I formatted one of my drives first via XP Pro in an IDE enclosure, not as a method, but only because it was done pre-WHS.....so I did not encounter any issues installing WHS. I also have a Supermicro dual P3 board (DER370+) that I have been trying to get working but got nothing but BSOD's for a few hours when trying to load WHS on it.
Do as suggested and install your blank drive in XP first and then you should be set.