Aqua-Soft ForumsIs there a way to format a windows XP Home PC with only one Partition or am I out of luck?
Thank you very much for your help.
[help]formatting Windows Xp Pc On One Partition
Do you mean that you already have it split in more than one partition. Either way you can do it.
Yes you can format your drive with the XP cd, but it will erase all of your data.
If you only have one partition, formatting it will result in loss of all data. If you want to keep data, you shuold back it up on another computer, or store it on cds/zip drives or other place. If you want to make a partition to keep your important stuff and format the one with the system files, it would be a good idea.
if you have more then one partition, you can use a program to sresize partitions(partition magic) and delete them. Plus if you have data you want to keep on one, you can do what i did -> move data, resize to take up all avalable space, and move...etc like crawling along.
If you mean right clicking on the partition that has the os and clicking on format, your out of luck. so go with what Photo678 said. but I have xp pro on one partion, and longhorn 4051 pro on the other. So it could be different on home.
Thank you very much all of you, this has been a great help to me.
However, the problem is I only have the upgrade CD, so I don't think that it will work, or can I do it through the recovery console?
Is there a way to format a windows XP Home PC with only one Partition or am I out of luck?
Yes, but there are caveats as pointed out by others. I see no problems using your upgrade CD to format with. You will still be asked for a licensed copy, either disk or CD, if you wish to do a clean install.
I have some comments...
1. Is the drive you wish to format >32GB? If so, you will only be given the NTFS option. You can get around this by formatting with a Win98 startup disk, if you choose FAT32.
2. If you have data that you would like to keep, you will need to either archive these files to CD-R/W or move them to another drive/partition.
3. Lossless partioning can be done with the aid of third-party programs e.g. Partition Magic.
Some people may think I'm crazy, but I use several partitions. A good habit is to store data on a separate partition, or separate drive, in case of a major catastrophe.
Two things dove...
1.- youll need to install some other os and then the upgrade which i wouldnt recommend so much, if you can get ahold of a full xp cd it woul be a lot better...
2.- If you do get ahold of the xp cd you can download the bood disk set creator for xp from microsoft site and boot your comp into them, they will lead you through the process of formatting the only partition, otherwise its not that easy cause its always being used. and then it will hepl you intall winxp.
Hope htis helps, this is how ive done it a couple of times...
Cheers
Seph
Sorry Seph,
This is not exactly right. You can boot from an upgrade disk and while going through the install process it will ask for another Win install disk. 95, 98, ME ect. You can get a clean install this way.1.- youll need to install some other os and then the upgrade which i wouldnt recommend so much, if you can get ahold of a full xp cd it woul be a lot better...
I had the Home Ed. Upgrade before I bought Pro Full.