diff --git a/src/drive.c b/src/drive.c
index 87964a96..f673a408 100644
--- a/src/drive.c
+++ b/src/drive.c
@@ -579,6 +579,10 @@ BOOL CreatePartition(HANDLE hDrive, int partition_style, int file_system, BOOL m
 		}
 		break;
 	case PARTITION_STYLE_GPT:
+		// TODO: (?) As per MSDN: "When specifying a GUID partition table (GPT) as the PARTITION_STYLE of the CREATE_DISK
+		// structure, an application should wait for the MSR partition arrival before sending the IOCTL_DISK_SET_DRIVE_LAYOUT_EX
+		// control code. For more information about device notification, see RegisterDeviceNotification."
+
 		CreateDisk.PartitionStyle = PARTITION_STYLE_GPT;
 		IGNORE_RETVAL(CoCreateGuid(&CreateDisk.Gpt.DiskId));
 		CreateDisk.Gpt.MaxPartitionCount = MAX_GPT_PARTITIONS;
@@ -676,6 +680,34 @@ BOOL CreatePartition(HANDLE hDrive, int partition_style, int file_system, BOOL m
 	return TRUE;
 }
 
+/* Delete the disk partition table */
+BOOL DeletePartitions(HANDLE hDrive)
+{
+	BOOL r;
+	DWORD size;
+	CREATE_DISK CreateDisk = {PARTITION_STYLE_RAW, {{0}}};
+
+	PrintStatus(0, TRUE, "Deleting partitions...");
+
+	size = sizeof(CreateDisk);
+	r = DeviceIoControl(hDrive, IOCTL_DISK_CREATE_DISK,
+			(BYTE*)&CreateDisk, size, NULL, 0, &size, NULL );
+	if (!r) {
+		uprintf("Could not delete drive layout: %s\n", WindowsErrorString());
+		safe_closehandle(hDrive);
+		return FALSE;
+	}
+
+	r = DeviceIoControl(hDrive, IOCTL_DISK_UPDATE_PROPERTIES, NULL, 0, NULL, 0, &size, NULL );
+	if (!r) {
+		uprintf("Could not refresh drive layout: %s\n", WindowsErrorString());
+		safe_closehandle(hDrive);
+		return FALSE;
+}
+
+return TRUE;
+}
+
 /*
  * Convert a partition type to its human readable form using
  * (slightly modified) entries from GNU fdisk
diff --git a/src/format.c b/src/format.c
index e7dc2316..aee94141 100644
--- a/src/format.c
+++ b/src/format.c
@@ -576,9 +576,9 @@ static BOOL FormatFAT32(DWORD DriveIndex)
 	// Set the FAT32 volume label
 	GetWindowTextW(hLabel, wLabel, ARRAYSIZE(wLabel));
 	ToValidLabel(wLabel, TRUE);
+	PrintStatus(0, TRUE, "Setting Label (This may take while)...");
 	// Handle must be closed for SetVolumeLabel to work
 	safe_closehandle(hLogicalVolume);
-	PrintStatus(0, TRUE, "Setting Label (This may take while)...");
 	VolumeName = GetLogicalName(DriveIndex, TRUE, TRUE);
 	wVolumeName = utf8_to_wchar(VolumeName);
 	if ((wVolumeName == NULL) || (!SetVolumeLabelW(wVolumeName, wLabel))) {
@@ -708,22 +708,22 @@ static BOOL AnalyzeMBR(HANDLE hPhysicalDrive)
 		return FALSE;
 	}
 	if (is_dos_mbr(&fake_fd)) {
-		uprintf("Drive has a Microsoft DOS/NT/95A master boot record\n");
+		uprintf("Drive has a DOS/NT/95A master boot record\n");
 	} else if (is_dos_f2_mbr(&fake_fd)) {
-		uprintf("Drive has a Microsoft DOS/NT/95A master boot record "
+		uprintf("Drive has a DOS/NT/95A master boot record "
 			"with the undocumented F2 instruction\n");
 	} else if (is_95b_mbr(&fake_fd)) {
-		uprintf("Drive has a Microsoft 95B/98/98SE/ME master boot record\n");
+		uprintf("Drive has a Windows 95B/98/98SE/ME master boot record\n");
 	} else if (is_2000_mbr(&fake_fd)) {
-		uprintf("Drive has a Microsoft 2000/XP/2003 master boot record\n");
+		uprintf("Drive has a Windows 2000/XP/2003 master boot record\n");
 	} else if (is_vista_mbr(&fake_fd)) {
-		uprintf("Drive has a Microsoft Vista master boot record\n");
+		uprintf("Drive has a Windows Vista master boot record\n");
 	} else if (is_win7_mbr(&fake_fd)) {
-		uprintf("Drive has a Microsoft 7 master boot record\n");
+		uprintf("Drive has a Windows 7 master boot record\n");
 	} else if (is_zero_mbr(&fake_fd)) {
 		uprintf("Drive has a zeroed non-bootable master boot record\n");
 	} else {
-		uprintf("Unknown boot record\n");
+		uprintf("Drive has an unknown master boot record\n");
 	}
 	return TRUE;
 }
@@ -753,6 +753,8 @@ static BOOL AnalyzePBR(HANDLE hLogicalVolume)
 		} else {
 			uprintf("Drive has an unknown FAT16 or FAT32 partition boot record\n");
 		}
+	} else {
+		uprintf("Drive has an unknown partition boot record\n");
 	}
 	return TRUE;
 }
@@ -1260,11 +1262,19 @@ DWORD WINAPI FormatThread(LPVOID param)
 
