Not your normal HDD problem...

[TakezoDunmer2005]

First the specs:
AMD PHENOM II x6 @ 2.8 Not Oc'd
14 gb Kingston Ram @ 4x4gb
ATI Sapphire 6950 @2gb
Western Digital 600gb @ 7500
3x Samsung green 2 tb @ 5400
Theratake TR2 RX @ 750w
Win 7 HP 64

My problem is this, one of my drives giving me problems shows up in the bios, windows Devices, and even installs the necessary drivers when enabled...In other words, windows knows that this HDD exists, MY problem however, is that I'm unable to write, read, or even sing to the bleedin' thing as it displays itself as having two partitions, one stating 1800 gb, and the other 2048 gb in Disk Management!

A quick note, I've yet to install the firmware as it's not available that I have seen, nor have I ever installed said firmware...Yet...Also, these HDDs were purchased PRIOR to Seagate's acquisition of Samsung...Looks like it's Western Digital for me from now on then..

Any help on this matter is well appreciated!

 

[fantastik250]

Do you have any data in there, also are you dual booting in that hard drive? If not, then I may be able to help.

 

[masterjaw]

Looks like the drive had partitions. I believe the only way to use it is either use disk management to format the drive or use an external enclosure and access the drive via USB.

 

[Guest]

Boot up a live CD of Ubuntu and use gparted to format the drive. Linux will overwrite "protected" stuff that Windows simply won't touch. I've done that before when Windows 7 won't allow me to delete/move/format things I need done!

Also, a 1GB USB device would work for a bootable media with an Ubuntu ISO stuck on it. About a 800mb download from their site (free!).

 

[fantastik250]

Okay sounds like everyone is answering, anyways, you can use Gparted or EaseUS Home Edition. Just delete the partitions, then reformat the drive to NTFS and Convert it to Primary.

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

Answer# 1
No, I have never written anything on it (Thankfully!) When I first got it however, it was fine, but then...This happened! Thanks for any help that you may be able to provide!

Answer# 2
That's the thing, I never even formatted it, nor partitioned it! Also, none of my HDDs gives any strange frightening sounds either!

I would like to format it, but cannot in the current windows environment as every R-click option is inaccessible, "...or use an external enclosure and access the drive via USB." This sounds interesting as I was thinking it could be done via dos, though I'm not experienced in any of these operations.

 

[fantastik250]

Okay, download EaseUS:
http://www.partition-tool.com/landing/home-download.htm

Download the home edition. Install, open program and click on Main Screen. Tell me when you get past Main Screen.

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

Okay sounds like everyone is answering, anyways, you can use Gparted or EaseUS Home Edition. Just delete the partitions, then reformat the drive to NTFS and Convert it to Primary.

Just googled them both, and I'll do a DL/install and give it a go and keep you folks updated as to the results! Thanks all, for the advice, also, I only wish I were well-versed in Linux, but this is another path that can be used as reference in my future growth to true geekdom mastery!

 

[fantastik250]

^^^ummm, possibly wrong thread

 

[Guest]

Ubuntu is a very easy to use. Point and click, no difference than windows really for most tasks. Plus, Ubuntu has a huge forum online for help if needed. I ran Ubuntu 9.04-10.4 for two years between Windows XP and Windows 7. IF Windows 8 flops and No good games come out in the future, I'll use it again till the next killer Windows upgrade comes along and I build another rig!

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

Okay, download EaseUS:
http://www.partition-tool.com/landing/home-download.htm

Download the home edition. Install, open program and click on Main Screen. Tell me when you get past Main Screen.

I'm staring at it right now, I couldn't find it at first as it didn't display those inaccurate partition totals!

Ubuntu is a very easy to use. Point and click, no difference than windows really for most tasks. Plus, Ubuntu has a huge forum online for help if needed. I ran Ubuntu 9.04-10.4 for two years between Windows XP and Windows 7. IF Windows 8 flops and No good games come out in the future, I'll use it again till the next killer Windows upgrade comes along and I build another rig!

Looks like I'm on my way in earning my masters then!

 

[fantastik250]

Ok, now right click the drive that has the GPT partitions and Delete the Partitions. Then format it to NTFS. Then right click again and Convert to Primary (don't convert to Logical)

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

Ok, now right click the drive that has the GPT partitions and Delete the Partitions. Then format it to NTFS. Then right click again and Convert to Primary (don't convert to Logical)

Hmmm, the only options after deleting the partitions are:

Initialize to MBR.
Wipe Disk...
Surface test...
And View Properties...

 

[fantastik250]

Ok, initialize MBR, sorry about that.

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

Ok, initialize MBR, sorry about that.

No problem, I figured that was the next course of action, but I never rely on assumptions without confirmation! I did both, and formatted, I'm guessing I'll have to restart my system in order for the processes to initialize?

 

[fantastik250]

Does it say for you to initialize the process?

Tell me what the drive says now?
Drive Name:, File System (if it says NTFS), Capacity, Used, Unused, Status, Type

Ok, if it says something like this - Your Drive Name:, NTFS, Whatever capacity it was, Status: None, Type: Primary. Then you are all set. You can restart your computer if you want. It is a usable drive now.

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

No, I didn't receive any specific dialogue instructions, just have a list as "Pending Operations" also, there's not really anything happening when I start the format process..

DN=TZO'S Stuff
FS=NTFS
Capacity=1.82TB
Used=122.66mb
Unused=1.82TB
Status=None
Type=Primary

 

[fantastik250]

It got already formatted to NTFS, did you hit apply and hit okay? After that you are all done.

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

It got already formatted to NTFS, did you hit apply and hit okay? After that you are all done.

Duhh...Ok, I did that, and received an error, I'll re-start my system and try again, I'll be back..

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

EDIT:

After re-starting my computer I tried to repeat the process, unfortunately it made things worse! I deleted the partition, formatted, applied, then this happened...

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

Hmmm, I suppose everyone went to bed, I'll try tomorrow then, thanks for the help!

 

[TakezoDunmer2005]

Did I say something wrong? What happened?

 

[fantastik250]

Okay, delete the "other" partitions. Reformat to NTFS again. If that doesn't work you can resize the partition to make it larger.


It looks like your unallocated spaces are logical. convert those to Primary.

There are several ways to do this, You can wipe the partition and format, or merge and format. Once you did those, then you can resize the partition (extend it wider). Always remember to hit ok and apply.