How To Format A Hard Disk Using Windows Xp Setup?

By Author: compartic
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If you are about to partition and format the hard disk with Windows XP OS setup program, this article would be helpful for you. This article describes how to partition (prepare) and format a hard disk before you install Windows XP using the Windows XP Setup program. Some important aspects of formatting are highlighted in this article. Fdisk and format tools are useful methods to partition and format the hard disk before you install Windows XP. In case during partitioning and formatting of hard disk the process stops midway and you lose all the data or your drive becomes inaccessible, then you must use NTFS Repair software to recover the corrupt or lost or damaged data.
Steps to format hard disk with FAT and NTFS file system
Use the ARROW keys to select the partition where you want to install Windows XP, and then press ENTER.
Select the format option that you want to use to format the partition. You can select from the following options:
Format the partition by using the ...
... NTFS file system (Quick)
Format the partition by using the FAT file system (Quick)
Format the partition by using the NTFS file system
Format the partition by using the FAT file system
Leave the current file system intact (no changes)
User is suggested to take care of the following main points.
If the selected partition is a new partition, the option to leave the current file system intact is not available.
If the selected partition is larger than 32 gigabytes (GB), the FAT file system option is not available.
If the selected partition is larger than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT32 file system (you must press ENTER to confirm).
If the partition is smaller than 2 GB, the Windows Setup program uses the FAT16 file system.
If you deleted and created a new System partition, but you are installing Windows XP on a different partition, you are prompted to select a file system for both the System and Startup partitions.
Press ENTER.
After the Windows Setup program formats the partition, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to install Windows XP. After the Windows Setup program is finished and you have restarted the computer, you can use the Disk Management tools in Windows XP to create or format more partitions.

You must first create a primary partition on disk 0 before installing Windows. Then, you can format a file system on that partition to create what is called the System partition.
With NTFS Repair utility you can retrieve lost or corrupt data, damaged due to accidental deletion, virus attacks, power failures, emptied recycle bin, corruption in master file table, file allocation table, Master boot record etc.
Author of the article has expertise in the field of data recovery software, email recovery, email migration, hard drive recovery and password recovery. The entire range of his articles is information-rich and useful for dealing with data recovery issues and finding suitable solution. See More..... NTFS Repair