Can't Format Hard Drive

[TonyMan]

I have a secondary disk drive and thinking it is has problem because it shows half used, but no files on it. When I try to format from XP it says another program or process has control of it. How do I get around that?

Thanks

[Aviator_14]

Try reformatting it in safe mode or in the command prompt.

[BipolarBill]

System Restore is running on it. Disable System Restore on that drive in System settings first.

[TonyMan]

Well that didn't do it. I tried disabling Restore on that drive & then on both, and still get the same results.

Now to show my brainlessness, command line brings back memories of DOS! So, If I am on the C drive I would go Format D: and then some parameter, right? I know, but it just seems like ancient history :confused:

[BipolarBill]

It's format D: /fs:ntfs.

Did you stall any prorams to the D drive? If so, you need to uninstall them or stop them from running.

[TonyMan]

THat may be part of the issue. There are no programs installed, it shows nothing on the disk, yet it shows half full. I am going to search the net for tips on using the command line to format.

[BipolarBill]

Actually, all you need to know is in my previous post. That is *the* command for formatting.

I suspect that a trojan may be responsible, but try deleting the partition in Disk Management first instead of formatting.

[TonyMan]

I tried from disk management and the delete partition line is greyed out.

[BipolarBill]

I guess you'll have to Zap it. Create a DOS startup disk by right-clicking your floppy drive and selectig Format > Create an MS-DOS Startup disk. After creating it, use this:

http://home.houston.rr.com/mildbills/Pub/zap.exe

Download that and double-click it. Copy ZAP.COM tto the floppy you created and boot up with it. At the prompt, type ZAP 1 (your first hard drive is 0).

If no joy, you should use the drive maker's diagnostic to check the drive.

[TonyMan]

Thanks again Bill, I will check this out. It may take a couple of days as work is getting inthe way again!

[Midknyte]

I would start by running seatools. no sense in fussing around with the drive if it's bad.