Unable to Format Original Hard Drive that Crashed

[heylexi1]

Hello!

I bought a new SSD (C after the original hard drive (D in my laptop crashed. My laptop has two bays, so I left (D in and installed Windows 7 on (C.

I removed the recovery partition that existed on (D and now I would like to format (D so that the space is available for file storage. When I try to do so, it says "Windows was unable to complete the format."

I have included a screen shot of Disk Management and the error message. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[karlsnooks]

Before I make a suggestion:

Is the 56GB disk the SSD?

 

[heylexi1]

Before I make a suggestion:

Is the 56GB disk the SSD?

Yes. (C is the SSD.

 

[karlsnooks]

Run cmd.exe as administrator.
carry out following commands:
diskpart
list disk
notice very carefully which one you think is the one you want to format.
select disk 1 (if that's the correct disk)
detail disk (this will help you make sure you got the correct disk)
list partition (to list the partitions on the disk)
select partition 1
detail partition (to make sure you got the correct partition)
inactive (marks the partition as inactive)
exit (to leave diskpart)
exit (to leave the command shell)

now you can format the disk

Go To an Elevated Command Prompt


Elevated command prompt = Run CMD.EXE as administrator

WIN | type CMD.EXE | do not hit Enter |
in the PROGRAMS list, right-click on CMD.EXE |
choose "Run as administrator" |
Click on the YES button (if such appears)

WIN key = key with Microsoft log on top

for the guru:
WIN | type CMD.EXE | CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER key combo | ALT+Y keycombo