Is there an alternative way to reformat a hard disk without using win Xp cd?

Question

I tried using xp installation disk to reformat a virus/spyware infected hd but the dos exe file refuse to execute clean install or reformating the hard disk.

Pre win98 there is a disk manager utility we use to reformat hard disk. Can we find a utility that can still do this function? Erasing installed xp?

Where can it be downloaded from the net?

Answer 1

you can download a disk manager from your harddisk manufacturer web site, then burn the manager image on a CD. boot from it, you can format or Partition any harddisk you want...

Answer 2

This is a common problem and can be confusing (blame Microsoft).

If you want to format the boot drive, you MUST use the Win XP CD to reinstall the operating system, but there is a trick to getting the XP CD to wipeout and re-format the drive - delete the old boot partition with 'diskpart' BEFORE running the XP CD.

The XP CD Setup Program will find an empty partition upon re-installation and prompt you to partition and format the empty partition for you. This takes longer but gives a cleaner, less buggy install.

Failing that, delete the old partition and create a new partition: XP will format the partition you specify and assign the drive letter. Manually partitioning the drive with 'diskpart' is more appropriate for data drives rather than boot drives. XP Setup should allow you to partition the boot drive any way you want from within Setup (after the old boot partition is deleted of course).

You can try this without any special tools under XP if you can boot your system:

Go to Start/Run, then enter 'cmd /k' to start a Command Shell window.

Type 'diskpart' at the command prompt and hit return.
Then type 'select disk 0', return, then 'list partition'.

A list of your drive's partitions will be listed. You can delete the partition you want to re-format. This will remove all the files and viruses in the data section of the drive (will not remove boot-sector viruses however).

Please note that some manufacturers hide their diagnositics or system files in hidden partitions on the disk - it is not necessary or even a good idea to remove these small partitions (usually <30Mb in size) - just leave them alone.

You can then manually run 'format d:' from the Command Shell window to format a data drive if you want.

The older DOS systems used 'fdisk' to partition the drives; 'diskpart' is the replacement for fdisk under XP. Check out the link below how to use 'diskpart':

If you have a boot-sector virus (I've had them before), you can try a anti-virus program, or, go to the disk drive manufacturer's website and see if you can download a low-level format utility. This will re-format the entire drive to the original pristine quality - no viruses can possibly remain. Not all drives can be reformatted this way anymore; you just need to check into it.

XP can handle large drives directly, so you won't need a disk manager utility anymore under XP.

Answer 3

If I understand your question correctly, you have a large HDD you wish to partition into multiple drives, format as NTFS, and THEN install Windows XP onto the first partition. First off, to do the partitioning and formating you have to have an active operating system. Normally the XP Install Disk starts an OS that handles your installation, including the partitioning and formating of the HDD. If you wish to format BEFORE loading Windows it will require a bootable floppy or LiveCD that supports NTFS formats, such as the Ubuntu distribution of Linux or a bootable tools disk from the HDD manufacturer. If you do not know how to use linux, the best thing to do is to boot using the XP disk, delete all partitions on your HDD, choose the HDD and create a single partition the size you wish for your Windows primary drive, and then go back AFTER installing XP to partition and format the rest of your drive (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management).

Answer 4

If you want to mess with your hard drive there is a good tool to do it, I used the old version a few months ago and now there is a new release. It's name is Ultimate Boot CD, it includes a lot of stuff to mess with the memory, hard disk, speed of the cpu, etc. Good luck!

Ahhh, the link is http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/

PS. I forgot to tell you, the file downloaded will be a image of the CD, you will have to burn it into a CD with a program burner like NERO or another similar.

Answer 5

nope that is not the way to go about it if there is vurus . trojans on pc and spyware in the registry its best to scna the pc in safe mode with some good antispyware and antitrojan software doing a format will do you no good coz if you have spyware virus & trojan on pc now your have it again so why format all the time you can clean a pc out if you do it the right way as i said scan in safemode watch to see if spyware is in registry files you can get in there and remove the spyware your self and all the trojans then your pc will be ok do all that in safemode if you dont have ur pc drives and you do a format all your going to have is windows back and hours looking for the right drives format is not the way

Answer 6

Remember format that you will erase every thing on computer.if that's OK with you do the followings boot up computer with bootable CD or floppy. if you do not have bootable floppy you can make one. if the partition on your computer FAT32 put a floppy in the drive go to my computer right click on drive a: go to files go down to format then format with system files or make this floppy bootable at the end you get bootable floppy keep it in the drive re start your computer the computer will look like this a:\ type fdisk press enter and follow til you get the menu click on 3 do delete then delete primary dos partition if the partition on your computer NTFS click on 4 to delete non dos partition and when the partition is deleted every thing on your computer will be history.

Answer 7

Try to use linux installation disk to format the hard disk,or use partition magic to do that.

Answer 8

through ms dos commands and bootable cd we can format the hard disks. insert the bootable cd and boot through cd and the system will show the c:\, typ here the drive name followed by farmat example c: format d: (means it will formats the d drive) like this you can format the complete drive.

Answer 9

You should use Dariks Boot and Nuke, which allows you to control the drive in a binary form, allowing you to completely and safely clean any drive with many different methods.

Answer 10

I think if you go to the Run Command, under Start, All Programs,Accessories and Command Prompt you can put in C:\format. Don't do it if you don't know how to start from scratch.