Reformatting Computer

[akasixcon]

Okay I reinstalled Windows XP on my computer and I have two Partition drives, C and D. I installed windows on D. My old installation of Windows XP was on C.

Now that installation is completed. I have two copies of windows installed. On top of that, my C drive wasn't formatted, my old files still remains.

My goal right now is to delete all the files on C faster than deleting them folder by folder. I do not need ANY Files on C. I tried deleted Documents and Settings and Widnows wont allow me to (on C drive, my main drive is D drive remember). I need something that would make me wipe it out. I tried to rightclick the drive and format it from there, but after its formatted it says "Cannot be formatted" or something like that.

Thanks for any help.

P.S. What are some good start-up softwares to fill/spice up my Windows XP experience installation? Like best firewalls/antiviruses and some utilities besides google pack.

 

[Osiris]

Are you ok with your drive letter being D:? Have you tried diskmgmt.msc via run?

Go thru my guide for all the programs you will need

 

[akasixcon]

Yes I think I'm okay with D. IS there any disadvantage to this? I did this because I am too lazy to open up a bootable floppy disc partition manager. My D has ~20 gigs, and my C has 90 gbs. So I install Windows on D and all my files/downloads will be on C.

O/T question: is it better to install softwares like Adobe Photoshop on D (windows) and save the files on C or install it on C and save the files on C?

What is diskmgmt.msc? What will that do? HOw do I use it?

 

[Osiris]

Start, run, type diskmgmt.msc

It's much easier if its C:

Some programs will have issues with it but you can work around them

All you had to do was delete both partitions and the drive could have been C:

 

[akasixcon]

So just to clarify, its better if I install my softwares on C and all my downloads on C and the only thing thats on D is my windows installation?

THanks for that disk diskmgmt.msc, I'll try it out right now.

 

[Osiris]

Just install everything on the main drive and use the spare drive as a backup

 

[akasixcon]

Update:

I booted in my D drive Windows XP and ran the diskmgmt.msc and right clicked on the C drive and the format was grayed out. I right clicked on the D drive and the format button is grayed out.

Both installation of Windows XP have different login names. So I went Logoff > Switch Usernames and checked to see if I booted on the right Installation and I did.

What can I do now?

 

[Osiris]

go to msconfig, boot.ini tab and click on check all boot paths and clic ok to remove the invalid entry

 

[akasixcon]

It says everything is okay. Seems like this is turning into a bigger problem than I thought.

 

[Osiris]

take the jumper off the c drive so that it is a slave drive and then try to format it