Wiping hard-drive and installing W7..

[Mark200]

So I have Windows XP and Ubuntu on dual-boot on my laptop. I want to upgrade to Windows 7, and I've been told that a clean install is easier and better than trying to upgrade. An upgrade or clean install would both mess up my Ubuntu partition so I'm planning on just wiping my hard-drive (after backing up all my files on an external hard-drive) and then installing Windows 7 followed by Ubuntu.

So my question is, would this work? How exactly do I wipe my hard-drive of all my files and stuff? I'm just hoping to put Windows 7 on a CD (when it's finished downloading), get rid of all my files and Operating Systems off my laptop and then install Windows 7 from the CD.

[Boris]

Not sure what version of Win 7 you are downloading or from where ?

Please advise.

However, no version will fit on a CD !

[Mark200]

Not sure what version of Win 7 you are downloading or from where ?

Please advise.

However, no version will fit on a CD !

Windows 7 Professional from the MSDN thing.

It won't fit on a CD? Any idea of the best way to install it then?

[Mark200]

Actually I could just use a memory stick instead of a CD I'm sure

[Boris]

Windows 7 Professional from the MSDN thing.

It won't fit on a CD? Any idea of the best way to install it then?

It will fit on a DVD (Single Layer) :)

[Mark200]

So any ideas on how to wipe my hard-drive? Or, when I go to install Windows 7 (the thing I downloaded as an install option - so I may not need to use a CD) would that automatically wipe everything anyway? (Including my Ubuntu partition?)

[alexpwnsn0b2]

when you run the installation DVD it should give you an option to format the hard drive (i think)

[bludgard]

From within Recovery Console or Install Disk,find and open Command Prompt.

Type:

diskpart

list disk

select disk # (Input value of disk you wish to format)

clean all

create partition primary

select partition 1

active

format

assign

exit

This takes quite a bit of time,but ensures a clean disk to install on.