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Reformatting didn't go so well

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  • Hard Drives
  • Storage
Last response: in Storage
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February 18, 2008 11:38:18 AM

Long Story (background): I was having trouble(s) with my OS after auto-installing MS Updates (those which it could successfully complete) and after over 10 hours of phone dialog with Microsoft "support" - they suggested reformatting as the last (and only) resort. Since I wanted a 2nd hard drive anyway ... I got a 150 GB Raptor to put my OS and programs on. The Good News is: there were no problems at all loading the OS (VISTA Home Premium 64 bit) to the new HD. I then re-connected my previous 500gb Seagate. They both showed up when clicking on "Computer". The Seagate correctly showed about 350Gb free space, and when clicked on, I could see the folders/files from my previous setup. I then entered into Disk Management (where the drive showed as "Healthy", NTFS filing system, 1 partition etc...), right clicked and chose "Format..." for this drive - as I wanted all the OS (and other) data erased. That is where the "good news" ends. The format failed.

Short Story: I now have a 2nd hard drive designated as "RAW" which will not "format". I don't want to recover anything from it ... I just want to have a working drive for storage of movies, home videos, music, documents, backups, etc.. The last attempt to "Format" took about 8 hours! and left me with this:



A "Quick Format" only takes about 5 or 6 seconds and results in no change.

Any ideas?

I'm left considering two distinct possibilities: The drive is dead, or ... I'm stupid. [:mousemonkey:4] Though I suppose they may not be mutually exclusive possibilities - they each seem equally probable. :( 

If anyone can help ... I would be forever grateful!

~Stu~


More about : reformatting

February 18, 2008 12:43:12 PM

You should try deleting the partition and recreating it. Just right click on the problem drive and select delete partition. After it is done recreate the partition and try formating then.
February 18, 2008 12:43:14 PM

My suggestion is you hook up dive F (your old drive as the primary HD, insert you windows disc and format and compile an NTFS system from there.

Sorry I don't know enough about Vista to be of any further use, but the above method sholud work for you.
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February 18, 2008 12:45:11 PM

Use a third party formatting software. Download Ultimate boot CD it has alot of tools and you can even do a zero write to clean it good.
a c 187 G Storage
February 18, 2008 1:06:23 PM

A quick format assumes that you have a healthy drive, and all it does is reset a few pointers. A full format will analyze each sector, and assign an alternate if it can't be read and written to properly. That obviously takes longer. Since the full format is manufacturer and drive specific, you need to go to the seagate web site and download their utility. http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seat...
a b G Storage
February 20, 2008 4:15:48 PM

Try making a smaller partition, say 200GB and see if it formats. If that works make another one. If nothing else works then the drive may be dead. See about warrenty exchange.
February 21, 2008 5:35:34 PM

I got the same problem with a usb flash, don't bother with that problem go for the warranty they should change it directly.
February 21, 2008 6:00:16 PM

as previously stated you cant format with windows mounted. go back to the old config and insert windows disk and go into the repair console and you can format itr from there.

good luck

a b G Storage
February 21, 2008 6:37:04 PM

Hey fletch...he's not formatting the boot-disk. You can format a backup drive in Windows ;)  I've done it dozens of times.
a c 128 G Storage
February 21, 2008 6:54:47 PM

IDE or SATA ? You have master / slave things properly done ? Some manufacturer's (i.e WD IIRC) have some special stuff ya gotta do. Hard for me to remember as I have had to deal with very few IDE drives (mostly SCSI and SATA).

Suggest downloading HJD manual and software from HD vendor's site, checking manual and then using manufacturer's software to format drive.
February 22, 2008 1:46:50 AM

You may have a conflicting applications. Does it takes to long to finish a quick format?

If so download procexp from Sysinternals: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/sysinternals/bb89665...

scroll your mouse across the row of process and whatever has the most application rigth click then restart. it's mostly the svchost.exe that causes the system to freeze.

Try to format the hard drive again.

or

Remove the C drive then insert the Operating System Disc then reformat from there.
February 22, 2008 2:05:56 AM

I agree with what JackNaylor PE said.

Also, whatever brand of drive is that you are formatting you need to dowload the disk utility program and burn it to a disk and reboot your system.

Go into the menu to test that drive to make sure its ok and you can use that same utility to format it and then reboot and you should be good.

If its an IDE drive and the jumpers are set correctly this should work, otherwise you could have a hard drive problem that eroneously surfaced at the same time you installed the new drive.

Also, ensure that your cables are properly connected...

Let us know if and which suggestion helps, I am curious.
!