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Need advice on formatting a 2nd HDD
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stangit
Newbie
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1. August 2010 @ 11:40 |
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A while back, my computer crashed and I lost everything. This was after I downloaded an anti virus program, then did a system restore. I now have 2 HDDs and back everything up, along with a decent antivirus Avast, CC cleaner, and Super antispyware. My problem is that I saved, and am using the original HDD as a 2nd drive (E). It is a 40GB OE Western Digital out of my old Gateway. I am able to save lots of things there as I have deleted ALOT of the original files, this is time consuming and I want to re-format this drive as some files I can't delete. It gives me the " cant access, make sure file is not in use" message. So When I try to format the drive I get a message saying " cant format this drive, make sure no programs are using this drive" It seems that this HDD is being used or recognized as a part of the OP system. How can I format this drive. I already saved everything on it to an external 500 GB HDD. Any help would be appreciated.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1. August 2010 @ 11:40
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rulisky
Senior Member
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1. August 2010 @ 15:49 |
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If you really don't need the stuff on the second hard drive, try using a program called "Unlocker" to get rid of the unwanted files. Version 1.9.0 is available through a search right here on AfterDawn.
Also, a program called "Malwarebytes" has a file assassin tool under its More Tools tab. Version 1.44 is also available through a search on AfterDawn.
Both are freeware, safe and easy to use. Nevertheless, heed the usual advice - proceed with care.
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stangit
Newbie
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2. August 2010 @ 08:44 |
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Originally posted by rulisky:
If you really don't need the stuff on the second hard drive, try using a program called "Unlocker" to get rid of the unwanted files. Version 1.9.0 is available through a search right here on AfterDawn.
Also, a program called "Malwarebytes" has a file assassin tool under its More Tools tab. Version 1.44 is also available through a search on AfterDawn.
Both are freeware, safe and easy to use. Nevertheless, heed the usual advice - proceed with care.
Thanks, I will look into those as there are 1 or 2 files on the drive that are non deletable "access denied" maybe those programs will help. I really wanted to wipe the disk clean and make it reusable. I'm getting a cyclic redundancy error when I do a virus scan, and that I'm told is because of a bad sector on the disk. I tried using the windows repair utility to no avail. I was looking yesterday at Wipedrive http://www.whitecanyon.com/reformat-hard...CFQseDQodeitnuA
But not sure. I've tried stopping all programs that might be using the drive, like system restore, antivirus, etc. and it still won't let me format.
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rulisky
Senior Member
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2. August 2010 @ 09:39 |
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Let me know how it goes. Have never used Wipedrive before (had not heard of it).
Another idea to try. When I purchased a second hard drive for my system, the software that actually came with it would not allow me to format the new drive. It said I needed to have a Seagate hard drive installed on my computer. DUH! The new drive and the existing drive were both Seagates. I used Norton Partition Magic to easily format the new drive.
Granted, the new drive was fresh with nothing on it, but it might help. Perhaps making a new partition on your second hard drive and then removing the old partition might "trick" it into doing what you want. But I don't think this program is free.
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stangit
Newbie
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3. August 2010 @ 11:10 |
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Originally posted by rulisky:
... Perhaps making a new partition on your second hard drive and then removing the old partition might "trick" it into doing what you want. But I don't think this program is free.
Windows wont let me do anything, except rename the drive. I don't get it, the 2nd HDD is set as slave. I tried Unlocker on the couple of stubborn files, and it didn't get rid of them. Got a Bing tool bar out of it tho.
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rulisky
Senior Member
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3. August 2010 @ 11:29 |
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Sorry it didn't work out for you. Thought it should. Out of good ideas right now. Maybe someone else might have another take on it.
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tnt1125
Junior Member
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3. August 2010 @ 22:20 |
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have you tried to format in safe mode?
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ddp
Moderator
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3. August 2010 @ 23:12 |
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have you tried disk management in control panel under administrative tools?
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stangit
Newbie
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4. August 2010 @ 11:18 |
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Originally posted by ddp:
have you tried disk management in control panel under administrative tools?
No. Haven't tried in safe mode. And yes , I tried in ad. tools and right clicked the drive, the options to format, delete partition, or mark partition as active are greyed out!?
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kgusek
Inactive
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7. August 2010 @ 15:48 |
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dont know if this will help at all, but i used the acronis true image 30 day trial to format my 250gb drive from ntfs to fat32 (for my ps3 to recognize it)
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ntense69
Member
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26. August 2010 @ 22:56 |
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Originally posted by stangit:
Originally posted by ddp:
have you tried disk management in control panel under administrative tools?
No. Haven't tried in safe mode. And yes , I tried in ad. tools and right clicked the drive, the options to format, delete partition, or mark partition as active are greyed out!?
so drive utilities dont work well find the model number and serial number if you can and download the seagate drive utilities for it and try it that way...also what are the folders in the drive you are trying to format it may be some temporary windows update folders
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stangit
Newbie
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29. August 2010 @ 14:03 |
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Originally posted by ntense69:
Originally posted by stangit:
Originally posted by ddp:
have you tried disk management in control panel under administrative tools?
No. Haven't tried in safe mode. And yes , I tried in ad. tools and right clicked the drive, the options to format, delete partition, or mark partition as active are greyed out!?
so drive utilities dont work well find the model number and serial number if you can and download the seagate drive utilities for it and try it that way...also what are the folders in the drive you are trying to format it may be some temporary windows update folders
I went ahead and purchased an external HDD and transferred all the files from the HDD in question, that is except the ones that are causing the problem. I still can't format this thing because of the file/s. The file is "winnt". Inside that is "system 32". Inside that is "igfxres.dll" When I get to that one, it takes a long time to open it. Then it asks me to choose a program to open it. A couple of times I get a message that an application is running script, I of course stop it and leave it be. One thing to mention is that this hard drive was infected and caused my system to crash and I lost my windows data, and personal stuff years ago, so I'm thinking this could be the infected/corrupted file? I dont know? It's frustraing tho.
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ddp
Moderator
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29. August 2010 @ 14:55 |
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did you try safemode to delete those files?
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scorpNZ
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. August 2010 @ 15:01 |
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download gparted it's free burn the iso to cd leave it in drive & reboot so long as boot is set to dvd drive before hdd you will then be able to format drive
this also may work once you have set program to reformat drive it will require reboot & will format drive on restart
http://download.cnet.com/Partition-Wizar...il_b_dwnld-bttn
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ntense69
Member
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31. August 2010 @ 23:54 |
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Originally posted by stangit:
Originally posted by ntense69:
Originally posted by stangit:
Originally posted by ddp:
have you tried disk management in control panel under administrative tools?
No. Haven't tried in safe mode. And yes , I tried in ad. tools and right clicked the drive, the options to format, delete partition, or mark partition as active are greyed out!?
so drive utilities dont work well find the model number and serial number if you can and download the seagate drive utilities for it and try it that way...also what are the folders in the drive you are trying to format it may be some temporary windows update folders
I went ahead and purchased an external HDD and transferred all the files from the HDD in question, that is except the ones that are causing the problem. I still can't format this thing because of the file/s. The file is "winnt". Inside that is "system 32". Inside that is "igfxres.dll" When I get to that one, it takes a long time to open it. Then it asks me to choose a program to open it. A couple of times I get a message that an application is running script, I of course stop it and leave it be. One thing to mention is that this hard drive was infected and caused my system to crash and I lost my windows data, and personal stuff years ago, so I'm thinking this could be the infected/corrupted file? I dont know? It's frustraing tho.
have your tried a program called unlocker it will let you delete the files and folders soons as it ends the process that is running it works for me all the time. look for it its a nice program
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