Hi there! All my computers died so I'm on my moms computer and I decided to (since it constantly tells me I'm running out of space) to add an old hard drive of mine to it... She had one with about 4 GB so I added mine with about 8 GB, cloned her drive using PC Inspector Cone Maxx to the new one and then fixed the partition size with Partition Magic 8... Now my problem is formatting her old drive... it wont let me, and since it's just a copy now, I don't need it anymore... I'd rather have the space. Can someone help me? ... thanks! ~Sarah

Is the old (4Gig?) (originally Master) drive now a Slave to the newer (8Gig) drive now set as "Master"? How are you attempting to reformat the old (4Gig drive)?

Download W98 boot disk software from bootdisk.com and transfer it to either a floppy or CD. Disconnect your master HD and make your slave a master for time being. Boot off the floppy/CD and chose without CD ROM option. When booting has finished, at the a> prompt type fdisk . Then select Delete partition. You will be warned re loss of data, proceed anyway. Your disk is now ready for a format. Reconfigure the master and slave and format the disk through Disk Management.

If you are attempting to reformat the 4Gig drive (via Disk Managment tools) and it is booting to XP installed on the 4Gig drive at the time..., then it won't let you. If using '98/ME bootdisk format option to reformat it then unless the drive/partition is already fat32 it won't let you. If the drive/partition is ntfs (aka a non-dos partition in '9x/ME/dos speak), you have to remove it first; then reconfigure it afresh; then reformat it. If 4Gig is now Slave to 8Gig drive then you can do it all without using a 98/ME bootdisk - Fdisk/format options; but again you can do it with that bootdisk approach as long it's only fat32 (or even fat16 - 2Gig limit). If using that Fdisk/format option then be sure you addressing the correct drive... if 8Gig is still set as Master to 4Gig (Slaved); or (as wisely mooted by Tonto) ensure the 4Gig drive is set as Stand-alone Master (to preserve/safeguard integrity of 8Gig drive) and run Fdisk/format options as per: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255867 However, if the 8Gig is Master to the 4Gig (Slaved) you can do it all from XP Disk Managment tools too; and it doesn't matter if the drive/partition is currently fat32, or ntfs, or fat16.... How to use Disk management tools at: http://www.informationweek.com/show... http://news.softpedia.com/news/Disk... http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Artic... http://www.mcmcse.com/microsoft/gui... You can remove/delete the partition(s) first if needs-be, and reformat accordingly via Disk Managment tools. But, before you set about reformatting etc. the '4Gig drive, ensure that all data/files you wish to preserve are safely copied off the 4Gig drive to removable media (CD/DVD); and those copies have been verified accessible via the new installation...

Almost all drive makers offer a software to "move" the old os. See the new drives's web site and use it. I agree that for some reason the 4 gig is the boot drive or has some locked files. I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you goober.