Can't format hard drive. Tried diskpart/disk management.

[xChase]

Hi guys, I recently bought an SSD and decided to install it on my machine, I've set it as the #1 boot option, and then I tried to format my previous hard drive so I can use it for data. Whenever I right click and do it in explorer, it says "Windows was unable to complete the format". If I do it via command prompt it makes the drive disappear from explorer til I restart again.
Not sure what to do at this point.

 

[VistaKing]

xChase

When your saying command prompt are you using Diskpart ?

Can you upload the disk management image please

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[Britton30]

Try Disk Management, right click the disk in the lower part and Delete Partition.

 

[xChase]

And these are my only options when I right click:

 

[Britton30]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/197157-partition-mark-inactive.html
You may need to mark it as inactive first

 

[VistaKing]

That is why you can't delete it .

It has the mark of Active . What is inside the D partition ?

:Added:

When you installed Windows to the SSD did you have the other drive installed ( plugged in ) ?

:ADDED:

Change the boot propriety inside the bios to Disk 1 ( SSD ) and do a startup repair

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

Might want to run it 3-times

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html

 

[xChase]

That is why you can't delete it .

It has the mark of Active . What is inside the D partition ?

:Added:

When you installed Windows to the SSD did you have the other drive installed ( plugged in ) ?

:ADDED:

Change the boot propriety inside the bios to Disk 1 ( SSD ) and do a startup repair

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

Might want to run it 3-times

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html

The D partition was my old HDD that I used to run windows on.
Yes I had the HDD installed when I installed the SSD.
I've changed the priority.
And I'll do those steps now.

 

[TVeblen]

Just be sure to disconnect the old hard drive before running Startup Repair.

 

[patio]

Just be sure to disconnect the old hard drive before running Startup Repair.

Nice catch ! !

 

[xChase]

That fixed it, thanks. I also had to mark my SSD as active for some reason (after I had installed and ran windows on it with the other HDD in)

 

[TVeblen]

What usually happens in a case where someone installs Windows on a PC that has another hard drive connected, and particularly when that other hard drive already has an Windows OS on it, is that the new installation will recognize that there is already an Active partition and it will use that instead of creating another one on the new hard drive. The reason for this is to preserve dual booting. So it is not a bug.

We have even seen cases here where the Active partition was installed on an extra blank hard drive.
That is why it is always recommended to disconnect all extra hard drives when clean installing an OS.

Don't forget to mark the old OS partition as Inactive:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/197157-partition-mark-inactive.html

 

[SPEC13]

Good

That was helpful info. I formatted my drive 3 times and every time... "Windows can preform this action". After I accessed it from manage menu I deleted it and located again. It's working properly.