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Format with the Ubuntu 10.10 Live CD

In this tutorial you will learn, to format, enlarge or reduce the size of a partition, especially the system partition (which can't be done using the Windows partition manager).

Warning: Make sure to save your important data on an external drive, as any mishandling may lead to the loss/damage of your data.

Note that:

If your system has a dual boot (several OS), formattin the partition might erase the boot loader of one of the installed OS.
If you accidentally deleted the bootloader you will need to re-install GRUB.
If you have XP: Repair the Windows XP startup.
If you have Windows Vista or Windows 7: How to fix Windows Vista/7 startup

Creating the Live CD

Download Ubuntu ISO image and then burn it: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop.
Once burned on disk and insert it into your CD/DVD drive.
Boot from the CD :http://ccm.net/faq/648-boot-devices-modifying-boot-sequence

Formatting

From the homescreen:

Select your language and select "Try Ubuntu".
Once the desktop loaded, go to the "System" tab and then "Administration" > "Gparted partition editor".
Right-click on the partition you want to format, and then choose "format to" and select the format.
Once you configured all your settings, go to the Edit tab and click on "Apply all operations."