posted
Memorize the drive letter, then reboot in DOS. It should default to the correct directory, then type "format x:" where x is the letter of the drive you want to format.
If that doesn't work, report back?
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I actually tried doing that in a cmd window. First it gave me this warning:
quote:Format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Format may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? (Y/N) y
I said yes, and it appeared to be going through the format, but when it got done, it said
quote:System Partition is not allowed to be formatted.
posted
Bizzaro. That's the limit of my knowledge without resorting to third party formatting software. =/
Actually, it looks like it's saying no because it says the partition is in use - which, if Windows is running, it might be (stupid background processes). I'd suggest actually trying to reboot into DOS and trying the format command from there and seeing if it gives you the same error.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Oh, no, you can't format it from within the CMD window in Windows. You have to boot to DOS. Which I don't remember offhand if you can do with Windows XP - I don't believe there's an actual DOS available.
If I recall correctly - it's been a while since I've done this - you'd have to have DOS on a bootable floppy in order to format the drive.
Are you planning on reinstalling Windows XP? If so, there should be the option to format the hard drive and then install it through its options. Have you tried that?
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
No, it's not my system partition. It's a small extra HD which I added and mainly use for downloading stuff. It's drive letter is f. There's nothing important on it.
No, I'm not planning on reinstalling XP.
I tried rebooting into DOS, but as you said, that's not an option in XP. I tried it in Safe Mode, but got the same results.
I'll pull out my XP installation disk and see if there's any way it will let me format.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
If you're not planning on installing XP on it, then don't go with the install disk - it only formats before installing the OS. It won't work for your purposes.
My apologies - I didn't know you weren't talking about your primary hard drive. I should have asked. My advice in the previous post is only for the main drive that your OS is on, so ignore it.
You have no problem reading the drive? It otherwise works perfectly fine and normal? Formatting it is the only problem you have?
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I'm not terribly experienced, but would pulling the drive out and hooking it up to another computer and formatting it from there help?
Posts: 1466 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
I think I know why it thinks it's my system partition -- it's the only IDE hard drive on the system. The two main drives are SCSI.
I booted up with the XP installation disk and was able to get to a DOS prompt. It's currently formatting (I'm on Bev's computer now). We'll see if it works.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
It probably housed your MBR. My IDE drives do that on my SCSI system. It's a pain in the ascot. Just run chkdsk /r with the repair console and you should be okay.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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-although you may want to double check the syntax, it's been awhile since a linux installation has failed that bad.
Posts: 1412 | Registered: Oct 2005
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The real solution: Change the boot order in my BIOS so that it tries to boot from SCSI before it tries to boot from IDE.
I'm kicking myself, because I should have been able to figure that out on my own, and it would have taken less than five minutes.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Well, crap. All that bother, and the HD is still giving me read access failures. I guess it's just it's time. Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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