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    Reformat drive with OS installed, HOW???

    Discussion in 'Asus' started by MobileGamer13, Mar 22, 2009.

  1. MobileGamer13

    MobileGamer13 Notebook Geek

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    I want to reformat my HDD with the OS inside so I can do a clean install of the OS. The Recovery CD always prompts the installation without giving me a chance to format any drives.

    I know with XP you are able to do so at first. Can anyone help me? Thanks!
     
    MobileGamer13, Mar 22, 2009
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  2. Charr

    Charr Notebook Deity

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    You can't format the drive when the OS is running from the drive, but you can run a seperate one from a CD to do the job. This software is a free utility that is run from a CD, and handles a ton of different formats. Burn it on a disk, start from it, and use it to delete your current partitions, and then partition the drive. When you make new ones, make sure its NTFS or FAT, or Windows won't recognize it.

    http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gparted/gparted-live-0.4.3-2.iso
     
    Charr, Mar 22, 2009
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  3. ViciousXUSMC

    ViciousXUSMC Master Viking NBR Reviewer

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    when you install the os ontop of the old install its going to format the drive unless your doing a repair instead of an install. its not going to do a low level write of data like a secure format does where it actually writes over the old data, but it will "delete" it and give you a fresh start.

    I always found options to format the drive while installing the OS for both vista 7 xp.
     
    ViciousXUSMC, Mar 23, 2009
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  4. E.B.E.

    E.B.E. NBR Procrastinator

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    Yep, if you select during recovery:
    "Recover to entire HDD in 2 partitions"
    "Recover to entire HDD in 1 partition"

    any of these options will wipe the HDD.
     
    E.B.E., Mar 23, 2009
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