Access to format my HDD is blocked?

[Cycrow]

most of the windows cds will check for an existing OS when booted from the cd.

if one exists, it'll then display the message to boot from cd, otherwise it'll just boot directly into the installer.

however, some bios also have something simlar to boot from the cd, so in some cases, u have to do it twice.

i would try unpluging the hd and just seeing if the installer actually starts.

u could also try to disable the hd as a boot device in the bios, so it'll only try toboot from the cd

 

[wonko]

Did you manage to get this sorted out?

 

[Namsnik]

Much less expert than the other responders but what I would try that has not been mentioned is software downloaded from the hard drive manufacturer. Loaded on a bootable usb stick (if you can boot from USB) or CD. This should give you access to tools which, if all else fails, should enable you to low level format your drive.

 

[razor23uk]

Hi guys......had a shift change in work so unable to get at my sons pc until sunday (not sure how he survived so long without WOW!).
Anyways......
I was talking to a mate of mine and he said to try a cd he had. It was called "killdisc @ active" (or something like that....but defo killdisc). I booted from the cd which gave me a few options,but I opted to erase all data on the HDD.
This worked a treat and scrubbed it all clean.
I re-installed windows and all the drivers for graphics cards and m/board ect and all seems well.
HOWEVER........the disc capacity now says 127gb although its a 500gb hdd. I have put on SP2 as I have been lead to believe this would help fix the problem but to no avail.
Is there anything else I need to do??
The install I used was with XP home edition,but when we fitted the HDD about 14 months ago,we used a copy of XP profesional and it showed the full capacity straight away.
I am wondering if I done something wrong during partioning or something??
Once again,many thanks for all your help guys.

 

[wonko]

Pleased to hear you could boot off a cd ok - otherwise you'd have been rather stuck.
ISTR the 127GB issue was an XP limitation fixed as part of SP2. If you'd installed from an SP2 or later install disk then it would have used the full 500gb disk, but applying SP2 after the install won't suddenly make the extra space available.
You've got a few choices I think:
1. expand the 127GB partition to the full size of the disk. You'd have to use a 3rd party partition tool to do this. (E.g. BootIt NG has a free 30 day trial but there are others).
2. create and format another partition with the remaining space (via disk management) and live with your hard disk space being split over two drive letters. (You could use c: just for the OS and put all data on the other partition, which can be useful if you need to reinstall the OS again).
3. Reinstall xp again, either:
- by making a new xp install disk with the latest service pack slipstreamed
- by using a partitioning tool to create a partition out of the whole disk, then install xp onto the existing formatted partition.

 

[razor23uk]

Thanks wonko.....I will probably go down the 1st option route and use a 3rd party tool and try and partition to its full size.
is the bootit software downloadable onto a cd or is it done via thier site?? Is it a simple tool to use??

 

[wonko]

Never used that tool I'm afraid, but you probably download and burn onto a cd, then boot from it. The Ultimate Boot CD also has various freeware partition management tools which should do the job for FAT32 or NTFS (depending on which you've got), but might not be as friendly to use.
Should be reasonably straightforward - there should be a "resize" option that can extend the existing partition into unpartitioned space and preserve the data.

 

[razor23uk]

Cheers........I will take a look at both when I get home from work and let you know how I get on.