Can't seem to format any drives

RookieOfTheYear · Apr 26, 2014

I have recently bought a HDD and a SSD and can't seem to format either one. I have sent the HDD back to newegg for a new because I thought it was the drive. However now that I can't get the SSD to work I am wondering if there is something wrong with the computer instead.

When I first plugged in the SSD, it showed up as a drive and I could see the files that were in there from the person I had bought it from. I then tried to format the drive and it says windows cannot complete format. Now I can't see anything in the drive and it just shows up as an unrecognized file format and says windows cannot complete format every time I try to format it.

Any ideas what is wrong here? I have Acronis True Image 2014 Premium, but don't see an option for formatting in there. Is there other software I should use to format the drive since Windows can't do it?

Thanks for any suggestions.

PS. I am running windows 8.1

RookieOfTheYear · May 5, 2014

So after some research I found a program called Minitool Partition Wizard Home. It was able to recognize both the HDD and SSD and I was able to format and partition them as I wanted. I would highly recommend this program to anyone who has multiple drives. It is extremely useful...and the best part is its free (for now).

Here's the link.
http://download.cnet.com/MiniTool-Partition-Wizard-Home-Edition/3000-2094_4-10962200.html

RookieOfTheYear · May 5, 2014

Yes I did. Both drives are healthy. I honestly believe it was Windows. I have not been able to format any drives with windows (I tried 2 other drives than the ones listed). But was able to do everything with minitool. So idk if it is windows 8 or something wrong with my windows software, but the fact is windows won't format any drives.

Paperdoc · May 6, 2014

I suspect there are two different problems here.

1. When you try to Format the SSD that already has stuff on it, I'm guessing one of the things it has is some version of Windows. Windows protects itself by refusing to Format any drive that has any Windows version on it.

2. For any brand new empty HDD you cannot just Format it. There are two steps to the process. The first is to Create a Partition - this defines a chunk of space on the HDD, from part of the drive to all of it, according to your wishes - that will be used a one "drive". THEN you can Format that new "drive". In current systems, these two steps more commonly are combined into one process called Initializing the HDD. So you cannot Format a new empty drive - you have to Initialize it.

In the case of the SSD, I assume you did not intend to keep any of its data. So what you need to do, using either Windows Disk Management or your Acronis True Image, is first to Delete any and all Partitions on that storage device. When it is all Unallocated Space, THEN you can Initialize it to create a new "drive".

IF you are planning to install Windows on the new drive (SSD or HDD), you should be aware that is it better NOT to Initialize the drive before starting to Install Windows. The Install routine does all that work for you. In fact, if you try to Install to a storage device that is already fully used by an existing Partition, the Install process may fail because it cannot find any empty space to use.

RookieOfTheYear · May 6, 2014

thank you paperdoc. I used the minitool partitioning progam instead, and it was very simple to use. What windows program would I use to create a new partition on a blank new HDD? I am quite new to windows 8, for the last version of windows I used was Vista. But now that I have used it for about 3 months or so, I am enjoying it a lot.

Now though I am very pleased with minitools partitioning program, I would also be interested in learning more about the abilities of windows to detect and create partitions on a HDD or SSD for knowledge basis. Thank you for your responses everyone.

Paperdoc · May 6, 2014

The tool I mentioned is called Disk Management. I don't have Win 8, so the following details may not work the same. On my system, click on Start in the bottom left, then RIGHT click on My Computer and choose Manage from the mini-menu. Alternatively, click Start ... Control Panel ... Administrative Tools ... Computer Management. In the left pane click on Disk Management.

The right pane will split into two. Each of them SCROLLS so you can see all they have. The Upper Right pane shows you all the storage devices Windows can use right now. The more useful part for new HDD's, though, it the LOWER RIGHT pane - it shows you all the hardware storage devices in your system - if it is detected in BIOS, it will be here. Some of these - like a new empty HDD - will NOT show in the Upper Right pane yet.

In the Lower Right pane, each storage unit is represented by a horizontal block with some info on the left end as a label. There is a Disk No, a Disk Type, a size, and a status. The rest of the block is subdivided into smaller blocks, each representing a Partition on the device. Windows treats each Partition as one "drive". If there is any space not used in this manner it will be labelled "Unallocated Space". A new empty HDD is ALL Unallocated Space. If there is one (or more) Partition(s) on the unit, each will have its own info label: a disk name like "DataDisk" (you assign this when the Partition is Created), a letter name that Windows uses for this "disk" like "(C

, a Partition size, a File System like "NTFS", and a status. You can RIGHT-click on any Partition or on Unallocated Space to get a mini-menu of actions you can take on it.

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