unable to format a drive

[shyam_etrx]

my 80 GB hardisk is partitioned as follows into four:
C,D,E,F,G..
Cis the primary partition however my operating system is in the drive E.
i want to format drive C but when i go to my computer, right click on the C drive and select format.. it says either some disk utility is profram is running or some application is running.. now I have no programs or files open or running on the computer which are frm Cdrive..
infact Cdrive just has stored data like music and a few word documents, which are not in use at all.
I also tried formatting thru the command prompt but it gave an error Volume in use n i ll have to dismount it.. i selected yes then it said unable to dismount hence cannot be formatted..
Again since C is the promary partion, this partion cant even be deleted..
is there a way to solve this problem.. without using the operating system cd.. atleast can someone tell me what this means coz i have no idea.. thanks in advance

[Duki]

just curious, how did you manage to install windows on the D drive? this could be a total noob question on my behalf

[cguan_77]

hi, you can't delete or either format your active partition that windows is running, if you really want to get rid of your hdd, plug it as a slave on another computer..then do as you desire...

[fzafarani]

Well, Windows is using some drives while running, you should format your partition from other os such as MS-DOS, Linux or ....
use bootable disk, that supports NTFS/FAT32 format types. then type format c: \q(for quick format)

[gerbil]

Hello, shyam... a bit of confusion in my mind?.... this is how I see things: the way you have partitioned your disk and your saying C: is the primary partition suggests you have one primary and one extended partition [the latter with logical drives].. Only a primary partition may be marked Active, so C: is thus your boot partition with Ntldr, Ntdetect.com and boot.ini; your OS is resident in E: - boot.ini points to E:
There is no way Windows will let you format the boot partition C: because it would lose its boot files.
Now I may be wrong.. please confirm from Computer management /Disk management which partition is marked active....
If I am correct about your disk structure and you use a third party format tool your sys will be unbootable unless you run Windows Setup > Repair...

[shyam_etrx]

thank you all for the quick response.. i will check n try all the sugestions

[shyam_etrx]

well gerbil i really do not know much about operating system troubleshooting.. and i have never formatted C drive. which is my promary partition. the firsta time i had setup the computer.. i had used win 98.. made the partions and then loaded xp on E..and then recently when i couldnt format C i manually deleted all the windows files frm C.. but i think i can format drive C using a cd.. but could u please explain how it works.. as u were talking about the Ntldr, Ntdetect.com and boot.ini.. what r these n how do they get loaded n where.. coz i had setup up xp on E using a cd.. and there r no windows files in the C drive

[shyam_etrx]

sorry for not replying immediately.. btw i installed in E drive.. however..
the first time i had setup the comp.. i partitioned the hard disk.using win 98. then i used the xp cd n it asked which partition to load the os n i selected E..

[caperjack]

sorry for not replying immediately.. btw i installed in E drive.. however.. the first time i had setup the comp.. i partitioned the hard disk.using win 98. then i used the xp cd n it asked which partition to load the os n i selected E..

you should have selected the first partition being C:\ to save you the problems you are having now,if i were you i would backup data and format the whole dang thing and reload winxp on the C:\ partition

[Suspishio]

All far too confusing for me too follow!

Won't PartitionMagic sort this out? Merge all the drives into one? Or is there some restriction in the constellation you've got?

[Duki]

All far too confusing for me too follow!

Won't PartitionMagic sort this out? Merge all the drives into one? Or is there some restriction in the constellation you've got?

Here is my suggestion; it may be a little more work, but you'll appreciate it in the long run:

First, purchase/borow an external hard drive and backup all the data you want to keep.
Then just reformat your entire computer. If you need help with any of this let us know which parts and we'll give you step by step instructions.

[bobbyraw]

here is the easiest way to get this done. use windows fdisk. set the present hard disk with windows installed to be the active. then you can format /delete partition c:
please note: drive C:/ is seen by the system as an active drive and just by the mere fact that it's c: the system will not format it. especially from within windows.
try fdisk it should work.

[shyam_etrx]

ya i know,, i had thought of the same but couldnt find anything for storage,, i dnt have it neither do my friends.. anywayz,, thanks

[shyam_etrx]

duki
thanks .. i had thought of the same but none of my friends have an extra disk nor do they have enough space vin their s..
wel it isnt really bothering me but i wanted to know y its not happening.. n moreover i ve tried the fdisk command as i had written earlier .. it said volume in use n something which meant it wil have to dismount. n even though i selected yes for dismounting.. it said unable to dismount.. i want to know what this means.. wat does it mean by volume in use n wat is it trying to dismount.. please let me know if someone is aware of it..

[gerbil]

Well, yes.. that is what I tried to tell you, shyam... from what you have said C: is your Active partition, and contains your boot files... Lessee.. when you ran setup it would have gone to C: if that is your only Primary partition [it HAS to...], then written boot sector file and copied in Ntldr, Ntdetect.com, and after asking you about where to install XP [E:..] would have written the bootloader file boot.ini in C:.
If you format C: [somehow] your sys will not run.
Go explorer, folder options, view, uncheck Hide protected opsys files. Then check C:\ for those files above... if they are there then do not try to format C:.
If you go CP > computer mgmnt > disk mgmnt you will be able to see which partition is Active: that will be your boot partition [or system volume...] - say which it is..

[fxj10cn]

Do not format c under other system, you will lost important file which will cause your windows can not boot up.
You can delete all file in disk c:, and windows will prompt alarm message to tell you which file can not be deleted. Those file are system file require by windows booting up.

[likes]

my 80 GB hardisk is partitioned as follows into four: C,D,E,F,G.. Cis the primary partition however my operating system is in the drive E. i want to format drive C but when i go to my computer, right click on the C drive and select format.. it says either some disk utility is profram is running or some application is running.. now I have no programs or files open or running on the computer which are frm Cdrive.. infact Cdrive just has stored data like music and a few word documents, which are not in use at all. I also tried formatting thru the command prompt but it gave an error Volume in use n i ll have to dismount it.. i selected yes then it said unable to dismount hence cannot be formatted.. Again since C is the promary partion, this partion cant even be deleted.. is there a way to solve this problem.. without using the operating system cd.. atleast can someone tell me what this means coz i have no idea.. thanks in advance

You can't format c because it is the only active partition,It is the boot partition so please connect this HDD as a slave in some other systems and try.

[shyam_etrx]

alrite..
:-).. now i got the true picture.. thanks a lot all of u for helping me with this..