Should I format my H10 before installing Rockbox?

[windycity]

Hey guys, I've had my 5GB iRiver H10 since 2005. Since upgrading my laptop to Windows 7, I manage without iRiverPlus by just dragging & dropping files. Super basic, but it's all I need.

But today, copying across a bunch of mp3s froze up, and cancelling the process in TaskManager seems to have corrupted the player. Now it says 'System files missing' when I start it (even after removing the battery to reset), & when I connect it via USB I get Windows telling me I have to format the drive before using it because 'this volume does not contain a recognised file system'.

Googling for help brought me to Rockbox. But I've looked around the FAQs here, and dual booting gets mentioned a lot. So, my very basic question: can I install Rockbox straight onto a blank, reformatted device? Or do I need the original iRiver firmware - if so, where can I find it?

I haven't formatted it yet, because I wanted to check first. I'm not much of a tech person, so I'd really appreciate dumbed-down answers! And if I'm posting in the wrong forum, please let me know? TIA.

[LambdaCalculus]

I'm not 100% certain of how this works on the H10, but on my GoGear players, which have a similar firmware structure, you can safely eliminate all of the files in the /System directory (except for the Rockbox bootloader, of course!) and run Rockbox as the only firmware on the player.

If you read this part of the manual, you can see what file you need, but I would recommend using Rockbox Utility to install instead, as it handles everything for you.