Help! Can't Format my Slave HDD

[r32nissan]

Hi all,

I just had an upgrade, and a fresh install with my old HDD designated to being a slave drive. I am now running XP Pro.

I have transferred all my data to my new HDD however, when i try to format the slave, it won't let me :mad:

Any ideas why? I have deleted every file in the drive that i could find, but it still shows over 2 gig of used space.

It says to quit other disk utilities or programs showing the contents of the drive and try again. How do i check to see what other programs are still using that drive?

Can anyone help?

[OkcFloater]

The easy way would be to boot from a bootdisk and format the drive from there. The old disk still has the active partition which would have to be removed to format from within Windows.

[r32nissan]

i have no idea how to do such things, however, my old HDD (the one that is now a slave and won't format) was never split up into 2 or 3 (i believe this is called partitioning?). Therefore, i don't see how i am having problems.

[p wahid]

Hi,

On your old drive you said that theres still 2 gig being used, so what i would try is (btw this is in win2k , its prolly possible in winxp but i dont know the sequence) unhide all the hidden or system files for that drive. And then have a look at them, do this only for the slave drive so you dont corrupt your primary master drive. If the files arent of any use then just delete them as normal then turn back the option of hiding system or hidden files. In windows2000 this is done in win explorer by going to Tools -> Folder Options -> View tab -> then check the circle that says Show hidden or system files.
Only do this for the slave drive, another thing have made sure that the jumper settings on your slave drive are in the slave position? prolly is already or you wouldnt have gotten this far.

Hope that helps,
P.W

[OkcFloater]

You will need a boot disk. I suggest a Win98 boot disk from:

www.bootdisk.com (http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm)

You will download a file called boot98.exe or boot98se.exe, and when you find the file and double click it, have a floppy ready because it will make a bootable floppy for you.

Once you have the bootable floppy, restart your system and enter the BIOS when it starts up (usually by pressing "delete" key, screen should say how to enter setup on your machine), and go to "advanced options". Make your "first boot device" say "floppy" and your "second boot device" say "ide-0", then save changes and exit. Make sure you have the boot floppy in your floppy drive when it restarts and just let it boot to "A:/".

At the A:/> prompt, type "format D: /u" (I'm assuming your old HD is D: ). After formatting is complete, remove boot disk and restart. Navigate back to BIOS setup and change the "advanced" boot devices back to what they were and save.

Done. Finito. Viola!

[OkcFloater]

By the way, your old HD has an active partition. This simply means that at one time it was a boot device with an OS on it.