Seagate desktop external drive 0 bytes free 0 bytes used

[mamamam]

when i plug my Seagate desktop external drive 500gb into my computer it is read as having 0 bytes used and 0 bytes free and when i ask to format it stops and says "Windows was unable to complete the format" does any one know how i can fix this?

 

[buwish]

Try and right clicking on My Computer and go to Manage. From there find the storage section and attempt to format it from there. I assume your using Vista or W7, but if its XP, I'm unsure of where to go in that regard. Maybe an XP user can chime in. If that doesn't do the trick, it very well may be a faulty HDD if its new or it simply busted if its an older drive.

 

[daft]

ive seen this problem before with seagates. more than likely something has failed on the drive rendering it useless. but if you still wish to try. open up the command prompt (run->cmd in xp, search bar-> cmd in vista/W7) and use the command format (drive letter (ex C: )) NTFS. this will format the drive into NTFS. if it does not work, then i would suggest seeing if the drive is still under warranty and get a new one.