Formatting HDD

sammass

sammass

Geek Trainee
Have a previously networked Dell computer (OS = Win XP) that will be donated as a stand alone unit. I wish to format the SATA HDD down to bootable only and install a clean OS for the new family. Existing OS is thawarting change. Looking for a simple program or proceedure, preferably free, to override the existing OS and format. Unable to get to DOS. Suggestions most welcome. Thank you in advance. :-)
 
Unless you have a recovery disk, you will have to do a fresh install.. But If you have a sata hard drive, then you will need to find the drivers for your sata before you can do a install...Are you planing on installing XP again ?
 
Ghostman, Thanks for the initial direction. No recovery disk and I want to do a fresh install. It is a Hitachi SATA so drivers should not be a problem. Just hit a wall with the networked OS not allowing me to the DOS window to Format C: /S the drive. Wish to create a generic boot disk to access DOS - yes, I can reset the drive sequence order - and wipe the entire disk and start over with a retail copy of XP. Brain is empty like the middle two cylinders. :-) Thanks in advance.
 
If you have a XP setup disk, then use it... But unless you have the sata drivers built on it, you might have some problems..
 
Thanks for the advise, Ghostman. Unfortunately, XP setup disk still did not work. Am going back to my old MS-DOS reference books to remember how to make a boot floppy to go directly through the shell to DOS. It has been too long since cassette loading. :-) Appreciate the help. Sam.
 
Hitashigst.com said:
Windows XP and Windows 2000 do not natively include drivers for SATA controllers (add-in or on-board), so you must install them during the installation of the operating system. The system, motherboard, or controller manufacturer usually supplies these drivers, either on a driver CD or downloadable from their web site.
To install the SATA controller drivers you first need to copy the appropriate drivers onto a diskette (controller drivers can be loaded from diskette only).
Early in the installation process, you have an opportunity to load third-party controller drivers by pressing ‘F6’. You will have six seconds to press ‘F6’ before the installation process will continue:
  • Press ‘F6’ to install the SATA controller drivers.
  • After pressing ‘F6’, you will come to a screen asking you to press ‘S’ to load additional controller drivers or to press ‘ENTER’ to continue with the installation. Be sure you press ‘S’ to load your SATA controller drivers. After pressing ‘S’, you will be prompted to insert a floppy disk with the updated drivers.
    Note: the installation process specifically looks at the A: (floppy) drive for the updated drivers. This is a limitation imposed by the installation routine. You cannot load the drivers using any other media.
  • After inserting the appropriate driver diskette, choose which driver you wish to load (if the disk has more than one driver). Make a selection using the up or down arrows and press ‘ENTER’ to install the driver.
  • Once you have loaded the appropriate controller drivers, you may continue with the installation.
Click to expand...

and obtain drivers here

Source

Edit: Sorry wrong URL to Drivers
 
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