Does Win7 format HDD?

[bushmins]

Ive just got Win XP and am doing a full instalation. It didnt seem to format the HDD before it started installing. I had XP on the HDD, when ever i install XP it always did a full HDD format.

Does Win7 not do a format? Bit worring since there maybe old XP files on the HDD.

Confused?

 

[BeeP]

I formatted mine during my win7 install, it's an option before the full install goes ahead.

Easy to miss but it's there

 

[bushmins]

I saw that but...

There is something i dont really understand. There was partitioned space and unpartitioned space, i deleted one of them then the 'Format' option was greyed out.

Then i aborted the Win7 install and got the unpartioned/partitioned space back again, then i clicked the 'Format' option, something happended for about 5 seconds then it all seemed over, can Win7 really format my HDD in 5 sec?

Normally i delete the partioned space before doing an XP install.

 

[ns400r]

Deleting the partitioned space will leave you with just UNpartitioned space. This can't/won't be formatted until it is partitioned again.

 

[Daegan]

can Win7 really format my HDD in 5 sec?

Depends what you mean by format. A quick format, which is all that will have happened in those 5 secs, involves wiping any existing file system and creating a new one. A full format, which also involves checking every sector on the drive obviously takes a lot longer.

 

[Ace Modder]

You can install Windows 7 and keep all your current files intact. In fact I did this last night on my wifes PC.