By definition reformatting the drive would require a new installation from scratch. The format will delete all the data currently on the drive.

You could try to repair or rebuild the MFT first. There are some methods and/or programs that can try to do that.. eg- http://www.ntfs.com/quest14.htm

Perhaps others here will have used other utilities to do that as well.

Another option you could consider is a repair install of XP. That "might" fix the MFT problem and if nothing else works it would certainly be worth a try.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operat...txprepair1.htm