I can't reformat my d drive. I've tried a lot of suggested methods.PLEASE help

[myquelahira]

i deleted all my files in d drive yet space free is not equal to its total size. space free is lesser by about 10 gig. i tried reformatting it both by simply right clicking the drive and by disk management. I also tried reformatting it in safe mode. all methods failed.
"Windows can not format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or other programs that are using this drive and make sure that no window is displaying the contents of this drive. Then try formatting again."
by the way my OS is vista home basic, in case it makes a difference.
any help would be appreciated.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

I take it you d drive is a slave hdd?

This is just a suggestion that may or may not help. Obviously, something is accessing/monitoring the drive.

I`m wondering if your d drive is being monitored by system restore and that`s why you can`t format it.

Right click my computer and select properties, then the system restore tab. Turn off system restore on your d drive only. Click apply/ok. See if that helps.

Alternatively, you could probably erase the drive using one of these hard drive diagnostic tools. Then, once back in Windows, reformat it.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[myquelahira]

uhm thanks (both for the welcome note and for trying to help).
geez i completely forgot that 3 gig of my d drive is set as a pagefile. now that's something accessing the drive.
thanks.really. now i'm comfortable to post. after all this is my first time to join a computer forum.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

No worries mate.

Let us know how you get on.

Regards Howard

 

[AlbertLionheart]

if you are not sure about the files on the drive, set the folder options to show hidden files and then have a shufti at it - should show more....

 

[myquelahira]

so i turned off system restore and used z-zip portable to view and delete hidden files then successfully reformatted after. thanksthanksthanks!!!

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Thanks for letting us know.

Regards Howard