corrupt drive won't format

[cash guard]

Hi there.

I have had my secondary harddrive go bad on me. all my files have gone currupt.
I have had this problem before when I was a windows 98 user, and I managed to fix the problem with an
FDISK, followed by FORMAT.

So here is my problem. I can't format my harddrive with Windows XP home edition, it tells me that files are being used on the drive,
(when I am in windows) when I start in safe mode command prompt it tells me the volume is to large for fat 32.
And I can't find FDISK anywhere.

Please, can you tell me how to format this harddrive so I may use it again as I use it to back up my master harddrive.

The drive is a Maxtor 6E040L0 40 gig

[SaN-DeeP]

So here is my problem. I can't format my harddrive with Windows XP home edition, it tells me that files are being used on the drive,

It seems to me like you are using that drive for storing you system Files or Program Files.
Can you tell us, how have you partitioned your drive space ? so that we can help you ?

[cash guard]

It was formated for fat 32 , just a single partition.

Does it need to be formated for NT?

[cash guard]

I've had a blonde moment. :cheesy: I've managed to get the drive to format. a lesson has been learnt and can be learnt by others who like me had a blonde moment. when you right click the drive to format it, as soon as the format window is up then close the my computer window and it will do it honey sweet.

Thank you for your reply SaN-DeeP

[Kinseeker69]

Hi there.

I have had my secondary harddrive go bad on me. all my files have gone currupt.
I have had this problem before when I was a windows 98 user, and I managed to fix the problem with an
FDISK, followed by FORMAT.

So here is my problem. I can't format my harddrive with Windows XP home edition, it tells me that files are being used on the drive,
(when I am in windows) when I start in safe mode command prompt it tells me the volume is to large for fat 32.
And I can't find FDISK anywhere.

Please, can you tell me how to format this harddrive so I may use it again as I use it to back up my master harddrive.

The drive is a Maxtor 6E040L0 40 gig

Try using MaxBlast you can download it from the Maxtor website and it takes about 30 seconds to partition and format the HDD

[grumpy_lawrence]

Wish I had answer for us both. Any help in here?
My main HD in desktop will not format. XP Home.

Hi there.

I have had my secondary harddrive go bad on me. all my files have gone currupt.
I have had this problem before when I was a windows 98 user, and I managed to fix the problem with an
FDISK, followed by FORMAT.

So here is my problem. I can't format my harddrive with Windows XP home edition, it tells me that files are being used on the drive,
(when I am in windows) when I start in safe mode command prompt it tells me the volume is to large for fat 32.
And I can't find FDISK anywhere.

Please, can you tell me how to format this harddrive so I may use it again as I use it to back up my master harddrive.

The drive is a Maxtor 6E040L0 40 gig

[Bob_180_Bob]

Hi grumpy_lawrence,
You have hijacked a thread, please open your own thread with details about your PC including you hard drive and someone here will try and assist you.
1. Do you have 1 or two hard drives?
2. Do you have more than one partition on your hard drive?
3. Why do you need to format? What is on your drive (OS)?