Partition question when reinstalling XP.

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Hi guys.

After a couple of years I've finally gotten XP to become a bit unstable when I use, amongst other things, the demanding Cubase audio program. I'm going to reinstall Windows from scratch so that I have a nice clean system. I've done formats (but not much partitioning) and installs of Win 95 and 98 in the past but I don't really understand how the newish idea of a system restore partition fits into the scheme of things.

I've got two harddrives so I'll put all my important files and documents onto the second, non-boot drive while I reinstall windows - and backup essential information on disks.

The computer is a Dell that came with the two partions on the C: drive. The smaller partion is the system restore partition, yeah?
The questions: I want to keep things simple for myself. I presume that I use the installation CD and choose to delete the larger windows partition on C:. Will the setup process happily wipe Windows completely off my computer and reinstall a nice fresh copy? I don't want it to re-use anything and end up with same problems that I had before.

Do I need to do anything with the smaller system restore partition? I don't really understand what it does with regards to re-installing windows.

Thanks for shedding some light on the situation for me.
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Westie
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