Reformatting on an XP machine

I want to reformat the hard drive of my computer. Problem is I don't know how. I RTFM and it details only how to system recover and fix XP - not format the disk and reinstall XP. People who've reformated an XP computer, please help. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[crossposted in /g/]

XP install disc has a formatting tool on it when you set up.

If you need more than that google "harddrive formatting tools"

To clarify, when you pick a drive to install to, the installer will ask if you want to do a quick format, full format, or none. Do a full.

You do know that this is going to erase everything, yes?

FORMATTING DOES NOT ERASE YOUR DATA

>>3 You are a moron - stop giving advice to other people when you know jack shit yourself.  >>4 is right.

>>5
Formatting will remove the references to all the files on the disk, making them inaccessible and marking the space they occupy as free, effectively erasing them. Is that better?

>>3
>>6
In case you didn't know, >>4 and >>5 are trolls.

>>5
Troll harder.

>>1
Who got it into your head that you wanna reformat?  If you HAD actually RTFM'd, you'd have realized what a 'restore' is.  But then again, OEMs invariably negelect to mention that 'restoring' is all you'll ever be able to do as they've taken precautions to prevent installation of anything other than their included OS. So even if you ever figured out the difference between restoring and reformatting, you probably wouldn't be able to actually perform the latter.

>>7
>>4 is technically correct, though.

>>6 no it's not better - as what you call 'effectively erasing them' is the reason that old ex-corporate PCs on sale in 3rd world countries vary in cost according to how much useful (i.e. personal financial) information is still present on their hard disks rather than their tech-specs, after some office-twat (probably like you) has 'effectively erased' the HDs.  Now do you understand?

>>9
You know, I could have sworn that what I said demonstrated pretty solidly that I understand the data is still there and that, for a normal user operating his own computer, the data is 'effectively erased' since he can't access it and it could be overwritten at any time. Just because you CAN be an asshole here doesn't mean you have to jump on every last chance to do it.

>>10
Just because you CAN be an asshole here doesn't mean you have to jump on every last chance to do it.
Remember this is 4chan.

If he's got just the recovery disk he's screwed anyway.  Manufacturers never give OEM Win XP disks out with machines these days, just the shitty recovery disk which sucks ass.  They just pull what they need out of a hidden partition.

>>11
Yeah, I know. Just thought I'd try, since he's not even being funny about his douchebaggery. :/

Just torrent a copy of Xp corp edition, burn it.
Reinstall, sorted. A clean install is always the best choice in my experience.