reformatting my harddrive

[T34m1nat0r]

Hello all, I was trying to run my windows xp computer when the thing won't boot right. It will keep going to the loading screen, then go back to the very start of loading up the BIOS or whatever it does when you first turn it on.

Now, thankfully, I have another computer which is a very good vista. I have already hooked up the xp's sata hdd to it and it shows up and everything and I will get data from it after I find out this question:

What software do I need to use to reformat it (wipe it/whatever) get rid of everything on it so it is as good as new....BUT keep the windows xp operating system still on it so I can just hook it up to my xp computer and have it as good as new. Should I unplug my vista hdd and run the xp hdd as master (no idea how to change master/slave) and have it do a reset? I don't have the xp cd. Or is there software that I can use to fix it. I'm pretty sure the xp hdd has a virus on it.

 

[johnb35]

Why don't you scan the drive for viruses while its in the Vista computer. If it finds anything and deletes it, then put it back in original computer and see if it boots up correctly. Do you have the XP install cd? If so, then copy any data you need to a backup or another system and then boot to the cd, delete existing partition, then repartition, then it will format and reinstall windows. If you can get it boot up correctly after doing the virus scan then you should run Malwarebytes Antimalware program and check it for malware.