Unable to wipe Hard Drive

Dan6626

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Jan 24, 2015
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I have a custom built desktop computer with 3 drives.

-The first drive is an ssd which is my boot drive with windows 8.1.
-The second drive is a hhd storage drive with many games and other files.
-The third drive is also a hdd that has windows 7 currently installed on it.

One day i went to boot up my PC and encountered a cache_manager error that would not let me boot into windows on the ssd or the hdd. I then later discovered that the third hdd with windows 7 was causing this error and it was resolved by disconnecting that drive from the computer. So i am able to boot into windows now with the ssd. Since i have no use for that 3rd hdd i want to wipe that drive and use it to store media files.

The problem that i have is that there is no way of formatting it. I cannot do it from windows because when i plug in the drive the cache_manager error pops up and i am unable to get into windows. I've tried to change the sata cables and ports for the drive but that error still shows. I have also tried to boot from the windows 8 CD (from when i purchased windows 8.1 for the ssd) to format the drive but that cache_manager error prevents me from being able to use the CD. So then i tried to use DBAN to format the drive in the bios. DBAN starts up fine but when i try to use any of the formatting options it loads up then the computer restarts and takes me back to the DBAN main menu and nothing happens.

The cache_manager error only pops up when that third hdd that's running windows 7 is plugged into the PC. Even when i disconnect the ssd and the second hdd and just leave the third one connected that error message pops up. But as soon as i disconnect the third one everything runs perfectly normal. The only way i can load into windows is when i remove that third hdd. There is no important files that i need to take off the drive so all i need to do is just wipe it clean.
 


Make the SATA port for the 3rd HDD hot swap and unplug it. Boot into windows 8.1. Plug the 3rd drive back in. Format.

Tried that?

Aaron
 


Never tried that before thanks for the suggestion but when I enabled hotswap for that port then went into windows and as soon as I plugged in the drive instantly cache_manager error pops up and computer restarts. Ive tried on different ports and different cables and no luck
 


You might be able to use a boot and format type of program. Something like Darik's Boot N' Nuke.

Aaron