You are likely using a boot disk made for DOS and/or Windows 9x, which
cannot properly see an NTFS partition and manipulate it, or the boot floppy
is having trouble recognizing the partition because of its sheer size. If
you use the Windows XP install CD to boot up your system and start the
upgrade process, you should have an option to format the existing
partition(s), or to completely redo the partition setup of your drive.
Another idea would be to conduct the format by taking out the drive from
your original machine and using an IDE to USB adapter to connect it to a
second computer. I keep such an adapter in my toolkit for just this kind of
work, and it hasn't let me down yet. Only set me back about $25 bucks at
Fry's Electronics, and money well spent. Hope this information proves useful
to you :)

Kenneth Whyman
[log in to unmask]
"Chance favors the prepared mind."

On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 9:57 PM, Brent <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm currently running Windows 2000, but I'm wanting to reformat my drives
> and install a fresh version of Windows XP.  I made a boot disk with a
> floppy; I get to the A:\ prompt and I'll type in "format C: /s" but the
> command will go ahead and format my D: drive instead!  It doesn't recognize
> that the C: drive is there at all.  I'm booting the machine from the floppy,
> so I 'shouldn't' be using the C: drive at all.  It's only recognizing one
> drive, but it's definitely not reformating the correct hard drive!!
>
> How can I reformat my C: drive?
>
> Cheers, Brent
>
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