Can't formatt

[jakeameister]

Hello

I am trying to format an old drive to use as a slave but when I try to format it will not because something is apparently running.

[ktkendall]

How exactly are you trying to do this? Where is the drive installed and what software or program are you using to format with?

[jakeameister]

I am very new to working on computers, normally I would just pay someone to do it but I want to learn more about computers and try and do things myself.

The drive is C drive in a older computer

I was told you type format C: at the dos prompt, which I did and it asked if I wanted to delete everything and I said yes and then it said it couldn't because the system was being used.

Thank you and Happy Holidays

[JimmyDee]

What you were about to do is format the hard drive you are using in your PC. If you plug it in on a ribbon, it won't be C: drive. Careful guy.
Jim

[TwoRails]

Hi jakeameister,

Welcome to PC Mechanic !!

No, you don't want to "format c:" as that would most likely wipe out your current drive if it would let you. You want to format the drive letter that the old drive represents in the system it is in now.

More details would help in getting better answers: is this a home built or store bought computer? Make and model? What OS are you running?

TwoRails

[jakeameister]

This is the old computer I am trying to format the hard drive on. I was told that you have to format it before you put it in the new system.

I am using windows XP

Thank you in advance

[Dia]

If you want to use this drive in a new system as a slave just connect it into the new system, make sure you set it to slave by changing the jumper cap.

If the new system is running XP you can easily go into start>control panel>administrative tools>computer management>then select disk management

Look at which drive is the slave you just put in (wont be C it will be something else), right click and format and you can partition it there as well.

[Lespaul20]

If you have a newer system you want to put it in set the hard drive to Cable Select(CS). After that follow what Dia said.

[Dia]

If the pata cable you are using is a 40 pin cable you wont be able to use cable select use the slave setting. (unless you have a cable select cable laying around)

If the pata cable is an 80 pin you can use cable select if you like.

I personally stick to the master/slave jumper settings when working with pata.

Also after you setup your partition before going and using the old drive make sure to run a scandisk on the drive to mark any bad sectors before using. If you dont do this you may write data to bad sectors that will be hard to recover the information.

[glc]

If the pata cable is an 80 pin you can use cable select if you like. I personally stick to the master/slave jumper settings when working with pata.

Not a good idea. If you try to make the end drive a slave and the middle drive a master with jumpers, it won't work. Use cable select.

Install the old drive in your new computer first, boot it into Windows, then use Disk Management to reformat the old drive. It does not need to be reformatted before installing it.

[Dia]

Not a good idea. If you try to make the end drive a slave and the middle drive a master with jumpers, it won't work. Use cable select.

Lol who does that?

[glc]

I did exactly that 10 years ago when I used my first 80 wire cable. Drove me nuts for 3 days trying to get the drives seen correctly till I found out what cable select meant.

KISS principle. They make the cables that way for a reason.

[Dia]

Just becuase you botched something up 10 years ago doesnt make it bad advice.

Also lets recall some stuff about cable select:

both drives have to be set to CS
the cable must be cable of CS (80 pin cable, or a 40 pin cable select cable)
and positioning still makes a difference as to which is master and which is slave.


Or he can put the master on teh end of the cable, put the slave in the middle, its that easy.

[glc]

The connectors are identical, it's only the cables that are different. 80 wire cables have 2 wires per pin. There are SOME cable select 40 wires out there, notably older Dells and Compaqs.

You just made my point - if you try to make the middle drive on a 80 wire a master by jumpering it to master, it will not be seen correctly. If you put a WD or some IBM/Hitachi drives on a cable all by itself on a cable and try to jumper it master, it will not be seen correctly. On 80 wire cables, cable select ALWAYS works regardless of position or drive brand/type.

[Dia]

80s are cable of cs, most 40s are not unless they are made for cs.

cs will always work but if your concerned on which drive is master positioning makes the difference, just the same as master/slave.

You prefer cs i prefer the traditional way of doing it. Makes no difference, positioning is still key factor except CS is idiot proof. If that person doesnt understand positioning of drives hes still not gonna understand why this drive is his master and the other is slave. Hes still gonna have to resort back to the traditional concept except he wont have to move the jumper.

PS: when i said 80 pin i did make a mistake cause it was late at night, i was refering to the wires not the pin connector