Cant Format E Drive Old copy of windows seems stuck on it

I have got to leave for the day in a few minutes.
You will need to run Startup Repair on the SSD (as the only connected drive) to get that to start normally. You should remove the Active flags on the other drives before that:
Partition - Mark as Inactive

I hope that rvcjew can guide you through the rest of the cleanup so you don't have to wait till I get back.

More info:
Startup Repair
Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

Pitbull69 said:

Thanks, I tried to get the computer to boot startup repair, from the windows 7 disk I have, I tried to boot and then used F8 for more options, but couldnt find start up repair. Thanks very much for your help, been most helpful.

you need to have it load the disk then click repair my computer and its will bring up this window and you want to pick startup repair and like TVeblen said you will probably have to do it three times. Or you can try to use easy bcd instead. First thing lets move your page file to the ssd so its not an issue. go to how you got to the time delay options for the os time frame at boot and instead of clicking settings for startup and recovery choose settings for performance and virtual memory then go to the advanced tab and click on change and then click on C and choose system manged and then click set then reboot (but wait about 5 minutes as it will move the page file first).


EDIT: do you have a means to report back to this thread when your doing the next step(bcd repair) so if something goes wrong you can still ask us questions?

Pitbull69 said:

do I load the disk while PC is actually on ? rather than boot from CD ? as when I booted from CD I didnt get any repair options..

I have done the above moving the page file, how can I check to make sure its done what its supposed to ?

If you go to the area again it will show it is set at c and if system manged will be same size as your RAM amount. As for the repair disk it does not show up as follows? Make sure ONLY the install dvd and ssd are attached to the system.

Taken from: A guide to recovering from Windows 7 Home Premium User Account lost - Microsoft Community

Insert the Windows installation disk, restart the system. As soon as the PC maker’s logo appears, set the system to boot from the DVD / USB drive as appropriate by pressing repeatedly on the Boot options key or the BIOS key identified onscreen at this point [or identified in the PC manual].

7.2 After several minutes [that can include periods with a blank screen & no apparent activity], wait during the “Starting Windows” screen then, at the first Install Windows dialog, select the language the time-currency format & the keyboard. Then click Next.


7.3 At the next Install Windows dialog, select Repair your computer, wait while it searches for windows installations.


7.4 At the first System Recovery Options dialog, accept Windows 7 as the OS to repair & note the location of the Windows installation [for example, C: on the drive named OS], click Next.


7.5 At the System Recovery Options menu select Command prompt.

Pitbull69 said:

thats what it looks likes now, wont let me set system managed size, says drives to small or lack of space,

will try the recovery in a minute, once I know above is ok

If it's 800 your fine as it can dump bsod info with that much and I only made mine 800 like you saw because of that or I would not even have one. above 8GB of ram it seems pointless unless you have certain virtual ram issues. So try your startup repair next and the guide that TVeblen posted is very good for that.

OH and set none for the F drive.

correct the ssd.