Format Problem
 

How do I Format HD on Pavillion XH176, where do I get whatever I need to do it?:help:

This is the FAQ and how to on recovery issues with your laptop.

System recoveryÂ*HP Pavilion Notebook XH176

Please note that HP warns this laptop will not support windows vista upgrade

not that easy I'm afraid
 

Drive has been previously formatted and 2000 Pro installed before I got it. Can't get rid of all the junk on it, I have my own copy of 2000 PRO, want to format and re-install.

Win 2000 cd is bootable, so restart your computer with the disk in the cd drive and follw the prompts.

Make sure it formats and installs to drive C though...

Partition?
 

Should I make a partition to put the OS in? How big?

That is dependent on yourself...it would also depend on what size of harddrive that is currently installed and what plans you have for later on.

My rule of thumb....
1)anything less than 20gig drive then no extra partitions
2) 30 or 40 gig drives then I would make a 'C' partition of 10 to 20 gigs and use the rest as a single or multiple storage partitions such as "My Documents"with music files and such personal data and maybe a different partition as just plain storage.
3) anything over 40 but less than 160 gig I would split evenly into 4 partitions
4) I do not like large drives as my experience tends to see them over-work themselves and crash quicker than they should.

Just a reminder though ...before doing anything...locate all the needed driver files before reformating and reinstalling so as to have them when ready for them!