hard drive problems - format issues

how can i format my hard drive? i was having problems with my computer (windows me), and i'm pretty sure something got corrupted. so i basically want to start with a clean slate (format it). but, it won't let me do it. i do have my discs for my computer, but it's a gateway, so it isn't your normal os disc. i have a floppy boot disk, when i get into dos mode, i can't change it from the "a" drive to the "c" drive, etc., etc. i have my maxtor disc for the hard drive, but it won't let me run it, because the os is on that drive. should i try and load my os, and then see if i can format it later? any ideas? - sos

 

well, i wasn't able to really do anything!! i could not use my gateway disk(s) that came with my computer (same as below). i could not use my maxtor disk, that came with my h/d, as i kept getting some error (x=0, y=1, blah, blah, blah), something like that. i found an old windows 98 cd, and get it to start loading, etc., but got an error towards the end of it (blue screen). i decided to try my xp from my laptop (which is also gateway), which is dead anyway. at this moment i got it to partition my h/d, and am in the middle of installing the software on my computer. - sos

 

well, it worked! i was able to load xp on my home computer, which used to be windows me. now, i've just got to do all of my updates, and get it setup. anyway, thx for trying. - sos

 

ok, i'm having two problems now.

1) i can't access my 2nd h/d in my computer, any ideas (see 1st pic below)? the maxtor is the "c" drive, and the western digital is supposed to be the other drive. i did take out the main h/d when i was having problems earlier (this thread), so i will check and see if i changed my jumper setting later on. i didn't see anything in my bios setting(s).

2) i had installed xp earlier (sunday), and i had a couple of errors, so i decided to reinstall it again yesterday, but this time partition my h/d so i partitioned 15 gbyte (so i could back up everything there), and went on with my installation. well it turns out my "c" drive is only 15 gig, and the "g" drive is where the os is. (backwards of what i want). any ideas? i guess i'm gonna try and reload it again??!! - thx, sos

p.s. yes i know it will work this way, but i'd rather have it right before i get everything realoaded on there.

 

well, i finally got my format issue fixed for my primary drive. however i still can't access my 2nd h/d (it's not there in windows explorer)!! i have come to the conclusion, that the 2nd h/d is not formatted now? is there anyway to format it without losing my data that is on there? i had started to format it, and cancelled it after 1% done, now i can see the drive in windows explorer. hopefully i haven't deleted anything on there, as it has most of my backup stuff. i haven't been able to access the drive since i switched to xp.


BELOW, is what i went through last weekend with my format issue (some of it might be a repeat, of what i posted earlier)...

i had to take out my drive, and put it in my study computer (as the secondary drive), load my maxtor hard drive software, and run it on my h/d (partition and format). then i took it out, put it back where it belonged, and reinstalled the os again.

i'm pretty sure i was picking up residual stuff. i was not able to format it on my computer, and i wound up installing my os several times.

last weekend (03/12-13/05) - i installed xp, installed a bunch of programs, did a bunch of windows updates, got some error, and decided to reinstall os again, but with a partition.

mon. (03/14/05) - partitioned and formated the h/d, and accidentally saved the os to the "g" drive. the c drive was 15 gbyte, and the g drive was 45 gbyte (60 gbyte h/d)

tues. - partitioned and formated again, this time, the os was on c drive (45 gbyte), and the 15 gbyte was missing

wed. - partitioned and formatted again, this time, the os was on the c drive (15 gbyte), and the 45 gbyte was missing

this is why i took out the h/d and put it in my other one, as the software (from maxtor) would not let you run it on a disk the os was on!!