Re: How to format secondary HDD?

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Hello "Solus" - I feel for you!

Please note that I am *not* one of the guru's who may advise you later,
just a user like you.

In past experimentation I've used FDISK (from a Windows 98 disk if you
have access) and also Darik's Boot and Nuke, details here:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darik%27s_Boot_and_Nuke

HTH
--

Dave


"Solus" <Solus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:18D17068-A1C4-42D0-AFF3-324BFA6A4E92@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,
I am running XP SP3.
I have TWO HHD's setup as follows:

Primary MASTER HDD <--- Used for XP
Primary SLAVE DVD ROM

Secondary MASTER DVD R/RW
Secondary SLAVE HDD <--- Used for data storage

The problem i am having is that I cannot format the Secondary slave
HDD. I
keep getting error pop up:
"Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or other
programs
that are using this drive, and make sure that no windows are
displaying the
contents of the drive. Then try formatting again"

I have also tried pressing F8 during boot up and starting in safe mode
with
command prompt but still no go.

Is it possible to boot into "Real" DOS mode to run the format command?
What else can i do to format his HDD?

FYI: this secondary drive did have XP installed on it before i moved
it to
the "slave" position and i have deleted 99.9% of the files thaat were
on it
with the exception of several files that i cannot delete for some
reason.

thanks in advance for your help.


.

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