2.5 IDE Hard drive wont open!

[brighouse]

I recently bought a 160GB IDE hard drive for my laptop. It works very well and is recognized by my computer ( in the device manager )... but I cant open the folder to format or just plain open the drive.

I got the same problems before with a bigger hard drive, but back then I could open and format it via a Windows XP OS, which I dont have anymore. I have now Windows Vista Home Premium.

Is there a way to open that hard drive folder to format it?

 

[Guest]

If you have a Windows OS install disk (XP or Vista) boot from that in the CD drive (you may have to change boot order in BIOS first). Let the OS install sequence run up to the point where it has formatted the new drive and quit before the OS is installed (unless you want to install to it). You should then be able to format the hard disk in Windows.

 

[brighouse]

Hi and thanks for your advice. It worked perfectly, after I changed the setup of my BIOS ( which I always forget ).

But here is another thing, I got another hard drive which I wanted to format but this one wont work. I get to the point where the new OS is being setup, but then it just stopped.

A window popped up then, that says this hardware is not compatible...and something about a missing driver.
Maybe this hard drive is totally f...? Although it is also being recognized in my Device Manager and it runs and spins.
And the BIOS setup doesnt work, this time ( I tried several options ).

Thanks my computer wiz kid!

 

[Guest]

If Windows refuses to format a drive it's usually a marginally faulty drive. That's quite likely, even if the drive has appeared to be okay otherwise.

But you might check whether there are other possibilities for example is the BIOS able to deal with a drive of this size ?

A missing driver message might relate to the interface, but then the drive probably wouldn't be recognised by the BIOS.

 

[brighouse]

Hello, thanks for the quick reply.
Well, I am certain that its NOT something to do with the BIOS setup, because the other hard drive with the same size could be formatted without any troubles.

Do you think this drive, if faulty, could get fixed, somehow?
Do you think its a software problem?

I know its tough to make any assumptions without ever seeing the problem, but maybe its a common problem that can be solved with some nifty software?

 

[Guest]

I'd go to the disk maker's website and see if the have a test program and a wipe program (most do) the first is self explanatory and may at least show if there's mechanical fault.

The second writes zeros all over the drive which can delete previous formats or corrupt data.

 

[brighouse]

Hello, I tried your suggestion with a wipe program. And something did happen, but the hard drive is still not recognized.

When I ran the program, at the end a message popped up which say:
BIOS BUG FOUND
BUFFER I/O ERROR ON DEVICE HDA LOGICAL BLOCK 0
IDE FAILURE OP CODE


Well I suppose it means my computer BIOS wont recognize this hard drive.

And I suppose there isnt anything I can do?

Thanks anyway and

Merry Christmas

 

[Guest]

It's an unusual message -- and were it a desktop machine I'd just assume it was erroneous and that more likely the disk was faulty.

But knowing the control freakery that goes on with laptops, it may well be the BIOS doesn't like this hard drive brand or model. Had similar problems when exchanging CD drives on laptops and have heard of BIOS issue with replacement internal wireless hardware.