HPFSRem: Formatting disks with HPFS when FDISK can't find the drive

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To allow for use of HPFSRem, you must be able to format the drive with HPFS. This can be done with the instructions included with HPFSRem only if the drive can be partitioned with FDISK. If the drive cannot be partitioned, follow these instructions:

  • Lock the disk in the drive. The drivers for the drive probably come with a utility to lock the disk. If not, use the "I" parameter with HPFSRem. HPFSRem depends on the device drivers for the drive to be able to lock and unlock the disk, so there is no guarantee it will work. If you cannot lock the disk, you won't be able to use HPFS on the disk.
  • Use the FORMAT command with the parameters "d: /FS:HPFS" where d is the drive letter of the removable drive. If you did not lock the disk, the FORMAT command will tell you that it cannot use HPFS. If this step doesn't work and you are using an SCSI controller, then you may be using and may have to use device drivers that will not allow the disk to be formatted with HPFS. This problem is common with Iomega drives. See the note about SCSI controllers for more information.
  • When the disk is locked, it cannot be removed before it is unlocked. HPFSRem will take care of this. However, HPFS does not like to have one of its disks disappear without warning. Simply unlocking your HPFS disk before removing it will result in a system crash. HPFSRem will convince HPFS to part with the disk safely.