I'm trying to use my iomega external harddrive with Windows 7, but access to the drive is denied. In computer management-> disk management, it says the drive is in format HFS when I know I need NTFS, but when I try to right click and format it I get a message saying that the drive is in use and can not be formatted. The drive is completely empty, not a single bit of data on it, so I don't need to worry about protecting anything. Any solutions?

With the external drive connected to your PC and powered on, restart your PC and try again.Carey Frisch

Tried that twice, and tried changing the drive letter and path, but it still won't work. In disk management under computer management, I right click the disk and select format, get a message saying it may delete all data, but I click ok because I have no data on it anyway. Then, a few seconds later, it says that the disk is in use but I can force the format, and if i click yes, the message just pops up again and again, asking if i want to force format, and doesn't stop until I select no. What should I do?

What happens if you go to an elevated command prompt and type format d: or what ever letter the drive is. Also try connecting the drive to a different port and try it in another computer.

Asks for the current volume label. Don't know what that is...I'm usually a Mac person, sorry, just use PC for gaming. That's what this is for.

Asks for the current volume label. Don't know what that is...I'm usually a Mac person, sorry, just use PC for gaming. That's what this is for. Found the label on my own, but the cmd prompt didn't work, and I'm trying from a different port. Don't have another computer available to try it on. It still says the drive is in use and needs to be dismounted.

Nope, problem solved! Super proud of myself now...even though I just ended up googled the answer...but what I found out so far in this thread had been helpful in said googling, as opposed to before, when I was just kinda googling in the dark. For anybody with a similar problem, here's what I did: In disk management (search "computer management" under the Start menu, open the program, and then double-click disk management, found on the left), then find the drive in question and delete it, then right click "create simple volume" and go from there!

Hi, Thanks for sharing. We really appreciate your time and efforts. Hope your experience will help other community members facing similar problems. Tracy Cai TechNet Community Support