Formatting XP

Alas, it's that time again. Gonna wipe the hard drive clean and start with a fresh install.

However, this n00b has a question. I know XP has an option to keep your documents intact. Is there a specific method this works? I have a lot of videos and other files I would like to keep, I just need to reinstall Windows. I'll backup all the files to disc if I have to, but I'm thinking their has got to be a better way.

Does it save all the files in the My Documents folder? Or does it go by file extension?

Help!

Also, this is not from a CD, but rather from a Recovery partition on the hard drive. XP won't let me access it, so no copy paste.

Well, when it asks you which partition to install XP to, just choose the current partition you're using and leave it intact. Although this won't reformat it and the only files that will be affected are the system files.

>>3
Not with a lot of the OEM 'recovery partitions' around these days, especially, on laptops. All too often the only option is a completely destructive recovery.
You should backup all your files to disc ANYWAY. You want to do that at intervals depending on how important you consider your files and how much you trust your hard drive(s) to not fail.

>>2
Recovery partition are meant to RESTORE windows back to how you receive it FIRST TIME. It will destroy you document, and media files unless it's on another partition/hdd (if it's smart enoguht to ask you which partition to kill)