Can't format hard drive

[Don]

When I start to format my slave hard drive, which
previoulsly had programs and data on it,I get the message:
"Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk
utilities or other programs that are using this drive,
and make sure that no window is displaying the contents
of the drive. Then try formatting again." I manually
deleted all files except, "search[1]." which is located
at, "Documents and Settings/Don/Local/Settings/Temporary
Internet Files/Content.IE5" in each of 3 folders
named, "4LYV09YJ,K757YARP and WZBBAWTL. When I try to
delete these files I get, "Cannot delete file: Cannot
read from the source file or disk."
I also tried booting in Safe Mode and formatting the
drive and got the same results. Thanks for any help.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

How to use Disk Management to configure basic disks in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309000&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| When I start to format my slave hard drive, which
| previoulsly had programs and data on it,I get the message:
| "Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk
| utilities or other programs that are using this drive,
| and make sure that no window is displaying the contents
| of the drive. Then try formatting again." I manually
| deleted all files except, "search[1]." which is located
| at, "Documents and Settings/Don/Local/Settings/Temporary
| Internet Files/Content.IE5" in each of 3 folders
| named, "4LYV09YJ,K757YARP and WZBBAWTL. When I try to
| delete these files I get, "Cannot delete file: Cannot
| read from the source file or disk."
| I also tried booting in Safe Mode and formatting the
| drive and got the same results. Thanks for any help.

 

[Don]

Thanks for your prompt reply,Carey.
I went to the site you named and then opened the Computer
Management/Disk Management window and right clicked on E-
the partition on my Drive 2 that I want to reformat.
The Format option is greyed out.
Please note that I successfully reformatted partion F on
this drive previously. The Format option even for Drive 1
is also greyed out. Does the fact that the file, "search
[1]." doesn't have an extension be the cause of my
problem and if so, how do I change it?
Thanks again for your input.

 

[Thomas Wendell]

What's on this disk? If

"Documents and Settings/Don/Local/Settings/Temporary
| Internet Files/Content.IE5" in each of 3 folders
| named, "4LYV09YJ,K757YARP and WZBBAWTL

exist there, it sounds like it's the system disk, i.e. the one with Windows
installed on it. In that case, you can't format it from Windows

(As you can have Win installed on any disk/partition, not necessarily C

--
Tumppi
Reply to group
=================================================
Most learned here on nntp://news.mircosoft.com
Helsinki, Finland (remove _NOSPAM)
(translations from FI/SE not always accurate)
=================================================

Thanks for your prompt reply,Carey.
I went to the site you named and then opened the Computer
Management/Disk Management window and right clicked on E-
the partition on my Drive 2 that I want to reformat.
The Format option is greyed out.
Please note that I successfully reformatted partion F on
this drive previously. The Format option even for Drive 1
is also greyed out. Does the fact that the file, "search
[1]." doesn't have an extension be the cause of my
problem and if so, how do I change it?
Thanks again for your input.

-----Original Message-----
How to use Disk Management to configure basic disks in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en- us;309000&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

--------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------


| When I start to format my slave hard drive, which
| previoulsly had programs and data on it,I get the message:
| "Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk
| utilities or other programs that are using this drive,
| and make sure that no window is displaying the contents
| of the drive. Then try formatting again." I manually
| deleted all files except, "search[1]." which is located
| at, "Documents and Settings/Don/Local/Settings/Temporary
| Internet Files/Content.IE5" in each of 3 folders
| named, "4LYV09YJ,K757YARP and WZBBAWTL. When I try to
| delete these files I get, "Cannot delete file: Cannot
| read from the source file or disk."
| I also tried booting in Safe Mode and formatting the
| drive and got the same results. Thanks for any help.
.

 

[Don]

Thanks for your reply, Thomas. I am using XP Pro on
primary Drive 1 to try to reformat E on secondary Drive
2. F on Drive 2 was successfully reformatted previously.
The immediate problem is that I can't delete the
file, "search[1]." that is on E. Or, perhaps there is
another way to reformat E without deleting the 3 files
named, "search[1].". Thanks again for any help from
anyone on this.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for everyone's input. I discovered using Disk
Management that the three files on partition E of the
secondary drive are page files. I moved them from E to C
on the primary drive using Disk Management and was then
able to format E.