Check disc problem

[Grill]

Hi,
I'm running XP Pro on a 1.2Ghz machine with two hard drives. The problem is with the D: drive which is the slave drive. XP wants to do a check on it at start up. It goes through the files and folders verification alright but when it starts the checking for free space it just runs forever. I have to re-start and cancel the disc check when it boots up. I have tried to run the chkdsk/f from the command prompt but it says that it can't unmount the drive because it is in use.......
Any suggestions on how I can solve this, short of reformatting the hard drive which is 80gigs.
Thanks,

 

[mikesgroovin]

When booting your machine, try entering into "Safe Mode with command prompt" or just "Safe Mode". After booting in whichever mode go to your command prompt and try running your chkdsk command again. This time use the following command:
CHKDSK /X/F/R

This will force a dismount of the drive (safely) and then perform the checks that you would like to commit.

Reformatting would be totally unnecessary.....

-Mike

 

[Grill]

It wouldn't finish the boot, it hangs on a Mup.sys file or that is the last file on the scroll. Had to hit the reset button now it wants to check both drives....
Thanks for the help though.

 

[mrdinkel]

Quick question: Is your slave HDD formatted in FAT32? If so, try converting it to NTFS using the convert command. Type
help convert, to see the settings. The reason to do it this way, is this way you can look and decide for yourself what settings you want applied

When you get into windows, convert the other drives to NTFS if they are FAT32.

 

[Grill]

Yeah, their both FAT 32.
Doing the convert thing won't mess up the contents of the drive will it? If it won't then I'll give this a shot.
Thanks!

 

[Shakie]

Shouldn't mess up anything.

 

[Grill]

What is the advantage of converting to the NTFS structure?

 

[Grill]

Follow Up:
Thanks to all for the help and suggestions.
I converted the D:\ to NTFS. On boot up it wanted to check C:\ so I let it and it did not find any problems. It didn't try to check D:. Everything is fine..... for now


Thanks again!

 

[mrdinkel]

Thats awesome. I'm glad it worked.