how to format NTFS ? and clean boot ?

[samundra]

:) hello friends,
I am a newcomer and newbie. ;) I found a typical kind of problem in my
computer (home). I think I am in the right place for the answer.

I have got two partitions. One (c:) which is the primary that has got
the system files. and the another (d:) which I hope is the logical drive
It has got boot files.

Whenever I try to format throgh the utilities(DiskManagement) provided by XP (on my d:) . It says that boot drive or system disk cannot be formated.
whenever I try to perform clean boot then I am unable to get access to
the c: or d: and unable to fdisk or format them. My files system is NTFS.
How do I get through give me idea. :confused:

[ak223350]

What's the problem? Is your system not working properly?

Why do you want to reformat your drives?

You won't be able to format from within WinXP, any drive with system or boot files on it.

If you want to do a reformat and re-install, you'll need a bootable WinXP CD, and set up your PC's BIOS to boot from CD.

That'll take you to screens where you can reformat.

You can't use fdisk with NTFS eg from floppy.

If this is making no sense, post further request for help!

[jlreich]

Welcome to the http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif forums to you both.
samundra, ak223350 is right. Windows will not alow you to format a drive that is in use. Meaning you cannot delete or format a system drive while you are in windows. If it is a drive that has only data such as pictures or text files, then yes, but not a system drive. Windows will not delete itself when it is being used.

If you are trying to reformat and then do a clean install, then as ak223350 said, use a windows CD. It will allow you to delete, create, and format any partitions that you want during setup.

What kind of system do you have? If it is a HP or Compaq, the D drive is usually the recovery partition. You would probably want to leave that alone in the case you just want to restore your system to it's original factory settings.

If you give us more detailed information on what you are wanting to do, and your system specs, we will be better able to offer help.

[samundra]

Thanks let me try with these alternatives .
I also tried with the BIOS setting for Bootable CD. It took me direct to the installation process. Will I be able to reformat both of the drives at once from there with bootable XP CD or not.
let's see if it works. I forgot to mention that both c: and d: contains XP os.

Thanks ak223350 .

[ak223350]

Hallo Samundra

Yes, you'll be able to format both drives from there (though, as jlreich asks, are you sure you want to?!).

The two 'drives' you have may in fact be one physical drive, with two partitions on it (sections of the drive that Windows treats as if they were separate physical drives).

If so, you can, if you wish, merge them back into one 'drive' (and having done so, 'split' them up into several partitions again!).

Once you repartition or reformat, there's no going back!

[samundra]

Thanks !!
it worked all fine. I was able to format my computer and repartitioned them. :p

[jlreich]

Good to hear it. Thanks for letting us know. :D :cool: