'Windows could not format a partition' - please help!

I corrupted my main partition so I'm reinstalling Windows 7 from an ISO burned to a flash drive in Rufus. I clicked 'Custom' then the main partition, and saw 'Windows could not format a partition on disk 0. The error occurred while preparing a partition selected for installation. Error code: 0x80070057'

Deleting and recreating the partition, and deleting it without recreating, gave the same error. Running these commands remained at '0 percent':
diskpart
select disk 0
select partition 2
format fs=ntfs

How can I fix this without erasing the recovery partition?

Please edit your profile with ALL your hardware specs. It will help us to help you
How to See Your System Specs


The drive seems to be corrupted. Deleting all partitions will re initiate the drive.
Why do you want to avoid to delete the Recovery partition? Is it the Windows recovery or the laptop recovery partition?

Megahertz07 said:

Please edit your profile with ALL your hardware specs. It will help us to help you
How to See Your System Specs


The drive seems to be corrupted. Deleting all partitions will re initiate the drive.
Why do you want to avoid to delete the Recovery partition? Is it the Windows recovery or the laptop recovery partition?

I added hardware specs. I don't want to delete the Toshiba recovery partition - I hope to install a retail copy of Windows, enter recovery and restore the Toshiba copy.

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SIW2 said:

diskgenius boot media

julienester said:

EaseUS Partition Master

I tried SeaTools to check the disk and Acronis Disk Director to partition it. Will these still help?

SIW2 said:

The OP doesnt want to delete the recovery partition.

Is the recovery image windows vista or win7?

I already suggested diskgenius boot media to see if the partition table can be fixed, or the offending partition can be deleted. The OP hasn't followed that advice yet.

The recovery image is Win7. I'll try DiskGenius later.

Normally, from BIOS, you can create a USB rescue drive using the Recovery partition. Once you have the USB rescue drive you can clean and re initiate the drive. Then use the USB rescue drive to reinstall Windows.

With only 3G of memory a Win 7 32 bits will work better than a 64 bits.
Why don't you install a SSD. It will boot in seconds rather than in minutes and opens programs at a blink of an eye.
Sata SSDs

samuria said:

Is this the same disk in your other post that cant create a boot record?

Yes - I've taken it for repair.