I need help formatting a device

I need to format and reinstall Windows. I have an Archos Gmini 120, which I was going to use for backing up my important stuff. It's an mp3 & wma player/USB 2.0 Hard Disk. It has a cpu, harddrive, and operating system. Something went wrong with it, although I'm not sure exactly what it was. Now whenever you turn it on the following message is displayed.

File system error
No valid Fat16/32 file system found
Please format drive

I downloaded the complete user manual. Here's what it says in the user's manual.

Remember that you should create at a minimum, the root level directory Music in order for the Music icon to drop you into that directory. Note that by default Windows XP will format your Gmini Hard Drive in NTFS format. This will make the Gmini unusable. Make sure you tell it to format the drive in Fat32 format. If the hardrive is 40gb, XP can only format in Fat32 up to 32 gigs. Thus you will lose 8 gigs of storage space. You will need to use a 3rd party program such as Partition Magic or Norton Utilities to format the entire 40gb of space in the Fat32 format. I have tried to format it with XP, and I get the following message "Windows was unable to complete the format". I also tried to format it with Partition Magic and didn't have any luck with it either. I went to Disk Management, deleted the partition, and used the Partition Wizard to create a new one and format it, but that didn't work either. I might have done something wrong because at first I made it an extended partition and then a logical drive. Now it's showing up as both. If it helps here is all the information for the drive that the device is on.

F: Basic, Online, Layout: Partition, File System: (it's blank), Type: Basic, Status: Healthy, Capacity: 18.1GB, % Free: 100%, Fault Tolerance: No, Overhead: 0%

I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help me out with this problem. I need the device for backup purposes so that I can reinstall XP. I can't do it until I'm able to format this device and install a new OS onto it.

 

I think you maybe S-O-L, since you lost its OS. if you know someone who has one of these you could copy it over, but, c'mon, out of the couple thousand mp3 players what are the chances. Too many ppl have the Ipod. But, on a more positive note, that is, if ya under warranty...well..you know the warranty drill...

 

Getting an OS for the device isn't a problem. They have them available for download on the company's site. I do need to format the device before I reinstall the OS though. If it helps here are the complete specs for the device. http://archos.com/download/spec_sheets/Gmini120_GB.pdf

 

I just had this little inkling pop into my head here. Try formatting or just try to read it under linux (download the live version of knoppix that runs just from a CD ) Just by any chance, do you know what filesystem type it orgionally was? fat32 maybe?...Also, not assuming anything, Are you Administrator on your computer? Also under windows, i dont know if this would work or have any effect at all, but HP has a generic flash drive formatter out that ive used to format various devices such as generic mp3 players. Although i havent done one with a hard drive im sure it will atleast give you a message that it cant work or whatnot. the link to that util is here. Also, thats awesome you can get the OS back, does it by any chance come with an installer?. If it does i would hope/asssume that it would automatically format and do whatever else it needs. Good luck.

(sorry i have no sense of logical thought process so my ideas are messy)

 

I am the administrator of the computer. Unfortunately I don't have any CDs to put Knoppix on, nor can I afford any at the moment. Times are rough. The original file system is FAT32. I tried using the HP usb format tool that you suggested, but I didn't have any luck with it either. I'm not sure if the OS has an installer. I'm assuming it doesn't because in the manual it says to install the OS after you format, and then the device will recognize the new OS once it is placed on the harddrive. I also don't know how to create the music folder in root as the manual suggested. Would I do that after I installed the OS?

 

hmm creating the music folder: AFAIK, that part can be up to you, the 'bear necessities'-so-to-speak, that you must have to put a directory on a device is JUST a filesystem. So short answer: you can put it on as soon as you format the thing... Im stumped as far as HOW to format it. Even though the device cant use NTFS, have you tried formatting it as such just to see if it would go through? Thats something to try i guess...we need some mods to get in here and help out instead of me,..im sure you feel neglected

Btw, i know what you mean about times bein tough...barely scrapin enough together to get by..