Thanks for the info folks, much appreciated
I'd like to keep the Seagate drive for extra storage but it is just too noisy for my liking (well, it's been like that since new - 2 years ago, but it's only just starting to annoy me now
).
I want to do a clean install of XP just to clear out the last 2 years worth of rubbish I've accumulated on the disk as well as those programs that I never use but won't uninstall........just in case.......
thanks again