c: not formatting

M

muniraj

n00b
Joined
Jul 21, 2006
Messages
57
Hi thr, Recently my machine got tooo... slow. may be some intrusion or something.
I tried to format my HDD and install a fresh copy of my XP. But during format it was not able to format my c: drive. As I have only single boot and important data on my machine, i cannot format the whole HDD.
Please suggest something to format the c: drive and save the data on other drives.
 
How are you attempting to format it? I highly recommend you use the built in formatter included with XP.
 
Are you getting an error and like bigdog said are you using the built in formatter that comes with XP setup?
 
You mean you can't format the system drive while you're booted up and currently using this system drive?

Yeah, use what ProfKaos64 said.
 
I'm just kinda curious why you wouldn't just use XP's built in partition and formatting tool ... since he's installing XP. We kinda got away from 'fdisk' process you know.
 
Yes I am doing the formating by the built in formatter of the XP(which come during fresh install of XP).
 
Does your initial post suggest that you need to save files existing on the hard drive now before you format it?
 
Its like in my HDD , I have only single boot XP. I have 4 partitions.
In my c: Xp is installed and rest partitions are having data. I only want to format my c:
leaving other three drives(having important data).

But the c: when formatting by the built in formatter of the XP(which come during fresh install of XP , blue screen).
is showing the message not able to format, some file cannot be deleted.
 
I have tried to format to other file system. but it is not showing in the menu list built in formatter of the XP(which come during fresh install of XP , blue screen).
 
I thought that Windows disk tools won't allow you to format just a partition, but only the whole disk. I don't have any partitioned drives or I would test myself.

The error about a file not being able to delete is because it's in active use by the system. You'll need to use a tool that works outside of Windows.
 
I've also seen this error from a burned copy of XP I made with nLite. I integrated a bunch of drivers and update packs, etc, and when I went to use the disc it kept giving error that it can not format. I thought the HDD was bad. I tried a basic XP disc and it formatted just fine.

Another option is to pull the hard drive, drop it in another Windows box and format it NTFS. Drop it back in and boot to the XP disc and when you choose the partition it will give you the option to bypass formatting, using the existing file system.
 
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