Pc cannot format hard drive..

I got a seagate 2.5 notebook drive ( 8 mb cache, 320 gb, 5400 rpm) from my brother in law.

Well i don't own a laptop so i thought i would still use the drive as an external hard drive to back up some of my important data. So i went ahead and bought a generic hard drive enclosure for it.

I put the hard drive in the enclosure and plug in the usb cable(s). This particular enclosure came with double usb cables to hook up to my pc. I tried hooking only one up but it was apparent it needed more power ( i could hear the drive partially spinning) so i hooked up the other one and it began to work fine.

When the drive loads up it has 2 things popping up '' system reserved K '' which seems to be about 100 mb and '' local disk L''. My Pc wont let me use local disk L because it states my HD needs to be formatted. I can see the space of the HD ( 297 gb), but i can't format it.

I go to properties then i get a screen that says ''format local disk L'' then from top to bottom it says:
Capacity : 297 gb
File system : NTFS (default)- i choose this option
allocation unit size: 4,096 bytes
Format Options: Quick format ( other option is not select able)

after about 20 seconds it then gives me an error '' Windows was unable to format your hard drive''

I am running windows 7, 64 bit and it according to the box the HD came in it should be compatible

I would appreciate some assistance regarding this matter, thanks

 

http://thelightroomlab.com/2009/01/formatting-an-external-hard-drive/

i found a video on how to to this but i don't even have '' new simple volume'' command in my selection when i right click the hd

 

Try Seatools and run "restore to factory condition".

 

It sounds like the drive is compressed, that would be why there are a K and an L partition. As far as I know, Windows can't format a compressed partition. The disk manager in Windows should be able to remove the current partitions and create a new single partition allowing you to format it.

Also, as augiedoggie said, Seatools should be able to return it to an unpartitioned state allowing Windows to partition and format the drive.

 

I am currently trying to format it through the disk manager in windows.

The problem is its taking long.. how long should this take for a 300 gb hd? Its close to 4 hrs now and its still not done, heck i don't even see a progress bar to see how much more it needs.

I did not choose the ''quick format'' option since it stated in the video it was better to just have my pc analyze everything.. but how long should this actually take?

I would hate to wait hrs ( not that i am actually sitting by and waiting) for it just to say an error. I would have thought maybe by 4 hrs it would be done by now.. i came back from eating, store, and mechanic and its still formatting.

 

That is way too long. Maybe 30 minutes at the outside would be normal.

Try a third party partition program like Partition Wizard.

Or use Seatools to erase the drive and then Windows Disk Management to create a new partition as the others have said. Erasing the drive using SeaTools may take a few hours, although I think that may be overestimating the time.

 

My computer is having problems installing seatools.. so i just downloaded the minitool partition.

What do i do after i am there? I can see both my hard drives: my primary ones and my external one.

In case i do something wrong i already have all my data from my primary drive backed up in another 1 tb hard drive ( i back up my data at least every week or 10 days).

 

So the external shows with both partitions?

Is the large 297gb partition showing as type NTFS?
If you right click the large 297gb partition and select Explore does it show any files?

 

It does show both partitions

The large 297 gb partition shows up as ''unformatted''

When i right click on the 297 gb partition i cannot choose ''explore'' because the option is grayed out.

 

If you don't care about the previous data you can choose to Delete the partition instead of Explore. Then click Apply button.

Now right-click the unallocated space you just created and select Create and make a new NTFS partition. Hit the Apply button in the main window when finished.

If that worked. See if it now shows in My Computer. You may have to restart the computer to see the change.

 

i delete both partitions? Or just the 297 gb one?

I really don't care about deleting any previous data it had on it , if at all.

 

You can delete both since the System Reserved was just the boot files for the old laptop OS. It isn't doing you any good.

 

hm i did everything as described then after i was done, it said '' bad drive'' where the unallocated message was at.

I restarted my pc and the drive was not showing up i load minitool and i see the drive there unallocated again..

 

Try right clicking where it says the Disk # (make sure you have the correct disk, probably disk 2) and select Wipe Disk then Apply. See if it can overwrite the disk or if it gives you an error.

If it gives you an error then I think I would try installing Seatools again.

 

I don't have Wipe Disk do you mean Wipe partition? Also do i just leave the default numbers filled in when i put create?

I tried to redo what i did yesterday and it says bad drive again, but when i unplug the usb cable from the external hd it resets back to unallocated

 

Try to just Create the partition in the unallocated space as in your first picture and see if it will work. So basically as you have it set then hit OK and then Apply in the main window.

