Seagte 1.5tb bad clusters

[cfisher_53]

I just purchased a usb 1.5TB seagate external hard drive, and have been getting some strange things happening with the files and directory structure. I was able to dump one of my hard drives onto it, but as i started to change the directory structure it started to change the directory names into "strange" characters that cant be accessed anymore. Upon running chkdsk it goes through a few itterations of converting lost clusters and directories into files and then starts running through every single cluster on the drive. I let it run for 12 hours and have finally ended the process as it is taking forever. I realize its a 1.5tb, but omg.

The drive is formatted in FAT32 as my media player doesnt recognize NTFS. I did a quick format when i partitioned the drive, but im wondering if a full format will help with the bad cluster, or does it sound like a problem that will come up again and i should just return the drive?

Any advice/insight will be appreciated.

thanks

 

[Paperdoc]

I doubt you can Format a drive as large as 1.5 TB in FAT32 system. Check those details. You may have to create a few smaller Partitions so that each can be Formatted to FAT32 File System.

 

[blackhawk1928]

^true
-I dont how a media player cant see NTFS...consider switching because I recommend doing a full format into NTFS. FAT32 is bad for big partitions and bad for big files. Fat32 is good for a 10GB flash drive not a 1500GB Hard Drive...

 

[mikey5802]

I just purchased a usb 1.5TB seagate external hard drive, and have been getting some strange things happening with the files and directory structure. I was able to dump one of my hard drives onto it, but as i started to change the directory structure it started to change the directory names into "strange" characters that cant be accessed anymore. Upon running chkdsk it goes through a few itterations of converting lost clusters and directories into files and then starts running through every single cluster on the drive. I let it run for 12 hours and have finally ended the process as it is taking forever. I realize its a 1.5tb, but omg.

The drive is formatted in FAT32 as my media player doesnt recognize NTFS. I did a quick format when i partitioned the drive, but im wondering if a full format will help with the bad cluster, or does it sound like a problem that will come up again and i should just return the drive?

Any advice/insight will be appreciated.

thanks

With what OS did you format the drive, I doubt that it came pre-formatted. Some versions of Microsoft's OS only support partitions up to a certain size. The version of FDisk that everyone used to use to format and partition a drive won't work on today's large HDD's, and even Microsoft's 48 bit FDisk won't support HD's larger than 137 GB. Check these two links for more info:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mosaddique/Working%20with%20Large%20Hard%20Drives.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263044

Hope this helps.

 

[cfisher_53]

^true
-I dont how a media player cant see NTFS...consider switching because I recommend doing a full format into NTFS. FAT32 is bad for big partitions and bad for big files. Fat32 is good for a 10GB flash drive not a 1500GB Hard Drive...

I wanted to use my XBox 360 as the media player, and it won't recognize NTFS on a usb connected hard drive. So i used swissknife to format it to FAT32.

Looks like i will have to buy the WD Media Player and use the proper format.

I will assume for the moment that the "corruption" of the files and structure that I experienced earlier with the drive is due to the FAT32 limitations, and will wait and see after using it in NTFS for a liitle while.

Thanks for everyones input.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Yeah, Fat32 is mostly for small USB drives and mp3 players. Hard Drives for storage and applications all use NTFS for the most part.

 

[jackdalad23]

Hi. PLease help. I also have a 1.5TB external hard drive and am looking to format to FAT32 from NTFS as my PS3 wont read NTFS. How is it possible to format to FAT32. Not a computer head so some basic help would be so much appreciated !!

 

[blackhawk1928]

Well...I doubt that fat32 will see all your 1.5TB of space, you might lose a bunch of it. and formatting is easy, download good freeware partition manager utility like EASEUS partition mananger and its really easy to use. It finds your volume then you can format it however you like, its self-explanatory and has a guide.

 

[Guest]

Hi having same problems here with 1.5TB seagate. I keep reformatting it on my PC and Mac trying to figure out how to format it to NTFS so I can (apparently) use it on both. But so far I can only see it on either or, and now I can't even see it on the PC...