How do you format a harddrive and get rid of all partitions? the person who did this computer has win 98 along with 2000 pro. I want to start from scratch, like brand new. How?

You can do it all via the Fdisk/format utils on a '98 boot-disk. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q255/8/67.ASP is the M$ tutorial re Fdisk/format routines. The drive has '98/W2K; if W2K = ntfs then you use Fdisk to remove the non-dos partition (ntfs = non-dos under Fdisk inspections). A kwik 'n dirty way to remove drive contents (partitions) completely is to boot with a '98 boot-disk and run delpart.exe. This util was part of nt3/1 Resource Kit; omitted from subsequent versions. Can be added to a boot-disk and run from the a:>\ prompt; or you boot with '98 boot-disk and then change to a delpart floppy... delpart (freebie 30K approx. download) at: http://hercules.lss.ksu.edu/download/MSSTUFF/index.htm http://www.mesich.com Run the util, follow on-screen prompts; afterwards reconfigure the drive as outlined in M$ KB above. Idealy repartition/reconfigure drive to have both a Primary partition (OS/apps/utils) and an Extended partition (data only. This way if need-be in future you can re-install to Primary (even reformat it if need-be) without risk of affecting data in Extended areas (unless one is really careless). If intending to rebuild the dual-boot '98/W2K perhaps have a read of: http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/21665.html (post #5) for one way to go about it. Covers it from start to finish - single/dual drives etc. It's not the only way but it a very viable way. If going for '98 only perhaps have a read of the info at: http://www.btinternet.com/~robert.bale1/formatinstall.htm (Bob Bale's site also includes a reduced version of how to Fdisk/format etc).

Just boot from any Windows boot disk and type in the following: format c: And then, do the partitions with FDISK, or buy Partition Magic.

after you typed format c: and everything is deleted you may be prompted to restart the machine and when you do and the floppy loads and stops with the A:\ prompt type FDISK and you're there dude.Don't spend any money on some software, if you always let everything be done by someone or something else then what's the use of the brain. Happy partitioning!

Yes, you're right.

When I type in "format c:" on the DOS prompt, it says the type of file system is NTFS and it asks for the volume label of c: How do I find out what the volume label is, and is that necessary in order to format the hard drive?