To format ur harddisk, pop in the linux bootables cd of our choice. I will be giving u quite a standard method very for linux users.
WARNING: This will destroy ur whole harddisk's data. Make sure u have a backup of all ur works.
1. When u r in ur bootable cd mode and reach the shell,
type "fdisk /dev/hda" and press enter into ur shell. "/dev/hda" is
the primary harddisk of ur pc ( Assume hda is ur first harddisk.
U will see "/dev/hda1" and so on. the "1" means partition 1.
2. The next thing u will do is type "p" and press enter on the
"Command (m for help):"
3. U will see all the partitions u have on ur disk.
4. To delete the partitions, type "d" and select the partition number u
wanted.
5. To add a new partition, just type "n" and press enter.
6. To change partition type ( ext3/ fat32/....), type "t" and press enter and
enter the partition id number.
7. To finalize and apply changes on ur partition, just type "w".
8. To make a dos file system. Type the following command in u shell:
mkdosfs
That's all. I assume u are a newbie with linux.