Use Acronis.
Whether or not the hard drive has Windows installed on it is irrelevant to the actual process of replacing the drive. if you want to preserve the current Windows installation, you'll need to use hard drive imaging software to copy the data from the old drive. Otherwise, you can simply replace the drive and reinstall Windows as you would normally.
Just log in on one of the copy of Win XP and delete Windows folder of other installation. Keep the installation on C: drive.
During installation, Windows 7 will need about 16GB on a hard drive.
If you are trying to install xp, you have format the hard drive prior installation. If you trying to reinstall Vista, check your hard drive for bad sectors. Make sure that the installation CD/DVD is readable (just try to copy all content on your hard drive).
Format the hard drive using a standalone program or installation procedure of another operating system such as Unix/Linux. You cannot do it from a running copy of Windows.
It is normally installed to C DRIVE.
Windows 98
A clean installation is a installation where the hard drive is reformatted and windows is installed fresh from the DVD or CD it came from.
How do i prepare a new hard disk drive for installation of a windows 98 system
sysprep.
YES
The C drive in Windows Operating System is the partition on which the OS is installed. It also contains installation files for other programs.