# Reformatting?

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/reformatting/89426>\
**Category:** random\
**Created:** [May 8, 2005, 7:27am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/reformatting/89426 "2005-05-08T07:27:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![unikrl8](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/unikrl8/32/548_2.png) [@unikrl8](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/unikrl8)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2005, 7:27am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/reformatting/89426/1 "2005-05-08T07:27:25Z")

</div>

My friend’s Dell i sbeing crappy: I want to erase the hard-drive completely and re-install the OS.

Can I just boot it from the install CD\< and go from there, or do I have to clear it first?

If I have to clear it first…how do I do that (for free)?