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Formatting a hard drive externally with an OS on it

Tags:
  • External Drive
  • Storage
  • Hard Drives
  • Formatting
Last response: in Storage
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October 13, 2014 10:48:43 PM

I have a hard disk which I used on my lap top. An operating system is installed on it. Now I want to use it as an external drive. The problem is I can not format it on my machine. The machine does not recognize it. It may due to the OS on my machine has a conflict with the OS on the external drive. How can I format the external drive?

More about : formatting hard drive externally

October 13, 2014 10:59:18 PM

if you can just connect the one hard drive you want to have formatted (don't connect the other one), you could make a usb boot for Dban and that would make it blank.

http://www.dban.org/

Use this to make a bootable usb drive
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-ea...

I found it's easier to do it this way than spend an hour or more trying to figure out why :) 
I've used dban about 20x and never had a problem with it. Just a reminder, only have that 1 hard drive connected that you want erased.
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October 13, 2014 11:00:46 PM

is the drive listed in the Disk Manager?
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October 14, 2014 12:19:22 AM

Thanks Jaraldo
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October 14, 2014 12:27:22 AM

No it is not.
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October 14, 2014 4:20:34 AM

kingks said:
I have a hard disk which I used on my lap top. An operating system is installed on it. Now I want to use it as an external drive. The problem is I can not format it on my machine. The machine does not recognize it. It may due to the OS on my machine has a conflict with the OS on the external drive. How can I format the external drive?

Hey there, kingks!

I don't know if @jaraldo's solution worked for you, but there are cases when the HDDs can't fully format with a third party software.
Since you cannot see the drive in the Disk management, I'd suggest to use command prompt (cmd) and type > diskpart
This command should be able to locate all your drives and then use the steps shown in the link to format it:
https://www.techhack.co.uk/2011/03/31/format-a-hard-dri...

Here are a couple of more threads from the community that might be helpful with the solution as well:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/247279-32-cannot-fu...
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/295421-32-format-in...

Hope I helped! :) 
SuperSoph_WD
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October 16, 2014 10:36:08 PM

SuperSoph_WD said:
kingks said:
I have a hard disk which I used on my lap top. An operating system is installed on it. Now I want to use it as an external drive. The problem is I can not format it on my machine. The machine does not recognize it. It may due to the OS on my machine has a conflict with the OS on the external drive. How can I format the external drive?

Hey there, kingks!

I don't know if @jaraldo's solution worked for you, but there are cases when the HDDs can't fully format with a third party software.
Since you cannot see the drive in the Disk management, I'd suggest to use command prompt (cmd) and type > diskpart
This command should be able to locate all your drives and then use the steps shown in the link to format it:
https://www.techhack.co.uk/2011/03/31/format-a-hard-dri...

Here are a couple of more threads from the community that might be helpful with the solution as well:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/247279-32-cannot-fu...
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/295421-32-format-in...

Hope I helped! :) 
SuperSoph_WD


Tks SuperSoph. The external drive does not getting listed when "list volume" on "diskpart". When I connect the drive on USB, the icon come and go on the system tray. There shouldn't be any problem with the disk since I removed it only yesterday after working for more than 2 years.
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October 16, 2014 11:52:33 PM

kingks said:

Tks SuperSoph. The external drive does not getting listed when "list volume" on "diskpart". When I connect the drive on USB, the icon come and go on the system tray. There shouldn't be any problem with the disk since I removed it only yesterday after working for more than 2 years.

Hi again, kingks!

Have you tried formatting it from another computer?
Are you using a SATA-to-USB dock station/cable?
If you do, I'd suggest to plug the HDD internally with a SATA cable to a PC instead, and see if it gets detected then.
Maybe the USB doesn't supply it with enough power for your computer to recognize it.

Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD
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