Hello,
I am not sure if you were using OS X or OS 9 with your powerbook.
Anyways, either an OS 9 or an OS X install disk will give you the option to format the hard drive. You may need to look into the customize button before making the install, and there are options there to format the hard drive, or keep data in it's place.
Older computers could be booted with a Floppy disk and format the hard drive that way, and some of the older powerbooks had what was called SCSI Disk Mode that you could attach it to another system, and format the drive that way.
Easiest to do is to boot with an install disk, and find the format option.
Christian
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