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Jan 3rd, 2004
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formatting problems

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I have been trying to reformat my drive on my computer, not a "windows XP reinstallation" but just straight out format the disk. after it gives me the warning of erasing everything on the disk, a window pops up after I click format saying, "windows cannot format this drive. quit any disk utilities and make sure that no windows is displaying the contents of this drive. then try again." Please! help me! I cant find any way to stop running these programs. I have uninstalled everything that I can including disk utilities and what not. I tried doing the "reccomended reinstall of XP" but it deleted nothing. Please help!
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dozer is offline Offline
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Jan 3rd, 2004
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Re: formatting problems

Hmmm... take this suggestion only as a suggestion. I'm sure that someone else will be able to respond in more detail.

I have no idea why you're running into this problem, but whenever I've needed to reformat (I used to do it quite a bit) I would use Linux.

Again, this is only a suggestion, and if you screw up your disks by doing this, I'm not responsible - just so you know.

The linux fdisk utility is great IMHO and gives you the ability to assign any partition ID to a disk partition. Use the linux instalation disk to use fdisk and create your partitions ("type m for help") I know for Win2000 the partition ID is "c" for Win95=>32bit formatting. You'll have to change this by "toggling the partition ID" (I think "t" from the help menu) because by default in linux fdisk the partition ID is set to 82 (linux native).

I hope this helps and that someone might further add to this or to the root of your current problems.


-gkd
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gkdmaths is offline Offline
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Jan 3rd, 2004
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Re: formatting problems

Are you trying to format from within window !! if yes use a win boot disk to do it .
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q255867
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caperjack is offline Offline
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Jan 3rd, 2004
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Re: formatting problems

Quote originally posted by gkdmaths ...
Hmmm... take this suggestion only as a suggestion. I'm sure that someone else will be able to respond in more detail.
Quote originally posted by dozer ...
quit any disk utilities and make sure that no windows is displaying the contents of this drive. then try again." Please! help me! I cant find any way to stop running these programs.
Yeah *kicks self*

now that I re-read the post it makes more sense. It sounds like you're trying to reinstall windows from windows. You might not want to use linux fdisk to repartition your hard drive if this is the case, unless you want a completely new installation of win, which it sounds like you want.

I guess you'd need to make more clear exactly what it is you're trying to accomplish. You said that you want to "straight out format the disk", but it sounds like you're doing that while windows is running.

I'm not an XP user, but I dont think that this is possible in XP, it's not in any other version of win that I've used. Caperjack is right, you have to format your drive from a startup disk, which can either be a win bootdisk - or, like I like to use, a linux disk. you can partition with linux, but you'll probably want to format that partition at the time of installation with the XP disk.

While youre at it though, you might want to make a linux partition and install it also?

just make sure you back up everything you dont want to lose.
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gkdmaths is offline Offline
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Re: formatting problems

Here's how I do it - there are more and probably better ways but this works for me:


Download a 98 startup boot disk from www.bootdisk.com
(yes 98, not xp) and save it to a floppy

Boot to the floppy (change your bios screen boot order to floppy first if necessary)

On the menu, enable cd support.
Once you get the a drive, type c:

Then type format c:
Dos will walk you through a clean reformat....

Once reformatted, insert your XP cd.
Change to your cd drive's directory
Type cd I386
Then type WNNT.exe

Your clean xp installation should begin. Ive tried to be as thourough as possible

peace
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Tatootie is offline Offline
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Jan 27th, 2004
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Re: formatting problems

I had this problem for a long time before I realized it was easy to solve from a command screen. Enter the DOS command format [drive letter]: /x The /x will cause the operating system to delete all "handles" to the disk, and you will be able to format it. (I have no idea what handles are, but this works.)



Quote originally posted by dozer ...
I have been trying to reformat my drive on my computer, not a "windows XP reinstallation" but just straight out format the disk. after it gives me the warning of erasing everything on the disk, a window pops up after I click format saying, "windows cannot format this drive. quit any disk utilities and make sure that no windows is displaying the contents of this drive. then try again." Please! help me! I cant find any way to stop running these programs. I have uninstalled everything that I can including disk utilities and what not. I tried doing the "reccomended reinstall of XP" but it deleted nothing. Please help!
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Bruce is offline Offline
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Jan 27th, 2004
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Re: formatting problems

Quote originally posted by gkdmaths ...
Hmmm... take this suggestion only as a suggestion. I'm sure that someone else will be able to respond in more detail.

I have no idea why you're running into this problem, but whenever I've needed to reformat (I used to do it quite a bit) I would use Linux.

Again, this is only a suggestion, and if you screw up your disks by doing this, I'm not responsible - just so you know.

The linux fdisk utility is great IMHO and gives you the ability to assign any partition ID to a disk partition. Use the linux instalation disk to use fdisk and create your partitions ("type m for help") I know for Win2000 the partition ID is "c" for Win95=>32bit formatting. You'll have to change this by "toggling the partition ID" (I think "t" from the help menu) because by default in linux fdisk the partition ID is set to 82 (linux native).

I hope this helps and that someone might further add to this or to the root of your current problems.


-gkd
82 is swap, 83 is native.

You can't format the boot drive in Windows, no matter how hard you try. So, the process is to boot from the cd. You may have to change your BIOS settings to allow this, but that's painless.

Otherwise, you follow the screens after it boots up.
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feigned is offline Offline
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Feb 2nd, 2004
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Re: formatting problems

I am getting ready to reformat my hard drive, with windows XP. Can anyone let me know what to expect.....such as partioning, which I do not understand. Should I partition or not? And do I need to change something in the Bios? I really don't want to end up in worse shape than I am in now. Thank you sooo much. I am desperate, but nervous about this whole thing.
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TramLawLa is offline Offline
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Feb 2nd, 2004
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Re: formatting problems

No, you only need to partition if you plan on installing multiple operating systems on one computer. All you need to do is stick in your Windows XP cd, boot that baby up, then go to "Install Windows" then select the drive and press F to format. This will whipe out your entire hardrive and install windows in a few easy steps. Good luck man.
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Monte is offline Offline
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Feb 2nd, 2004
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Re: formatting problems

actually you can partition it ,i do 75% for windows and programs i install and 25% for keeping backup of thing i don't want to loose if i have to reinstall windows. Also where i download image files to for burning
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caperjack is offline Offline
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This thread is more than three months old

No one has posted to this discussion for at least three months. Please let old threads die and do not reply to them unless you feel you have something new and valuable to contribute that absolutely must be added to make the discussion complete. Otherwise, please start a new thread in this forum instead.
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