I want to format a system disk

[Odd Job]

I want to format a disk on my PC but it is a system disk. Can I change attributes on this disk to allow me to format it. It has an old installation of windows 7 which is no longer used and I want to use it for storage and backups, and get rid of the win 7 installation on it.

Can I change my current C: drive with my current version of Win 7 to a system disk, to enable me to format the old windows 7 disk (D.

Thanks for your help.

 

[mjf]

What appears to be happening is boot files are being used on disk0 (old D)
to boot C:
I would unplug sata connector to old D (disk 0) and plug it into c:. Leave old D disconnected for the moment.
Run
Startup Repair
up to 3 times
to C: boots in its own right on the disk 0 port.
Replace old D to the sata port C: was connected to and see if you can format old D now. It may require the disk to be cleaned. But try to get c: booting on its own first.
Strongly recommend you have an image of C: & F: (disk 2) first for security.

 

[Odd Job]

I've just thought of a possible cheat.

What if I booted from my windows 7 cd. Go for an install on drive D: (the one I want to format), and when I get to the section where you choose which disk to install on (and allows you to format said disk before installation), cancel the install after the format.

Would that work ?

 

[fseal]

If that did work you may end up not being able to boot off of C at all then if what MJF says is true. I'd follow his advice first.,

But secondly, I bet of you tried you'd find that the "FDISK" options during install are not usable in that scenario. I've run into that myself

 

[severedsolo]

I've just thought of a possible cheat.

What if I booted from my windows 7 cd. Go for an install on drive D: (the one I want to format), and when I get to the section where you choose which disk to install on (and allows you to format said disk before installation), cancel the install after the format.

Would that work ?

Well yes it would probably, but you would still have the issue that the poster above you pointed out.

The reason Windows won't let you format it at the moment is because "Windows Old" contains your BCD (Windows Bootloader). because you (for whatever reason) didn't allow Windows to create the 100MB System Reserved partition, your new install of Windows has just tacked itself onto the existing BCD on D:\

Basically, if you did what you just said, then your system won't boot. Which means you will have to follow the poster above you's advice and run Startup Repair 3 times anyway. You may as well just unplug C, run startup repair until the system boots, and then format it afterwards. At least that way you wont accidentally break your system and leave it unbootable.

 

[whs]

I would use the bootable CD of Partition Wizard for the operation. Then you need not jump thru the 10 hops when you are using the system. It makes you independent of the system. And you can recreate the MBR too with it.

 

[Odd Job]

Or how about this ?

 

[mjf]

I would have to say that one sata lead swap and startup repair 3 times sounds about as easy as you can get it. C: is already marked active.
It couldn't be easier. I must be missing something.

 

[gregrocker]

Either mjf or whs solutions will work:

Swap DISK0 cable to Disk2. Leave DISK0 unplugged, boot the Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the System boot files to C. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html

When you plug back in D, wipe it with Diskpart then repartition in Disk mgmt. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html

Or you can use free Partition Wizard bootable CD so you have a picture of what you're doing. Swap Disk0 and disk2 cables, or set Disk2 as first HD to boot in BIOS setup. Rightclick D to Wipe the disk, Apply steps then run Win7 DVD Startup Repair x3. Win7 should start on its own.

 

[mjf]

Odd Job,
If you followed my steps in post 2 you would have the job finished in under 30 minutes.

The repair function in windows 7 takes care of all the rebuilding steps. You basically have to "press go" 3 times. I actually think Partition Wizard may confuse you more for what should be a very simple task.

The only step of the process I would recommend Partition Wizard for (for this task) is to safely clean up your old drive D:. Diskpart is fine to clean but you need to make sure you have selected the correct disk before applying clean. Also "Clean all" will take quite some time and gives no feedback. Partition wizard will give you more visual feedback for the Clean component.

 

[Odd Job]

OK guys thanks for the solutions. I guess I was apprehensive about swapping disk cables about as I have 3 identical disks and am not too sure which is which on the MBoard. And the reason I suggested Easy BCD was because I thought it might repair disk C in one step instead of 3.

I'll attempt your solution mjf. Thanks.

 

[gregrocker]

Of the hundreds of times we have helped here with this very same operation - both using Diskpart and PW CD - there are times when OP doesn't feel comfortable changing the cables or cannot for another reason (e.g. laptop).

