How to format hard drive/disk?

[Guest]

My computer has a 80GB hard drive. Although 70GB of that is full of rubbish.
I was told that I should format my hard drive and this will erase all my
data and give me my 80GB back.... but! when I go to do this it won't let me
do it and it says.... "Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk
utilities or other programs that are using this drive and make sure no window
is displaying the contents of the drive. Then try formatting again." I have
closed all window etc and tried this but it still says the above.... what can
I do??? HELP!!!

 

[Raoul]

This may be more than you want, but check this out.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348/en-us




My computer has a 80GB hard drive. Although 70GB of that is full of
rubbish.
I was told that I should format my hard drive and this will erase all my
data and give me my 80GB back.... but! when I go to do this it won't let me
do it and it says.... "Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk
utilities or other programs that are using this drive and make sure no
window
is displaying the contents of the drive. Then try formatting again." I
have
closed all window etc and tried this but it still says the above.... what
can
I do??? HELP!!!

 

[Sean Aindow]

you cannot format the drive from within windows if windowsxp is installed on
it, formatting the drive will mean you will loose all data including your
windows xp installation, so make sure if you do this you have the cds to
load windows back on again.

the best way to format is to use a boot disk and boot from this then type
format C:

any more questions just ask

cheers

sean

 

[DL]

thats certainly not the best way;
you simply use the winxp cd, it has all the tools to
partition/format/install etc

 

[Sean Aindow]

it is the simplest way to erase the disk and start with a clean blank hard
drive

sean

 

[Sean Aindow]

agreed you could also use the xp cd-rom but i prefer using boot disk, cheers

sean

 

[Bruce Chambers]

My computer has a 80GB hard drive. Although 70GB of that is full of rubbish.
I was told that I should format my hard drive and this will erase all my
data and give me my 80GB back.... but! when I go to do this it won't let me
do it and it says.... "Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk
utilities or other programs that are using this drive and make sure no window
is displaying the contents of the drive. Then try formatting again." I have
closed all window etc and tried this but it still says the above.... what can
I do??? HELP!!!

It sounds like you're trying to format the drive containing the
system volume from within WinXP. You can't. This would be the computer
equivalent of sawing off the tree limb you're sitting on, and WinXP is
"too smart" to allow this.

Simply boot from the WinXP installation CD. You'll be offered the
opportunity to delete, create, and format partitions as part of the
installation process. (You may need to re-arrange the order of boot
devices in the PC's BIOS to boot from the CD.)


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Bruce Chambers]

agreed you could also use the xp cd-rom but i prefer using boot disk,

The boot diskette is a thing of the past, as all legitimate WinXP
installation CDs are already bootable. And particularly since very few
computers come with floppy drives, anymore.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[DL]

That doesnt neccessarily give you a clean hd

it is the simplest way to erase the disk and start with a clean blank hard
drive

sean