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

[Pitbull69]

Looks like I have no system restore at all,

Tried to do what you mentioned and got an error,

 

[AddRAM]

Not sure where you`re at with this, but all other hard drives should be disconnected, then C should be marked active and the system files should be written to it.

ONCE THAT IS DONE, and windows boots on it`s own, THEN you can mark the other drive/partition inactive and format it.

As long as a drive or partition is marked active, you can`t format it with windows.

Do you own a windows 7 install DVD ?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html

Running startup does not always succeed in writing the system files to the windows partion, if this doesn`t work and all other options fail, your last resort is to reinstall windows with ALL OTHER hard drives disconnected.

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


But, in your case if all you want to do is format Disk 1, then.......

Disconnect Disk 1, does windows boot ?

If so just reconnect it, then install and use Partition Wizard to format Disk 1 completely to unallocated space, then create a new partition or 2 out of it

Best Professional Partition Manager | MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro

 

[Pitbull69]

Not sure where you`re at with this, but all other hard drives should be disconnected, then C should be marked active and the system files should be written to it.

ONCE THAT IS DONE, and windows boots on it`s own, THEN you can mark the other drive/partition inactive and format it.

As long as a drive or partition is marked active, you can`t format it with windows.

Do you own a windows 7 install DVD ?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html

Running startup does not always succeed in writing the system files to the windows partion, if this doesn`t work and all other options fail, your last resort is to reinstall windows with ALL OTHER hard drives disconnected.

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


But, in your case if all you want to do is format Disk 1, then.......

Disconnect Disk 1, does windows boot ?

If so just reconnect it, then install and use Partition Wizard to format Disk 1 completely to unallocated space, then create a new partition or 2 out of it

Best Professional Partition Manager | MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro

Thanks very much for your help, but this was covered last night and now PC boots on its own and drive formatted as it should be, also learnt about saving C Drive space, etc, but my only problem I have now is System restore has an error,

I have followed various guides to try and get it back but same error just comes back

I have enabled the services for system restore, still same error, I have then run sfc /scannow and it says I have no issues, so really not sure what to try now,

 

[AddRAM]

Could you post the latest shot of disk management

System Restore may not work because you have the page file on another drive.

Put the page file back on C and try get system restore to function again.

 

[Pitbull69]

looks like page file is on the C Drive,

 

[TVeblen]

Looks like I have no system restore at all,

Tried to do what you mentioned and got an error,

That is strange. I haven't seen that before.

What happens is you disconnect all other drives except Disk 3?

 

[DavidE]

Do you use Tune Up utilities or any programs such as this ?
A search for 0x81000203 system restore found this lengthy MS thread (and more).
System Restore Error Code: 0x81000203 - Microsoft Community

 

[Pitbull69]

Looks like I have no system restore at all,

Tried to do what you mentioned and got an error,

That is strange. I haven't seen that before.

What happens is you disconnect all other drives except Disk 3?

Same thing even with no other drives plugged in,

Do you use Tune Up utilities or any programs such as this ?
A search for 0x81000203 system restore found this lengthy MS thread (and more).
System Restore Error Code: 0x81000203 - Microsoft Community

I did use tuneup utilities about a month ago, but got sick of it blocking programs I was using so I removed it, I had also found that same thing regarding Tuneup but I thought because I had uninstalled it, it shouldnt be causing an issue, unless its left the issue behind,

 

[DavidE]

Those kind of programs can make system changes that can never be "undone" without doing a restore or reinstall.
There is no way of knowing everything they changed as far as i know.
Do you have a system backup image, or restore point from before using tuneup utilities ?

 

[Pitbull69]

unfortunalty I dont, it was something I kept meaning to do, but never got round to doing,

would reinstalling the program allow me to turn off whatever it has done, or would I just be making matters worse ?

 

[DavidE]

I doubt reinstalling would help undoing changes.

 

[TVeblen]

Tune up software is notoriously evil. I might try uninstalling it completely (including cleaning up all remnants) and see if that does anything.

 

[Pitbull69]

Looks like I am going to have to format, I have signed into adminstrator mode, but it wont let me remove any of the tuneup files I find when I search for them, says I need adminstrator permission, Also every time I rebootr my machine it resets my windows update saying its set to not download anything, get a similar issue with it resetting my monitor settings, so I everytime I turn the machine on I have to change settings, this wasnt happening until I did everything the other day, So I am under the impression my computer was more messed up than I 1st thought,

 

[TVeblen]

You could try uninstalling in Safe Mode. But I think a Clean Installation may be in store. Those programs make a lot of changes in Windows.

 

[Pitbull69]

Lesson learnt (hard way for sure) I have just messaged a guy about a motherboard, as although my motherboard supports my CPU its at its limit and has no fast USB etc, so hopefully if I get the newer motherboard I will need to do a fresh install anyway,

But this time there will be no tunue up programs being installed thats for sure..

 

[TVeblen]

Do it like this:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
and you will never regret you did!

Windows runs quickly when not mucked up. Keep it clean, and if you need any tune-up, clean-up done come here to SevenForums. Lots of knowledgeable folks who will keep you running fast!

 

[Pitbull69]

Thanks, That is basically how I do it, so not sure why I have had this issue, but I will be unplugging all my HD's accept my SSD when I do a fresh install, hopefully that should minimise any issues like I had previously.

Thanks again.

P.S. Does anyone know how reliable firefox sync is ? one of my main concerns is loosing bookmarks pages passwords etc, last time I formatted firefox wouldnt let me reload bookmarks, hoping now I have signed up to firefox and synched it when I format if I log into firefox it should reload it how I left it before format, buta friend said it doesnt work like that,

 

[ignatzatsonic]

P.S. Does anyone know how reliable firefox sync is ? one of my main concerns is loosing bookmarks pages passwords etc, last time I formatted firefox wouldnt let me reload bookmarks, hoping now I have signed up to firefox and synched it when I format if I log into firefox it should reload it how I left it before format, buta friend said it doesnt work like that,

I don't know exactly what you mean by "Firefox sync", but I would certainly back up my ENTIRE Firefox installation. You should be able to fish the bookmarks out of it if push comes to shove.

Firefox normally lives at C:\users\your_user_name\appdata\roaming. You have to turn on the viewing of hidden files to find it.

You should see a "Mozilla" folder at that location. Copy the entire folder to a safe location before you reinstall.

You can of course separately make a manual backup of bookmarks through Firefox itself.

 

[Pitbull69]

Thanks will that have all my tabs aswell and passwords, just because of certain sites requireing passwrods with capitals numbers etc, I cant remember all my passwords, I have made a manual back up of bookmarks before, but for some reason firefox wouldnt let me use it..

Firefox sync is in the menu settings, it asked me to sign up withg email and password, says that these are synched: Tabs, Bookmarks, Passwords, History, Add-ons, Preferences

so hopefully my mates wrong and that works, will save me a hole lot of time, and issues.