Formatting a hard drive along with the install of a new OS is the best option. The vast majority of operating system installations provide a "format" option as part of the installation process.

Want to know how to partition a hard drive? Here are step-by-step guides on the most efficient ways.

Or will migrating to Linux be relegated to older hardware? For instance, even with all of the obvious BIOS options set to allow legacy boot and with Secure Boot turned off, installing Linux failed. My ...

If you have the wrong partition highlighted, then that is where XP installs.<P>It is true however that XP updates all NTFS partitions that it sees on your hard drive to version 5.1.