hi.. i wanted to know what i required before formatting my old hard disk and OS completely I have a dell inspirion 8100 laptop... i recieved 2 cds from dell which are 1. resource cd with drivers/utilities/support software etc the drivers contained are audio/video drivers 2. XP OS cd for reinstalling the OS.. if anyone knows if the resource cd is the same as recovery cd..as i was told to get a recovery cd by someone on the forum..do i need anything else before i go ahead with the format?? please let me know thanks

Actually, what you have listed is all that you will need. Just boot off your XP cd and follow the instructions as far as what you what done. If you what to clean install, then just choose that option and so forth. As for the resource cd, this cd merely contains all of your drivers for your video, sound, etc... When it comes done to it you'll probably won't need it just for the fact that XP actually has all the drivers. But of course, the actual and updated drivers for your computer are highly recommended.