How do I de-activate a hard drive?

I

iamc3k

Member
Folks,

I've got two hard-drives installed in my Vista64/Ultimate rig. The boot disk is "C". EVERYTHING is on it. The other hard-disk is "D"; it is purely a backup disk.

"D" was filled up with old backups. I deleted them all by selecting and deleting the folders.

Next, I tried running backup and restore. It goes into a "searching for backup location" infinite loop. It doesn't recognize that "D" is there. (Hey, it used to see and use "D" just fine.)

I went into Disk Manager and noticed that "C" is "active" and "system". That seems good.

"D" was "active" as well.

My understanding is that "D" cannot be active if I am going to backup TO it.

I have no idea how "D" became an active drive.

If I make it inactive, will it then be a viable backup destination? If so, how do make the "D" drive not active?

Thanks,
Ken
 

My Computer

System One

Please open an Elevated Command Prompt, and run the following command

DISKPART

you'll get a new prompt - type
LIST VOLUME

EXIT


Copy and paste the output to your response.

Here are some instructions to make life easier :)
1) To open an Elevated Command Prompt Window (the CP window), click on Start, All Programs, Accessories – then right-click on Command Prompt, and select Run as Administrator. Accept the UAC prompt.
2) To run the commands easier, highlight the block of commands, and right-click on the highlight – select Copy. In the CP Windows, click on the black/white icon at top left – select Paste. The commands will run but may not complete the last command, so hit the Enter Key once.
3) To copy the results... click on the Black/White icon in the top left, and select Edit... 'Select All', and hit the Enter key - then use Ctrl+V or r-click+Paste to paste it into your response.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 8930G
iamc3k said:
I went into Disk Manager and noticed that "C" is "active" and "system". That seems good.

"D" was "active" as well.

My understanding is that "D" cannot be active if I am going to backup TO it.

I have no idea how "D" became an active drive.

If I make it inactive, will it then be a viable backup destination? If so, how do make the "D" drive not active?
Click to expand...

Ken, I have a single drive with two partitions. The primary (C: ) is active while the (D: ) drive is not (used for backups). If you right mouse click on (D: ) in the Disk Management interface, the option to make it inactive should be there (the option to make it Active is certainly there when it's not active). How it could have changed is a mystery, as I understand you need administrator privileges to do this. Did you install any disk management software recently?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion dv5t
    CPU
    Intel Core Duo 2.53GHz
    Memory
    4Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVidia GeForce 9600M GT 512Mb
    Screen Resolution
    1280x800 32bit
    Hard Drives
    Seagate Momentus XT 500Gb
    Hitachi Travelstar HTS543225L9A300 250Gb
    Mouse
    Microsoft 4000
NoelDP,

Here's the result of the DISKPART output:

*********

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.0.6002
Copyright (C) 1999-2007 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: KENPC
DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 R DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
Volume 1 V SWGB_PLAY CDFS DVD-ROM 466 MB Healthy
Volume 2 C Primary NTFS Partition 932 GB Healthy System
Volume 3 D Secondary NTFS Partition 932 GB Healthy
Volume 4 H Removable 0 B No Media
Volume 5 I Removable 0 B No Media
Volume 6 K Removable 0 B No Media
Volume 7 L Removable 0 B No Media
DISKPART>

*********

Volumes 0 and 1 are my DVD and BD disk drives. Volumes 4-7 are my multi-card reader. (It's attached to the Mobo by a single USB header.)

The volume/drive I'm trying to use as a backup is 3/D named "Secondary". I can access it through explorer, but Windows backup cannot see it. It is listed in Disk Management as "Secondary (D:) 931.51 GB NTFS Healthy (Active, Primary Partition)"

My understanding is that the "Active" part is causing the problem.

