Zero fill drive -re-install windows

[Shane]

Hi all,

right....

i have 3 partitions on my 120Gb hard drive.

1.Xp

2.Vista

3.Backup (Where i keep my music etc)

my system is so damn slow...even after a clean install of Xp its still slower than it was say last year.

all the things mentioned on the link below i have dont or either didnt have to do because i had alredy formatted anyway.
http://www.infohq.com/Computer/help/slow-computer.shtml

so the only thing i could think of doing was like Zero the drive i mean like totaly wipe it clean and start from fresh because when i always install xp again i just install it on the partition that Xp was on before.

would zero filling the drive make my pc fast?
can low level formats damage hard drives?

 

[nyhk]

zero filling will not make it faster. Just format it, which will create a new file structure.

When windows writes someting to a sector, it doesn't check the contents of it first, so writing zeroes to all sectors, won't accomplish anything

 

[nyhk]

about the low level formatting, creating tracks and sectors. This belongs to old days, you don't do that on modern harddrives. And yes, if not done with very special tools, this can destroy a drive

 

[Shane]

ahh im pulling my hair out at the moment lol.

i just dont know what to do!

Vista runs fine on my system but Xp is slow so i dont have a clue whats up

its a Seagate Barracuda 120Gb 7200Rpm IDE hard drive.