I am unable to format my C:/

J

Jitsu

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2004
Messages
280
When going through the windows CD it says "Cannot format disk, it contains critical system data" or something along those lines.

I installed windows on another HDD so I could view my C:/ using the diskmgmt.msc program but I was still unable to format. The format option was grayed out.

The C:/ Drive is a 36gb Raptor (Not in RAID). When I installed windows the first time the disk contained nothing, I suppose thats why I didnt run into this problem.

Now after installing windows on the disk it wont let me format it.

Help please.
 
boot up from the Windows xp cd and delete that partition and install a fresh xp that should work
 
rcf1987 said:
boot up from the Windows xp cd and delete that partition and install a fresh xp that should work
Click to expand...

It would not let me delete the partition. Thats my entire problem.
 
or what about just right clicking on the hdd (in my computer) and hitting reformat
 
rcf1987 said:
or what about just right clicking on the hdd (in my computer) and hitting reformat
Click to expand...

It says "Windows was unable to complete the format"

EDIT: Take note that I'm currently running the computer off of the freshly installed version of windows xp on a separate HDD.

Something is not letting me format the fucking disk. Could it be the SATA drivers that I needed to install off of the disk so windows could pick up the hdd?
 
I just attempted to Re-Install windows on my sisters laptop and the same fucking problem happened.

Therefore, it's not a corrupt disk or the SATA drivers. I suppose it's something that I'm doing wrong.

What could it be?
 
The message that I'm getting when attempting to delete the current NTFS partition on teh HDD that currently contains the copy of windows I would like to overright is:

"Setup is unable to perform the requested operation on the selectd partition. This partition contains temporary setup files that are required to complete the installation."
 
Calavaro said:
A sure way is to take your old bootable win9x CD and go from there.
Click to expand...

Install a lesser version of windows?

I'm so fucking pissed and tired right now. The mother yelling at me for fucking up the computers dosent help much either.
 
Jitsu said:
Install a lesser version of windows?

I'm so fucking pissed and tired right now. The mother yelling at me for fucking up the computers dosent help much either.
Click to expand...
No, not installing a lesser version of windows. Just boot up with the win9x CD and use the supplied fdisk command. Make sure you back up everything important first (to another physical HDD, or CD/DVD media), as the fdisk will successfully erase ALL data on the HDD.
Then you install WinXP as normal.
 
the win98 boot disk is also available in floppy format. if you've got a floppy drive i'd be willing to send you the files on the floppy disk.
 
The other thing to do is to unplug that drive when install Windozes on another drive.
That stops any boot files being placed on it.
Reattach the drive you want to format.
Check the boot order is still correct so you boot off the new copy.
You should then be able to format that drive.
Then put the newly formated drive first in the boot order or better yet unplug all your other hard drive.
Reinstall Windozes.

Luck.......... :D
u=Tigerbiten.gif
 
When you say you attempt to do this on your sisters laptop and you get the same problem. One thing comes to mind that happend to me is that the WINDOWS XP CD was scratched to heck and could not read certian files, and this may be what is happing is that it cant read the file to give the command to format.

I have had a similar problem with one of my Windows XP disc,

Just and Idea check your disc out and see if there are any scratches on the disk.
 
Hey there,

I was having a similar problem tonight - trying to do a fresh install of XP to wipe all drives clean. I set the Boot Sequence in BIOS to boot from CD-ROM, even after finally getting it to be able to boot from the CD, it would still not let me delete the hard drive I wanted to stating the now familiar error message ("cannot delete due to temporary installation files required on this drive...")

I popped the CD out and noticed that I was using a Windows XP Pro CD that I had copied and burned from another CD and thus it wasn't a Certified Windows CD. In retrospect, the problem was probably that I hadn't copied the .iso image from the other CD other something.

In short, your problem may be that you need to boot using the actual Windows XP Pro CD and not some copy you burned. I found my old real XP Pro CD, popped it in the drive and restarted and it booted from CD right away and allowed me to delete all partitions without a hitch.

Just an idea, borrow a friend's XP CD if you don't have a real one of your own, that is assuming you are trying to boot from a burned CD.
 
Jitsu said:
The message that I'm getting when attempting to delete the current NTFS partition on teh HDD that currently contains the copy of windows I would like to overright is:

"Setup is unable to perform the requested operation on the selectd partition. This partition contains temporary setup files that are required to complete the installation."
Click to expand...

The problem is with how you are launching the XP setup. If insert the XP cd while windows is running it will perform the initial copy of setup files to the local hard drive right then and there and reboot. Once it reboots is launches the Windows setup using both the CD and those copied files. This makes for a quicker setup start but also makes it so you can't reformat the drive. What you need to do is actually boot the computer off the XP cd without running the initial windows setup portion. This will force it to read those files off the CD instead and allow you to repartition the disk.
 
put it in another pc as secondary? i find that to work some times
 
rcf1987 said:
or what about just right clicking on the hdd (in my computer) and hitting reformat
Click to expand...

Are you serious? How are you going to format the drive when your running Windows off the same drive? Do you change your car's oil while your driving down the highway?

Get a bootable floppy disk and put gdisk.exe on it. I'm sure if you look online you can find it. Boot off of the floppy and use gdisk's options to delete the partitions. If gdisk can't do it...then your drive is bad.
 
when you buy a new HD you need to Fdisk the harddrive, which gives the hard drive a beginning ending and a letter.

formating the harddrive prepares the HD to be written on.

to get a Fdisk go to www.Fdisk.com
 
Or just launch setup the way I mentioned earlier and avoid all of these partitioning/formating utilities.
 
aug1516 said:
Or just launch setup the way I mentioned earlier and avoid all of these partitioning/formating utilities.
Click to expand...

Second that. The partition utility that comes on the XP cd is enough for the job.
 
djnes said:
Are you serious? How are you going to format the drive when your running Windows off the same drive? Do you change your car's oil while your driving down the highway?

Get a bootable floppy disk and put gdisk.exe on it. I'm sure if you look online you can find it. Boot off of the floppy and use gdisk's options to delete the partitions. If gdisk can't do it...then your drive is bad.
Click to expand...

:LOL:
 
I still think he's trying to format this WHILE running in Windows. All signs point to that fact.

BOOT OFF THE CD, THEN PARTITION AND FORMAT IT :D
 
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