It really should not take long to format a drive... all that really 
happens is the old partition table gets wiped, and a new table gets 
created, and an NTFS file system table gets created.  Ten seconds sounds 
about right for a new computer.

It occurs to me that you might be running into the same trouble with the 
OEM recovery partition that we had with some Dell systems this summer.  
It may be necessary to use the "diskpart" utility to wipe out hidden 
partitions, too.  To do this, you would press Shift-F10 after booting 
from the install CD.  This should bring up a command prompt.  You run 
"diskpart.exe".  From the DiskPart console, enter "select disk 0".  You 
can then enter "list partition" to display all existing partitions.  If 
you see a partition of type "OEM", you may want to wipe it by entering 
"select partition X" (where x is the partition number of the OEM 
partition), then "delete partition".  Alternatively, you can wipe all 
partitions by typing "clean" after "select disk 0".  When done, just 
"exit" diskpart and continue with installation of Vista.

-Greg

Larry Kost wrote:
> How do I format the drive?  That is as option when Vista asks where 
> you want to install.  I deleted all the old partitions and created one 
> new one.  The clicked on Format.  It was done in about 10 seconds.  I 
> can't belive that actually wiped anything out.
>
> Larry Kost
>
> At 03:28 PM 11/30/2007 -0500, you wrote:
>> I think Greg was distinguishing the Home edition from the Pro edition 
>> of Vista, not vista from XP. I use RDP on Vista much of the day.
>>
>> And yes, formating the drive before or as part of the installation 
>> would get rid of any upgrade problems. It would also remove any 
>> OEM-provided software and drivers, which you would need to reinstall 
>> if you want them back. (and sometimes OEM don't give you media for 
>> everything.)
>>
>> --Geoff
>>
>>
>> Ernie Buford wrote:
>>> J. Greg Mackinnon wrote:
>>>>
>>>> ...  What you would be missing is the ability to use the Remote 
>>>> Desktop client ....
>>>
>>> What are Vista adopters using to access servers that
>>> they formerly got at via the RDP client in WinXP?
>>>
>>> ... and so as not to totally ignore Larry's original
>>> question, why not reformat &/or repartition the
>>> drive before the Enterprise install?  Others on the
>>> list are much more knowledgeable about Vista than
>>> me, but I'd guess you'd have success if you first
>>> gave the disk a good brainwash.
>>>
>>> Ernie