Formatting Hard Disk From Bios And Not Using Disk Utilities?
Feb 27, 2007
if someone could tell me how to format windows xp home edition from the bios and not using the xp disk. I have already tried right clicking on drive c and selecting format but the message says windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or other programs that are using this drive, and make sure that no window is displaying the contents of the drive. Then try formatting again.
So I closed all open programs that I could but still no luck. Then I tried the format from running the run command and typing format c:but I get this message format cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Format can run if this volume is dismounted first. All open handles to this volume would then be invalid. would you like to force a dismount on this volume? (y/n) so I type y for yes and hit enter then nothing
i just installed windows xp pro i had layin around just for the hell of it, and it turns out that it had SP0. my internet connection is extremely slow at the moment so it would be painful to download service pack 2. i have a winxp home cd that has SP2 included on that. is there anyway i can install it off that, with out formatting and using XP home?
I have been trying to format my hard drives. I tried using Device Manager, it let me format my E drive, but not the C drive, and then I tried by booting with the XP CD. Somehow I managed to install Windows on my E drive, and my C drive is still as it was. I have been following the instructions on how to format and install to the letter, but it's not happening for me. All of the screens match what the instructions say, but the result is nothing.I have searched this forum for HD/XP advice, and have done as suggested, no luck.How do I format my C drive, and start again?
Yeah I have reformatted my hard drives a few times over the years so I am no stranger to it however I am just curious about something. When I go to reformat with my DELL Windows XP Home Edition CD I will then revert back to SP1. I have SP3 installed onto my computer right now. I also have a SP2 CD I got from Microsoft about 3 years ago or so. Should I first install the SP2 cd or is there no need to do that seeing SP3 should have all of SP2 updates in it?
If I want to attach second hard disk with the same configuration of master hard disk, then system doesn't show second hard disk altogether or new hard disk begin to malfunction. Such as suddenly begin to give sounds like TICK, TICK TICK. Suddenly vanishes from the 'MY COMPUTER' drives. Suddenly denies to copy paste functions. BIOS shows both SATA drives. But Win XP doesn't load or simply hangs while starting up [booting up]. It happens when I attach second SATA drive with system. If only one SATA is attached, then WIN XP boots normally.
I have created a Bart PE bootable XP cd. I can boot into windows using this CD I would like to know how to copy the data in my hard disk to pen drive or flash drive.
It says that TOTAL SIZE = 39 GB And Free Space = 5 GB Which means that the size of all files on C is 34 GB But when I select all files including Hidden files and Right Click> Properties, its size of all files is only 27 GB.I did clear recycle bin and disk defragmenter C, but still the same. So why is that?
I upgraded my server, basically all I kept was the two hard drives from the old machine. The one hard drive is for the system files (~13GB) and the other is for storage, user files, etc (~160GB). I figured that then I reinstalled Windows 2000 Server on the System disk, I would just have to assign the other disk a drive letter and be on my way. Instead, in the disk management console, I get "Disk 1 [the 160GB) Dynamic Unreadable" I can revert to a basic disk, but it says I will lose all my information. It is imperative that the data on this disk be recovered.
recently bought SATA 3.0 hard disk(samsung)and i forgot if my motherboard support this hard disk,after checking it only supports 1.5 SATA.I visited samsung website on how to force my Hard disk to run at 1.5
Last week i installed windows XP Pro on my desktop. It has a 250GB hard drive which has 1 partition (C drive only), NTFS offcourse. I did not format it while installing windows as it has lots of stuff in it. There's over 50GB free and i�ve been removing a lot of stuff from the hard drive to make up some space but in windows i get an error message that i don't have enough disk space, the disk cleanup utility runs cant free up space and i can not install or copy anything in the hard drive. I've noticed that when i deleted some file holding (or not) the shift key the free size goes lower although the files are being deleted from the hard disk.
Hey, have built a new pc, but am using the same hd as my old one, when booting i get a "disk boot failure insert system disk and press enter" however when i press enter it boots up, not really a big problem just annoying and i wonderd if anyone could help get rid of it.
my dad's hard drive crashed and so he has just bought another, now he needs to reinstall Windows XP Home but unfortunately he doesnt have a disk as its an HP machine and a disc was never supplied, the operating system was already on the computer and the option of making a recovery disc was available but he never actually undertook that option So he needs to get Windown back on his computer, he has the serial sticker on the side of his machine, he rang up HP and they said the machine is not in warranty - they cant send him a replacement disc
I always have errors reported on my hard drive, even after chkdsk /f and /f/r."Freespace marked as allocated in the volume bitmap". Why does it never go away? Windows XP Pro with all of the updates. Machine runs fine.
I went to format my pc, using the recovery bootdisk i have.Im on XP.I put the disk in and typed in dos, format c:. everything seemed to be goin a ok and then it asked for teh volume label, i pressed enter then rebooted my pc with the disk in again. I then typed format c: again as i thought the origional format didnt happen. I then get a message saying that this disk is not able to format. the bootdisk also doesnt seem to load correctly now either.
I'm trying to boot to my trusty 98 bootup disk and it says it can't read the c:....my only guess is that it's an ntfs partition.how can I format this thing?
