how do i delete everything off my primary hard drive if it wont let me delete the partion?

Answer 1

If your Operating System is on the hard drive in question, or on the partition that you want to delete, then Windows does not allow that.

I recommend rebooting your computer to the CD Drive with your Windows install disc in it. this will give you the option of deleting all information (formatting) on that hard drive while preserving your second hard drive. Or, in this mode you can also delete partitions.

Answer 2

If XP won't allow you to delete an active partition, then get a Win98 boot disk. If you don't have one you can go to "http://bootdisk.com" and download one. Transfer the files to a floppy. Insert the floppy into your "A" drive and restart your computer. The disk will load and ask if you want to load 98, start the computer with cd-rom support, or start without cd-rom support, choose the latter of the three. The boot disk will load some more file and then come to an "A" prompt. At the prompt, type "fdisk" without the qoutes. There will be a screen about large drives, just hit enter to pass these screens. At the FDISK Options screen, enter a 3 (Delete Partition on Logical DOS Drive) and the hit enter. Since you don't have a "DOS" partition, the next screen will give you the choice (#4) to Delete Non-DOS Partition. Choose this option and hit enter. You have now removed the partition.

You will need to create a partition. If you intend to load XP, then let it partition the drive for you. If you intend to load a FAT partition, then just continue on with with fdisk, following any and all instructions for creating a partition and formatting it. In case you don't know or have forgotten, the comand to format is: "format C:" without the qoutes.

Answer 3

You need to format the HDD. The only way to do that on a primary HDD is to use the restore disk or another disk because you can not format a disk while it is in use.

Answer 4

I say back up the important stuff, then format the entire hard drive.