My Google search for ""does installing windows format the hard disk" returns: No results found for "does installing windows format the hard disk". I was quite surprised.

I'm hoping to get a quick answer here. Does an install format the hard disk, and destroy all data, including non-os/s data? -Or do you specifically have to say "format" at some point so you know you are losing everything? [I tried to go to SP3, but it doesn't work on my computer. My SP2 disk is fired. I only have a SP1 disk, with a seperate SP2 package. I can't get to Safe Mode to uninstall SP3 ("Windows XP Setup cann run under Safemode. Setup will restart now.). I don't want running the SP1 disk to destroy any non-o/s data.]

Thanks.