I was going to post this on the software forum, but since there seems to be no problem with the software (WinZip) I decided to place it in here.Everytime I attempt to open my 'Unzipped' folder in My Documents (the folder every file extracted from Zip files [using WinZip] goes to on my computer) it asks me to format my C: drive. I tried to format it, and I got this error: Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or any other programs that are using this drive, and make sure that no window is displaying the contents of this drive. Then try formatting again.I closed all my open windows and such and tried again. I still get the same error. I really don't want to format my disks to get into the Unzipped folder (which would be pointless anyway, since formatting erases all your files, and those are what I'm trying to get back) and nothing else seems to be working.
On mouseover Windows tells me the folder is empty, and when I view its properties it's 'read-only', no matter how many times I try and keep it from being so. I've tried deleting the folder (always getting the message that the directory is NOT empty), moving the folder into another folder, and uninstalling WinZip. NONE of this works, and I really want my files back. Is there any way you can help?
I have formated my drive and have an oem addition of xp home. After formating my drive, i started to list all the files and before installing i took out my disk and cleaned it. But in the process smashed it accidentally. I NEED XP FOR IPOD,OFFICE AND SCHOOL WORK. I have my xp codes on my computer still but need the disk.
There was a power outage at my house yesterday while I was away. When I came home my computer screen was black and displayed the message: boot disk error, insert system disk and press enter.
I tried rebooting but the message persisted (after going through the initial information about IDE stuff). I went into the bios to see if my hard drive was dead, but the bios still recognized it and my secondary hard drive. I also tried to boot from a Window XP cd and repair Windows on my master drive, but the error message came up regardless of the cd drive I used I have a CD drive and a CDRW/DVD drive. In both instances where I had the CD in one of the two CD drives, the CD was spinning and presumably being read) but I could never get the computer to boot off of it. (Note: I tried both CD drives, because my bios is set to boot off CD first, although I don't know which CD drive it actually looks at first
I am trying reflash my bios and do not have a floppy drive available easily. I believe my mother board supports flashing with in windows but incase it fails is it possible to put the bios on a cd r instead of a floppy disk and flash it from there?if so how do I make a boot cd to allow such?
I have a 60GB Seagate HDD running Windows XP, which when connected as the Master Drive will no longer boot Windows. Instead I get an error screen reading "Disk Boot Failure - Insert System Disk and Press Enter."The drive is recognised by the BIOS approximately 1/4 of the time I have it plugged in. I have attempted to run the drive as a slave to my current HD on the same motherboard which I am running at the moment to no avail. I have tried using the program "GetDataBack for NTFS" which failed to recognise the drive.
I need to flash the BIOS on my motherboard. First, however, I need to create a BOOTABLE floppy on which to save the original motherboard BIOS and the flash memory writer before flashing the motherboard to the new BIOS. That way, if the new BIOS doesn't work, I can Flash the old BIOS onto my mb,. A WinXP Pro SP2 Command Prompt will not permit me to execute Format AS. So, how can I create a bootable floppy disk under WinXP Pro SP2?
When I try to boot the computer I get the message: Disk Boot Failure, Insert System Disk. I have used the manufacturers (Maxtor) Diagnostic software to check the hard drive. Everything checks out except for the BIOS Extension Support Failed. I have taken the ribbon cables and power cables off the hard drive and reseated them. No difference. I can see everything when I use Bart's PE. I have all the files backed up.
I don't get it. the more i go on, the more and more disk space seems to vanish into thin air. xp usually takes a couple of gigs up on the hard disk, right? maybe 5 gigs at the very most. i've got 8 gigs taken up by videos in one folder. the programs i've got installed are negligable. the program files folder is 500mb. and yet my disk only has 20 gigs spare on a 40 gig hard disk. i've looked in every folder on the hard disk and i simply can't find any folders with anything of any great size in it. i've defragged the hard drive.
I am cloning my existing hard drive in my laptop (sata) to an external hard drive (pata) in preparation for installing a new larger hard drive (sata)in the laptop. Can I, or how do I transfer the cloned data from the external (pata) to the new internal hard drive (sata)? Thanks in advance and I apoligize if this is a rudimentary question as this is my first time attempting something like this.
I can not access hard disk properties because Windows Explorer hangs whenever I Right click on a hard drive icon. I am running WXP pro SP2 completely up to date with updates.
I am facing two problems with my lap top hp campac presario 2100. 1.The loptops battery to be changed. I dont know how many batteries are there. Any cmos battery there like any other pc. Pl advice. What would be the cost. and the model number . The hard disk requires replacement. I want to know the model numberor exact type of hard disk would be fit in. and the cost thereof.3. Windows xp home edition has been preloaded in the laptop. How to take a copy of the os and copy in the new hard disk. I have the serial number etc for the OS.
I want to buy a USB hard drive to back up my entire C: drive in case of a total failure.I Have Acer E Recovery on my laptop but it will only backup to D:I checked the Microsoft offering ntbackup.exe but it wants a floppy drive, and there isn't one on my laptop.Can someone please suggest a basic/simple solution.BTW I am running XP Media edition but will upgrade to Vista soon.
Is it possible to install a 2nd Hard Disk, install XP on that, and then have the 1st Hard Disk boot menu offer the choice of booting its copy of XP, OR the copy on the 2nd Hard Disk?I imagine editing of boot.ini by hand would be necessary.Basically, I want a second Hard Disk for the KID'S setup, but don't want to use the BIOS to switch between the two, just use the boot menu.
