its my first build. Thanks.

Harddrive is: WD 2500KS 250GB SATA II.

[Panama Red]

Just boot up the XP and delete the partitions?.

Yup, that'll work just fine. Then you'll reformat when you start the new installation.

[PL_Kuba]

Maybe it would be better if you first make a low level format to wipe out the drive completely.

[rjfvillarosa]

If you really want a nice fresh clean install, you could always zero fill the hard drive using Western Digitals diagnostic tool, which is downloadable from their site.

[FireByyrd]

Booting up the XP and deleting the old paritition is probably enough right? It should'nt interfere with anything with the NEW XP install, I'm just worried that it might hurt the new install somehow or have software conflicts. Zero Fill seems a little overboard....

[rjfvillarosa]

I just want to safely and cleanly erase everything and start all over (just like a new drive),
This is why I suggested a zero fill, a 250gig drive will take some time to zero fill as well.

[FireByyrd]

Oh alright... but I'm a real newb, does this "zero fill" affect the BIOS detection of my SATA harddrive? Or will it make other things not detect it because it's doing a FULL deletion of everything. Will it render my harddrive useless?

[Panama Red]

Not at all. A zero fill just makes the hdd appear as it did when you first received it. Your bios will detect it just fine.

[FireByyrd]

okay, thanks alot. ill give it a try and reinstall windows xp