Cant reinstal XP - cant format c - HELP!

Hi

What is the easiest way to format c drive from usb drive without using XP instalation disk.

That was the shor story, this the long one if someone cares to read:)



See, the situation is:
1) i had xp home edition on my laptop, and i wanted to upgrade to xp pro
2) Since my DVD has been broken for over 6 months now and it doesnt bother me (with internet and all) i figured it would be a waste to replace it now
3) Before i read article about "how to make a usb XP instalation disck" i tried to instal xp from remote HDD through USB,
but that didnt go so well - after instalation files were copied to C drive instalation failled for some reason but only after
current windows OS was partially deleted :)
Conclusion: so here i am with partially deleted OS on my PC (not working) and a started instalation

My idea was to create a USB instaltion, format c drive and reinstal OS but i cant do it because XP instalation checks that there are instaltion files on C: drive and doesnt let me to format it, repair and instal doesnt work either.

I dont know what to do
My next thought is to get some linux or other instalation that you could put on USB flash drive with boot and format c from that.
anyway, maybe you could shed some light on this situation

P.S. If some of this doesnt make sense, let me know and i witll try to clarify the situation ( im not a complete retard when it comes to PCs although i always have had serious issues when it comes to installing Windws)

re: Cant reinstal XP - cant format c - HELP!

Hi MeDontGetSomething!
I've never tried installing Windows from USB, but I have a few suggestions.

1. Linux on a USB flash drive
   Great idea, and here's the Linux I would use for that sort of task: DSL.
   Find instructions on how to install it to your pendrive here.
2. Installing Windows from a USB drive
   If the "installing Windows from a USB drive" solution you have doesn't work, what you could do is create a hard drive image and install Windows onto that. Then copy it to a USB drive and then you can copy that image to your actual hard drive from within Linux. I don't know any details right now, but if you want me to, I'll look into that issue for you.

Greetings,
Nepomuk

re: Cant reinstal XP - cant format c - HELP!

The Linux option would work, you could also use a dos boot and use fdisk to format your c drive.

Another thing you could do is look into doing a low level format on the drive. There are several tools out there that can perform a low level format on a drive, but I'm not sure if any of them are bootable. Some bios have an option to perform a low level format on a drive. A low level format will restore the disk to the original manufacturing state (no data will be left on the drive). After you do a low level format you would need to format the drive (as you normally would) and then install the OS. ****WARNING**** If you do a low level format be sure to read up on it and how to do it. Performing a low level format can mess up your drive for good so be careful. I'd look into the other options first, but if all else fails.

re: Cant reinstal XP - cant format c - HELP!

i did it :)

deleted primary partition with something called Delpart.exe and from there instalation was just piece of cake.

re: Cant reinstal XP - cant format c - HELP!

you can use bootable partition editor cd like <removed because illegal>
to format the partition or
you can delete the partition and make new partition with same file system.