DOS Command help

I'm trying to format the hard ( C: ) drive on my coputer. I have a bad OS and want to do a toataly clean install of a new OS.

I've started the computer in "command promt only" mode and it displays
" C:\ " now i need the proper command to tell it to format (erase) the hard drive. I thought it was "FORMATC:" but apparently that's not right.

My DOS knowlege is more than rusty, please help.

 

First, What OS do you currently have installed?

Second, you will need a bootable floppy with format.exe on it in order to do this.

"format c:" is the command.

 

I currently have 98SE on the machine. I have an OEM XP Pro (full install) disc
which is bootable and should negate the need for a boot floppy.
I have already set the BIOS to boot from the CDROM as the 1st boot device.

 

I that case you don't need to run format in DOS or command prompt.

If you boot to the CD it will give you the option to partition and format the drive during the setup process.

Just a side note, but if I were you I would choose to format the drive in NTFS. It is better than FAT and more secure.