I have a problem with my 40 GB hard drive. It used to be my system drive and its split in 2 x 20 GB. Now i took everything away from that part that i want to have to the new HD and i want to make it empty. But there is a few files that i can not delete. They say they can not be found. But even if i delete them that can not be 6 GB so i guess that is hidden files. I used PM 8.0 but it says it can not do the format beucase i have Virus program and i turned that off same problem. But now my computer did not start upp at all i had to take out all the HD Cabels and put them back. What can i do to easy erase the 6 GB of files ? Without doing some risky restart? I have XP
Scan your hard drive, it could be software related bad sectors. If it is, then low level format is the only solution in DOS prompt using fdisk. Also, you may want to try out the DOS version of PM, which would not be blocked by your Antivirus.
Also if you use Norton they have that 'protected recycle bin' thing that you have to delete from there too.. That is how I once thought I lost a couple gigs...
Yes, you can. Your all data would be lost while using fdisk, so take backups before hand. Delete all the partition (both of them), then follow the following steps: 1. Select 1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive 2. Select 1. Create Primary DOS Partition 3. Select N to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS Partition and to make the partition active. 4. Enter the partition size for Primary DOS Partition. The full size of the drive will be shown. 5. Press Enter and the Primary DOS Partition will be created 6. Press Esc 7. There will be a warning that no partitions are set active. You need to do this in order to boot from the primary partition 8. Select 2. Set active partition 9. Enter 1 for the partition you want to make active 10. Press Esc to continue 11. Format both the newly created partitions after rebooting the partitions. Read all the info here: http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/fdisk.htm
I think your forgett one thing Print this first .... Many thanks just one more questions i need to do this even if my HD is not the system disk anymore? Even if i have 2 other drives in the same computer?
No just if something has been deleted you can empty the recycle bin but it will still be in nortons protected files... It clears its cache after it's been there for 7 days, but if you click on the recycle bin you should also be able to open "norton's unerase" if you have it... You will need to delete the file from there if you want your space back... Back when I used to download anime (and later delete it) this feature always used to screw with me b/c I'd delete like 5 gigs worth of stuff but my harddrive wouldn't gain any space... Needless to say it was a hassle.
Bad times, then i'd try running a system checkdisk (that blue screen that sometimes pops up when windows starts) a defragment, maybe check for some software to fix the problem... Then if worse comes to worse back up your data and reformat, starting fresh sometimes gets rid of needless junk and speeds up your cpu anyways.