Thanks,
Ken
 

My Computer

System One

In theory it's impossible to have two Active partitions on a single disk - and if the filesystem is seeing two, then you definitely have a problem.
OTOH, if these are two separate hard disks, then simply UNmark the D: drive as being active - this will prevent the system from trying to boot from it as well :) - and see if that clears the block.
I can see no signs of any System Reserved partition - so presumably you formatted the drive before beginning the install of Windows? What partitioning tool did you use?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 8930G
Maybe I missed something but above I see you deleted what was on D: but did you try formatting it from C: using Computer Management > Disk Management? There may be a hidden file on the disk preventing Backup from seeing it as available and formatting it to default NTFS should sort it out.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Win 10 Pro x64 x 2
    Manufacturer/Model
    Alienware ALX x58
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i7-975 Extreme O/C to 4.02 GHz, 8MB Cache
    Motherboard
    Asus® P6T Deluxe V2 X58 LGA1366
    Memory
    24GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz - 6 x 4096MB
    Graphics Card(s)
    1792 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 295 Dual Core
    Sound Card
    Onboard Soundmax® High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung XL2370 HD LED backlit 23" W/S 2ms response time
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500gb SATA II
    1 x 1TB SATA II
    1 external eSATA LaCie 3TB
    (Non-RAID)
    PSU
    Alienware® 1200 Watt Multi-GPU
    Case
    Unique
    Cooling
    4 case fans @ CPU water cooling.
    Internet Speed
    1gb/s up and down
NoelDP said:
In theory it's impossible to have two Active partitions on a single disk - and if the filesystem is seeing two, then you definitely have a problem.
OTOH, if these are two separate hard disks, then simply UNmark the D: drive as being active - this will prevent the system from trying to boot from it as well :) - and see if that clears the block.
I can see no signs of any System Reserved partition - so presumably you formatted the drive before beginning the install of Windows? What partitioning tool did you use?
Click to expand...

NoelDP,

Sorry for not repeating information (trying to keep this thread "tight"): the "D" drive is a separate, physically different, hard drive. This machine has a DVD drive, a BluRay drive, a multi-port card reader, and 2 physical hard drives.

Each physical hard-drive has a single partition. The main drive, named "Primary" is 1TB and labelled "C".

The backup hard drive, named "Secondary" is also 1TB and is labelled "D".

Does that information help?

(My goal is to have "D" available to Windows Backup to run an infrequent "Image" capture and regular backups. As well, I'm testing out Macrium backup. I'd like to ALSO put Macrium's backups on that same drive.)

You state that if it is two separate drives that I could simply "unmark" it as active. I cannot find ANY disk management tab or option that even mentions whether or not the disk is active, let alone which gives me the option of toggling it to or from active. Where is this option located?

As to the last part of your query, the system reserved partition, I installed Vista on the single-partition C drive. If there is a hidden partition on the D drive, would a fast format delete that?


Thanks,
Ken
 

My Computer

System One

Ex_Brit said:
Maybe I missed something but above I see you deleted what was on D: but did you try formatting it from C: using Computer Management > Disk Management? There may be a hidden file on the disk preventing Backup from seeing it as available and formatting it to default NTFS should sort it out.
Click to expand...

Ex_Brit,

You are correct: I have deleted everything on the drive. Formatting it is not an issue, but would that solve the "active" problem?

Would a quick format get rid of hidden files, or would I need to do a full format?

Thanks,
Ken
 

My Computer

System One

IN Disk Management, you should have the option, if you right-click on the partition in the graphic, rather than in the list.
If not then use Diskpart again

DISKPART
LIST VOLUME
SELECT VOLUME 3 (make sure this is the one for your D: drive)
INACTIVE
EXIT
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 8930G
I just "long" formatted the hard drive. It sprang up, after the format, as "active, primary partition" labelled "D".

There is no right-click menu item which has anything to do with active or not. If I right-click the graphic of the drive (the large rectangle with diagonal lines across it), I can access "properties" and the 8 tabs which appear in the properties menu. Not a single one has any "active" options whatsoever. Obviously, we are not seeing the same menu items.

I'm surprised that formatting the drive created it as "active".

Off to try the diskpart attempt...

Ken
 

My Computer

System One

^ Who knows what other factors were influencing it. Whatever the case, you've finally got it to a state where you can use it. Make a full backup and it should be smooth sailing from this point on. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion dv5t
    CPU
    Intel Core Duo 2.53GHz
    Memory
    4Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVidia GeForce 9600M GT 512Mb
    Screen Resolution
    1280x800 32bit
    Hard Drives
    Seagate Momentus XT 500Gb
    Hitachi Travelstar HTS543225L9A300 250Gb
    Mouse
    Microsoft 4000
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top