Solved Not able to format a drive in windows 7

[Kumaranil1918]

I have been facing a problem in my laptop since 3 days.I'm unable to format a disk drive with no contents. I'm uploading some screenshots pls help me with dis problem.. I hav uploaded d problem screenshots.Pls help me i dont know which program or disk utilities is using the drive. Pls help me. I hav also uploaded diskmgmt scrrenshot..

 

[Corazon]

Hello and welcome to SevenForums!

I see you got a good handle on uploading screenshots Could you go to Disk Management please and maximize the window, then attach a screenshot of it here? That way we can see the disk layout and partitions on your system, and get a clue on what they're being used for.

The easiest way to get there is through the Start Menu, use either the search box or the 'Run' menu option (if you have it) and type in diskmgmt.msc to open Disk Management directly.

 

[theog]

Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

 

[Kaktussoft]

Why do you want to format an empty partition?
Most likely it's the pagefile which is in use on S-drive! Disable pagefile on drive S and reboot. Now you can format drive S

Change the size of virtual memory

 

[Corazon]

Aren't we jumping to conclusions here? It would actually be unusual for a pagefile to live on S: unless it was manually set up that way. Let's wait for the Disk Management screenshot first.

I should ask, btw: Is this an external HD, or a partition on the laptop's internal drive?

 

[1Bowtie]

If you just want to format that partition, first just right click and delete the volumn, then you can format it. It will become unallocated space, then create a new volumn or extend C:/ while it's unallocated and then you double the size of C. Also not a good idea to use A:/ as a drive letter as it's reserved for Floppy drive.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Why do you want to format an empty partition?
Most likely it's the pagefile which is in use on S-drive! Disable pagefile on drive S and reboot. Now you can format drive S

Change the size of virtual memory

Next time don't edit your post but start a new one and post diskmanagement screenshot in it. Then all posters to thread get an email about new post.

But anyway .. disable pagefile on S drive

 

[Kumaranil1918]

Tank U all 4 ur help but still some 200-300mb is being occupied by some unknown program or disk utility. Wen i format it after removing virtual mem it is showing 24.4gb free of 24.4gb & wen i go inside d drive n come out same pblm lik 200-300mb is occupied i.e.,224.2gb free of 24.4gb.Pls help me!.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Do you see any folders or files? If not display system and hidden files as well! http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/394-hidden-files-folders-show-hide.html
put settings back later.

what do you see now?

 

[Kumaranil1918]

I don c any hidden folder bcoz i hav kept option as "show hidden files & folders".Wen i try c wat r der in d drive usin cmd prompt it shows Recycle bin & Sys vol info folders but dey dont occupy 200-300mb of space..

 

[Kumaranil1918]

dey occupy only 4.00kb.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Did you empty recycle bin?
Sys vol info is definitely the folder with all those megabytes. How do you know what's in it?
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/10173-c-system-volume-information.html
in elevated command prompt
vssadmin list shadowstorage

how much space?

 

[Corazon]

The size of the formatted volume, even when completely empty, will never match the size of the partition containing it. There's always some overhead associated with the NTFS filesystem and its internal structures, mostly the MFT.

200MB does sound like a bit more than I'd expect for a 24GB volume, though. Was this volume formatted with a very small cluster size?

 

[Kumaranil1918]

Both recycle bin & sys vol info hav occupied only 4.00kb.I hav uploaded vssadmin list shadowstorage screenshot for u.. Pls check n tel..

 

[Kaktussoft]

Snapshots are very small on C and A.... you can't create many restore points!! I advice you to make them larger

No snapshots on S so that's not the reason of 200MB wasted space. It's just NTFS overhead

 

[Kumaranil1918]

So wat shall i do now jus leave it or wat???

 

[Kumaranil1918]

Tank u all for ur help & support in solving my problems.I reinstalled my windows 7 PE 32-bit on 14.04.12.