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HD previously in raid 0 won't format. Help!

Forum Storage : Hard Disks - HD previously in raid 0 won't format. Help!

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rushmore   01-11-2006 at 03:03:47 PM

yesterday i changed my hard drives from two sata wd 2500 in raid 0 to a single raptor 150. i did a fresh xp install on the raptor which went okay, but when i tried to use each of the wd 2500 as separate storage drives (not in raid 0) i could only format one of the drives. the drive i could not format reported an incorrect disc volume of around 450 gb which previously was the total striped raid 0 volume. the drive i could format reported a correct disc volume of around 250. i used disk manager in xp to re-format the drives.
has anybody encountered this when using drives previously in raid 0 as single storage drives? is there a way to salvage the drive that won't format? thanks.

-----------------------------------------------------------

a8n32-sli
opteron 148 oc'd 2.8
raptor 150 (boot)
wd 2500 x 1 (storage)
ocz pc4000 2 gb
xfx 7800 gtx
x-fi xtreme
antec truepower 550

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rushmore   01-11-2006 at 11:36:38 PM
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in raid 0, the two 2500s were in the nvidia controller ports 3 + 4. right now i've got the raptor in port 1 and the 2500 in port 3.

Reply to rushmore
pat   01-12-2006 at 04:35:05 AM
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unplug the raptor, plug the drive that you cannot format, start windows install, have the drive listed, delete all partition existing on that drive and you'll be fine. Normally, before removing an array, it is better to delete the array first and remove the disk after..

Reply to pat
rushmore   01-12-2006 at 02:21:48 PM
- 0 +

ahh. thank you! i'll try that tonite.

Reply to rushmore
Tattysnuc   01-12-2006 at 02:41:44 PM
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If that doesn;t work, try a low level format, or just rewriting the MBR and last tracks of the fisk.

The software is usually available form the hard drive manufacturers web site...

Reply to Tattysnuc
pat   01-12-2006 at 03:46:40 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

If that doesn;t work, try a low level format, or just rewriting the MBR and last tracks of the fisk.

The software is usually available form the hard drive manufacturers web site...



Low formatting a drive is something that to many peoples don't understand.

Low level formatting was usefull with old RLL disk interface and another one I forget, but has been make unavailable for IDE drive since ATA exist ...

Low level formatting meant redefining the sector, cluster... on the drive. Now, when you plug in the drive, everything is already done, and cannot be undone. Writting 0 to the drive or deleting MBR is not low level.. it is simply wiping..

Reply to pat
fishmahn   01-12-2006 at 04:59:41 PM
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Quote :

Low level formatting was usefull with old RLL disk interface and another one I forget, but has been make unavailable for IDE drive since ATA exist ...



MFM.

But those aren't interfaces. The interface was ST-506. MFM & RLL are encoding methods of encoding the data on the drive.

I loved getting 60Meg out of my 40 meg drives by buying cheaper MFM drives, plugging them into my RLL controller and doing a real low-level format.

Mike.

Reply to fishmahn
Rabidpeanut   01-12-2006 at 05:45:50 PM
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Don't format it, just delete the partition and make a new one.

Reply to Rabidpeanut
FlyGuy   01-12-2006 at 06:34:13 PM
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Definitely don't ever low level format, it's completely and utterly unnecessary these days!

I had the same issue with my drives when I broke up my array, I just plugged the old driver into the ports they were connected to before and used the raid manager to delete the array. I do believe the raid partition info is in the MBR of the 0 drive.

Reply to FlyGuy
Tattysnuc   01-12-2006 at 07:03:49 PM
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Low level formatting HAS fixed problems for me when the MBR has become corrupt...... I dont understand why you are so ANTI it.....

Drives can become corrupted by changing the chipsets on which the Raid array operated. I know, because that is EXACTLY what happened to mine. The ONLY way to remedy that was to restore the drive to its new state. The only way I knew to do that was to Low Level it....

Reply to Tattysnuc
FlyGuy   01-12-2006 at 11:12:44 PM
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A low level format for fixing the MBR is like killing a fly with a sledge hammer. You can use the m$ recovery console and I believe Maxtor and Seagate make utilities for wiping the MBR.

Reply to FlyGuy
pat   01-13-2006 at 01:46:34 AM
- 0 +

Quote :

Low level formatting was usefull with old RLL disk interface and another one I forget, but has been make unavailable for IDE drive since ATA exist ...



MFM.

But those aren't interfaces. The interface was ST-506. MFM & RLL are encoding methods of encoding the data on the drive.

I loved getting 60Meg out of my 40 meg drives by buying cheaper MFM drives, plugging them into my RLL controller and doing a real low-level format.

Mike.

You're right..MFM.. I did not have the chance to play a lot with them, at the time they were expensive..

I don't quite remember what they were and how they worked, But I remember about DMDRVR.BIN.. or was it .COM...

Reply to pat
pscowboy   01-13-2006 at 06:17:46 AM
- 0 +

I love you guys nostalgizing over the old, great, DOSasaurus days!

Just amazing stuff - the ground that was broken.

And, Fishmahn, I did the same thing with 40's. Small world.

Reply to pscowboy
Rabidpeanut   01-13-2006 at 09:56:23 AM
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I thought you COULDN't low level anymore, i thought they changed the way they made sectors or somesuch.

Reply to Rabidpeanut
rushmore   01-13-2006 at 02:58:36 PM
- 0 +

i took pat's advice, deleted the partition using windows install, and had no problem formatting the drive in disk manager. thanks for the help, pat!

Reply to rushmore
pat   01-13-2006 at 10:41:38 PM
- 0 +

No problems..

Reply to pat
pat   01-13-2006 at 11:14:06 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

I love you guys nostalgizing over the old, great, DOSasaurus days!

Just amazing stuff - the ground that was broken.

And, Fishmahn, I did the same thing with 40's. Small world.



Did you play with the debug app, to access hdd at BIOS level with INT13? I did long ago.. You could do anything to a drive. That was nice. Don't remember if it was with IDE or older interface thou... I did a small assembler app that was called "fast" that was putting a new value right into the some place and make the CPU to run faster.. I did one called "slow" for the inverse..

Too bad I forgot these .. Anyway, I could have a 16 MHz 286 running near 20 MHz with that.. Yup.. MHz

Reply to pat
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