Is there a way to format without having to re-install the OS?

[chimera189]

right now I have limited space on my laptop and need to re-format, my comp came with XP, but I don't have an installation disk so I was wondering if there was a way to keep the OS after formating.

[Kaligraphic]

Why do you need to reformat? If you're just trying to cannibalize space from a restore partition, you'll need to be very careful that you still have an installation source, because sometimes you do need to reinstall Windows.

[Kenshin17]

In answer to the original question, no. If your hard drive is not partitioned then formating will erase the OS.

[Mithrandir]

What's been said here is pretty much spot on. If you look at "my computer" and see more than one hard drive (like a c drive and a d drive), you might be able to do some formatting without blasting the OS, but it's not likely. Most laptops that come "pre-installed" have only one HD (the c drive) and any other drives are usually CD-ROM or DVD drives.

If you computer came with an "emergency restore" disk, it's possible there's an OS on that. Otherwise, you'll probably have to find an XP install disk. If you happen to be a student, Microsoft has pretty good student discounts on the OS discs. You might want to check into that.