Ugh, the flashing question mark...

Earlier tonight my three year old nephew got hold of my laptop and his little magic fingers did something to cause the screen to go blank and then, the flashing question mark showed up. So, I reinstalled the OS X dvd, when it asked do I want to keep the previous system in a folder, I clicked yes.
My question is: should I erase the folder with the previous system? If the answer is yes, where do I find it?
Thank you in advance for your help and Happy Holidays!

Yes, you can erase it.   It's at the top level of your internal HD.  Just open the HD via the Finder and it should appear.
(It won't show up via Spotlight or a Finder search).
Note that it will take quite a while to empty the trash.

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