My external hard drive will not format.
I have a one terabite external hard drive with Acronis as a backup software. I am trying to learn how to use the Acronis software without much success and I now have three backups that I want to dump.
I attempted to format the external hard drive but the following message came up.
"Windows cannot format this drive. Quit any disk utilities or other programmes that are using this drive, and make sure that no window is displaying the contents of this drive. Then try formatting this drive again."
I pressed Ctl+Alt+Del and nothing is shown as running so what do I do next, do I delete Acronis or what?
Everything I attempt to open shows as corupted.
What about the other two options suggested by GroverH?
The whole Acronis setup is in a mess and I have not got the confidence to try either of the above suggestion so is it possible that if I delete Acronis I will then be able to format the external hard drive and then reload Acronis and start again?
Have you tried performing a shutdown with power off and then reboot and try the format command again. Try it from the Windows Disk Management screen which offers more options including the removal of the partitions from the external drive. Be cautious to choose the correct drive.
When you say "delete Aconis", I assume you mean "uninstall Acronis"? You should be able to boot from the Acronis Rescue CD and use the Add Disk option which will remove the partitions of the external drive. Then you can recreate and format.
Uninstlaling Acronis may or may not remove the locking.
Another option would be download "Partition Wizard" which is free. If interested, I would download both the Windows version and the CD version. Both are nice file to have in your toolbox of utilities. This program should allow you do what you want but you may have to delete the partition first. Hopefully, your are formatting to NTFS file system.
http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html
I managed to format the external drive but am wondering if its worth going through the trauma of reinstalling the Acronis software. When I bought it I expected that I would be able to use it for files that I may have lost but it was not as simple as that. When I clicked onto the external drive the icons were not in a familiar shape or colour and when I attempted to open any they opened in goblygook so I wonder if I should use the external hard drive by just dragging the files I want backups for.
What are your recovery plans for the important files (maybe photos,etc) on your computer right now. For examples, let's assume that your computer and your external drive are not accessible for whatever reasons (power jolt or theft, etc) . Do you have your important files copied off onto a CD.DVD or other means of recovery. The non-accessibility to your normal equipment often occurs when least expected and you must be prepared.
Many of the regular users of TrueImage also use secondary methods for our backup security.
a. TrueImage excels as a backup/recovery software. Its users do not want to have reinstall the operating system if it can be avoided. The use of TrueImage is one method of avoiding such chores or makes it easy to transition to a larger drive when needed.
b. Many of us prefer to have copies of our personal in their native format copied onto other backup media. This means dragging/dropping; or the use of other programs such as Karen's Replicator. This method permits easy recovery by others programs because these files are not in a special format but in their native format. Optical media, online storage or other drives are certain viable options for secondary storage.
c. This is not to say that TrueImage should not be used for backup of files but merely that it is prudent to have additional methods of backup. Any of the backup/recovery software has an extensive learning curve and Acronis is not different from the others in that respect. Check the other items inside my index and many of these can help that learning curve.
Click on the index of references found inside my signature link below. Check particularly item #12 which examples a few of the backup procedures used by others on this forum.