 	PrintStatus(0, TRUE, "Analyzing existing boot records...\n");
 	AnalyzeMBR(hPhysicalDrive);
-	if (hLogicalVolume != NULL) {
+	if ((hLogicalVolume != NULL) && (hLogicalVolume != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)) {
 		AnalyzePBR(hLogicalVolume);
 	}
 	UpdateProgress(OP_ANALYZE_MBR, -1.0f);
 
+	// Zap any existing partitions. This helps prevent access errors.
+	// As this creates issues with FAT16 formatted MS drives, only do this for other filesystems
+	if ( (fs != FS_FAT16) && (!DeletePartitions(hPhysicalDrive)) ) {
+		uprintf("Could not reset partitions\n");
+		FormatStatus = ERROR_SEVERITY_ERROR|FAC(FACILITY_STORAGE)|ERROR_PARTITION_FAILURE;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
 	if (IsChecked(IDC_BADBLOCKS)) {
 		do {
 			// create a log file for bad blocks report. Since %USERPROFILE% may
@@ -1325,7 +1335,7 @@ DWORD WINAPI FormatThread(LPVOID param)
 		}
 	}
 	// Close the (unmounted) volume before formatting
-	if (hLogicalVolume != NULL) {
+	if ((hLogicalVolume != NULL) && (hLogicalVolume != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)) {
 		PrintStatus(0, TRUE, "Closing existing volume...\n");
 		if (!CloseHandle(hLogicalVolume)) {
 			uprintf("Could not close volume: %s\n", WindowsErrorString());
diff --git a/src/rufus.h b/src/rufus.h
index fe0ba328..d4d1e026 100644
--- a/src/rufus.h
+++ b/src/rufus.h
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@
 #define STR_NO_LABEL                "NO_LABEL"
 #define RUFUS_CANCELBOX_TITLE       APPLICATION_NAME " - Cancellation"
 #define RUFUS_BLOCKING_IO_TITLE     APPLICATION_NAME " - Flushing buffers"
-#define DRIVE_ACCESS_TIMEOUT        10000		// How long we should retry drive access (in ms)
-#define DRIVE_ACCESS_RETRIES        20			// How many times we should retry
+#define DRIVE_ACCESS_TIMEOUT        15000		// How long we should retry drive access (in ms)
+#define DRIVE_ACCESS_RETRIES        60			// How many times we should retry
 #define DRIVE_INDEX_MIN             0x00000080
 #define DRIVE_INDEX_MAX             0x000000C0
 #define MAX_DRIVES                  (DRIVE_INDEX_MAX - DRIVE_INDEX_MIN)
diff --git a/src/rufus.rc b/src/rufus.rc
index d63f4ba2..78324a31 100644
--- a/src/rufus.rc
+++ b/src/rufus.rc
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ LANGUAGE LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_NEUTRAL
 IDD_DIALOG DIALOGEX 12, 12, 206, 329
 STYLE DS_SETFONT | DS_MODALFRAME | DS_FIXEDSYS | DS_CENTER | WS_POPUP | WS_CAPTION | WS_SYSMENU
 EXSTYLE WS_EX_APPWINDOW
-CAPTION "Rufus v1.3.4.264"
+CAPTION "Rufus v1.3.4.265"
 FONT 8, "MS Shell Dlg", 400, 0, 0x1
 BEGIN
     DEFPUSHBUTTON   "Start",IDC_START,94,291,50,14
@@ -278,8 +278,8 @@ END
 //
 
 VS_VERSION_INFO VERSIONINFO
- FILEVERSION 1,3,4,264
- PRODUCTVERSION 1,3,4,264
+ FILEVERSION 1,3,4,265
+ PRODUCTVERSION 1,3,4,265
  FILEFLAGSMASK 0x3fL
 #ifdef _DEBUG
  FILEFLAGS 0x1L
@@ -296,13 +296,13 @@ BEGIN
         BEGIN
             VALUE "CompanyName", "Akeo Consulting (http://akeo.ie)"
             VALUE "FileDescription", "Rufus"
-            VALUE "FileVersion", "1.3.4.264"
+            VALUE "FileVersion", "1.3.4.265"
             VALUE "InternalName", "Rufus"
             VALUE "LegalCopyright", "© 2011-2013 Pete Batard (GPL v3)"
             VALUE "LegalTrademarks", "http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html"
             VALUE "OriginalFilename", "rufus.exe"
             VALUE "ProductName", "Rufus"
-            VALUE "ProductVersion", "1.3.4.264"
+            VALUE "ProductVersion", "1.3.4.265"
         END
     END
     BLOCK "VarFileInfo"