Obviously I tried as you suggested but as I mentioned in my original post setup was stopped with a reference to XP pro being too similar to 2000 pro to overwrite/format all partitions.

Ummm, no. That's not what you said. You said,

I tried installing XP over it but 2000 wouldn't allow it saying it is virtually the same platform(?).

Installing XP over 2000 is not the same thing as formatting the hard drive first, then installing XP. Once the HD is formatted, there's no 2000 to install over.

You need to forget about installing Windows for the moment. You need to do a FULL NTFS format - not a quick format. Did you get to the prompt to do a full format?

He was going to use Nero to create a GParted live CD (ISO) in order to wipe the drive.

KillDisk (floppy) was also an option.

Well, I thought the goal here was to install XP on the drive. And I note that "wipe" generally means to wipe any and all data off the drive so that even a forensic data recovery yields nothing - something done if you are getting rid of a drive that had sensitive data it. And, yes, Kill Disk will do that, as will Eraser.

Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to install that drive as a slave in another XP system and format it from there. Then put it back in the original PC as a master and install XP on it.

Just to followup on where I was heading:

I assumed the XP format failed.

When I see this happen (and it often happens with a drive containing many versions of Windows) it is usually cleared out by formatting outside of Windows (GParted is my tool of choice).

If even this does not work I use KillDisk to wipe (or as Dan Penny says: "Stomp") the hard drive.

This will clear out the boot sector as well which formatting will not as I understand it.

Digerati,

Apologies for not being literally consistent!! lol

I assumed that XP setup would automatically take me to the format stage. It wouldn't let me format the hard drive for the reason(s) given earlier.

I'm sure you will say that can't happen but I assure you it did! Hence my state of duress and being unsure of how to proceed.

I'd try again but whilst 2000 pro has 'disappeared' after installing 98se there is an unaccounted for loss of drive space. And the corrupt message now appears during setup of XP. XP disk has been fine till now, can it be harmed in anyway?

Cheers for your kind interest, anyway.

Originally Posted by Digerati

Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to install that drive as a slave in another XP system and format it from there. Then put it back in the original PC as a master and install XP on it.

Ah. That's certainly an option I can undertake. Thanks for the idea.

jephree,

I'll give gparted another go out of curiosity.
If that fails I'll try KillDisk.
Failing that I'll put the drive in my pc and do as Digerati suggests.

Thanks ever so much guys. I am seriously impressed that there are people so willing to offer genuinely helpful advice.

All the best,
Gary.

Hi All,

Couldn't make a disk of either GParted or KillDisk (don't understand why!) however I put the hard drive as a second drive in another pc with XP pro and formatted it, wiping it clean!

It's now back in my dad's pc and working fine with XP Pro.

Thanks for all the advice.

All the best,

Gary.

Thanks for the update.

Glad all is well.

Let us know if we can help further in the future.