# Formatting the hard drive with XP installed?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formatting-the-hard-drive-with-xp-installed/231739>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 29, 2004, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formatting-the-hard-drive-with-xp-installed/231739 "2004-02-29T11:48:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Beastal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Beastal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastal)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formatting-the-hard-drive-with-xp-installed/231739/1 "2004-02-29T11:48:03Z")

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Hi everyone,

Just wondering how I can format my PC hard drive, the same drive that has XP sitting on it?

Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formatting-the-hard-drive-with-xp-installed/231739/2 "2004-02-29T13:47:18Z")

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You can’t format the drive AND have XP survive the experience. Formatting means erasing 100% of everything on the drive, including XP.

So formatting the drive will involve killing, and hence needing to reinstall, XP. Or if you’re just trying to eliminate XP completely (going Linux?) then a format is one why to do it.

Rather than guess at what you want, why don’t you come back with a more complete explanation of what you’re trying to accomplish and why. Then I or someone else can give more tailored advice.

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formatting-the-hard-drive-with-xp-installed/231739/3 "2004-02-29T17:40:44Z")

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XP is smart enough not to let you format the drive you booted from, so if you want to format the drive you’ll have to boot from another disk (floppy or CD) and format from there. Note that this will completely wipe XP (and everything else) off of the drive, so make sure you have your XP disk and all software disks you’ll need to put back your programs onto the drive later.

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**Author:** ![Beastal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Beastal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastal)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formatting-the-hard-drive-with-xp-installed/231739/4 "2004-03-02T13:03:30Z")

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Hey,

Yes I am aware what a format does. I was wanting to format my hard drive, get rid of everything on it, including the OS. Eventually I found a program on the net that allowed me to do it. Thanks anyway.