In this case, use free PW CD to wipe the old Win7 partition first so that there is no System drive to interfere when you mark the new Win7 partition Active (as it already is here) then run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots.

The reason to favor swapping cables in this case is because your old Win7 System partition HD is in DISK0 slot, which would be better suited for the new OS System HD. The reason for this is because if a data partition on DISK0 later becomes marked Active, it can derail the repair of Win7 which looks for the first Active partition to write the System MBR to. So it's best overall to have your current Win7 System HD in DISK0 slot.

 

[mjf]

The reason to favor swapping cables in this case is because your old Win7 System partition HD is in DISK0 slot, which would be better suited for the new OS System HD. The reason for this is because if a data partition on DISK0 later becomes marked Active, it can derail the repair of Win7 which looks for the first Active partition to write the System MBR to. So it's best overall to have your current Win7 System HD in DISK0 slot.

The principle here is certainly one of the reasons I suggested swapping cables. However, the MBR resides at the front of the HDD (First 512 bytes) and other critical boot information resides on the active partition. Also clearly this wasn't a laptop and swapping sata cables is not an onerous task on a desktop. Most people will need to do it at some stage.

As I stated earlier, the Partition Wizard could be useful for disk cleanup of the "old D:" disk. The documentation for Partition Wizard does not suggest it could replace all the roles, if any, of the Windows System Repair functions in this situation.

 

[gregrocker]

Marking a partition Inactive does not always work to redirect the boot files to new Active partition using Startup Repair x3. But it will work if you unplug the old System partition.

I am not sure about Partition Wizard MBR rebuild function working for a situation like this, Michael, since there is no System MBR on the target disk to be rebuilt. It is a fairly new feature which needs to be tested.

 

[Odd Job]

Well I managed to complete the task without disconnecting anything, and I learned a bit more along the way.

How I did it: I used EasyBCD (the program I referenced in an earlier post) and created a new MBR on the C: drive. I went into BIOS and changed the disk boot priority (after I sussed which disk had the right windows installation on as I have 3 identical disks, all with the same ID number), and rebooted. I booted straight into windows. When I checked in disk manager, C: was showing as the system disk and I was able to format the windows 7 old disk.

I tried the System repair option, well would have if it was an option. For some reason, every time I booted from the windows 7 disk it went straight into install and I never got the system repair option.

Also, after the repair, I had to re activate windows (twice, after reordering the boot drive sequence in BIOS). Is this normal ? was it due to changing the boot sequence ? or something else ?

 

[gregrocker]

Do you have a retail WIn7 installation DVD? The Repair console should be on the second screen.



A Repair CD should boot directly into WinRE: http://www.sevenforums.com/performance-maintenance/51100-repair-cd-system-repair-disk.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2083-system-repair-disc-create.html

If you left C as DISK2 make sure no partitions on DISK 0 or 1 are incorrectly marked Active or it will derail the System MBR to them during any future repairs.

Thanks for reporting back about EasyBCD 2.0. I believe it has the same Rebuild MBR feature as on new version PW CD.

 

[mjf]

I don't think it's desirable to have disk 2 as C: but if you're happy who cares.
The MBR fixes in EasyBCD & PW are by product capabilities which again is fine.
Your Install DVD should have done it but I suggest you go to "Backup & Restore" and make a System Repair DVD (or two). It would have done the same job automatically with "Repair" or manually with Bootrec under a command prompt.

Glad it worked out for you. Any more re-activations required though, would be a worry.

 

[Odd Job]

If you left C as DISK2 make sure no partitions on DISK 0 or 1 are incorrectly marked Active or it will derail the System MBR to them during any future repairs.

Thanks for reporting back about EasyBCD 2.0. I believe it has the same Rebuild MBR feature as on new version PW CD.

So how do I change disk attributes for D: and E: so that they are no longer marked active ?

 

[gregrocker]

To have a picture of what you're doing, use free Partition Wizard bootable CD to rightclick D&E>Modify>Set to Inactive. http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html

You can also use Diskpart from DVD/Repair CD command line or Win7 elevated Command Line (type CMD in start search box, rightclick result to Run as Admin): http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html
The command is: Inactive

 

[Odd Job]

Thank you. Disks all now sorted.