In Windows XP, there are two primary ways to format a drive:
| Error | Cause | Solution | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Setup did not find any hard disk drives | Missing SATA/AHCI driver | Switch BIOS to IDE mode OR press F6 to load driver from floppy. | | Inaccessible Boot Device (BSOD 0x7B) | Wrong storage driver post-format | Reinstall with correct driver slipstreamed. | | Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR] is not bootable | BIOS boot order wrong | Set HDD as first boot device after format. | | Format cannot run because the volume is in use | Running format from within XP | Boot from CD (cannot format C: while running C:). | format hdd windows xp
Are you looking to start fresh with a clean slate on your Windows XP computer? Perhaps you're experiencing issues with your operating system, or maybe you're looking to repurpose an old computer. Whatever the reason, formatting your hard drive is a drastic measure that will erase all data on the disk. Before proceeding, make sure to back up any important files. In Windows XP, there are two primary ways
Windows XP Setup offers two formatting paths during the text-mode phase: | | Format cannot run because the volume