If that doesn't work try highlighting the words "Disk 2" in the bottom half of the screen as in your second picture and right click the highlighted Disk 2 and then Wipe Disk should be available.

 

Is the laptop drive a SATA? If so, you may be able to connect it internally to your PC, that would rule out any anomalies with USB chipsets, software drivers etc. that may be blocking you now.

 

it is a sata

when i wipe disk do i choose any option?

I just picked the first one in the list, im not sure its even doing anything the progress bar is not even advancing

 

The first option is fine. It may take a while to wipe the disk as it writes a zero to each sector. I take it you hit the Apply button if you are seeing a progress bar. Has it made any progress?

Directly connecting the HD to the computer would be a good option if you can't make any progress with Partition Wizard through USB.

 

I did hit apply and its been 20 minutes and not one of the bars has moved at all.

Then i just pressed cancel since it did not seem to be making progress at all. After i pressed cancel it says '' bad drive'' again

 

If you have a blank CD you may want to run the Seatools for DOS version. That would eliminate your install problems. You could use imgburn to burn the ISO to CD using the "Write Image File to Disc" option. Then boot from the CD and see if you can use the low-level format option.

If that doesn't work then try connecting the drive directly to your PC using a SATA cable. And running Seatools for DOS or Windows.

The drive is obviously having problems and it looks like Seatools might be the only option.

 

hm is my drive bad?

 

i get this message when i ran a basic test on seatools

 

Seatools could be tripping up over the USB connection, using the 'wrong' drivers to access it. I've seen it happen with the DOS version too, as well as with other makes.

Try using a USB port in the back of the PC if you're connected to the front ports now (or vice-versa), many PC's have 2 USB hubs built-in, some use different chipsets.

 

i plugged it into the back usb ports it made no difference

plugged it in internally and still same problem...

can someone verify by what i have posted so far that this drive is faulty? this is beyond frustrating i would really dislike to keep on trying only to find out in the end that this drive was faulty to begin with..

 

Internally as in connected the drive directly with SATA to the motherboard? Same Seatools ShortDST fail message? If so, it's definitely faulty.

I almost asked you earlier about the drive's history and why you'd been given it - never looking gift horses in their mouths and all that

 

I agree the HD is faulty if it fails the short test. Especially with the faults in the other programs. Even with a failed short test you can low-level format the drive and often use them for data with little problem.

But The drive you point to is marked WDC which would be a Western Digital drive. The one starting with ST3500 is a Seagate drive (apparently 500gb not 320gb) Looks like that belongs to your Acer. I don't want you to accidentally format the wrong drive. Are you certain about the size and brand of the drive you are testing? Could the laptop drive be a Western Digital? If it is a Western Digital then you want to try their diagnostic utility.

 

I think the laptop drive might actually be western digital, because my main hard drive is 500 gb

There was no markings on the laptop drive so i could identify the brand and because my brother in law gave it to me in a seagate box i just assumed it was.

Well i have some partial good news being that i was able to reformat the hard drive in another desktop. All i did in there was just format it through the disk management section on windows.

The desktop that was able to format it is running windows xp, and in mine it would initiate formatting but i could never see a percentage. In this one it did display a percentage and it took about just 8 minutes to format it.

I named it and assigned a letter to it unplugged it and it would show up on the other desktop. I transferred a small word file ( 80kb) and it transferred fine. But i tried to transfer a file that was 500 mb and it would just get stuck and never complete. Any ideas why this is happening?

I noticed that alot of external hard drives have other files in them when i buy them so perhaps i need other drivers/files?

Though this hard drive is still useless for me.. the desktop i tried it on is my brothers and when i plugged it in on mine it does not recognize it or detect it at all...

Not only that when i plug it in my desktop it freezes, and once it unfreezes my applications and files don't work ( from my main HD). I was getting messages saying '' windows timed out for this file'' , '' windows media player cannot open this file'' and other things alike. So when i restarted my desktop it seemed to get fixed.

This hard drive belonged to my brother in laws brother's friend who is a DJ. The DJ who sold his laptop took out the hard drive and was going to move and had no use for it so he gave it to his friend( brother in laws brother) , who then gave it to his brother ( my brother in law) who gave it to me. I don't believe they would give me something that was faulty ( they would just throw it to the trash) and i really do believe they just gave it to me since they have no idea what to do with it and are the sort of people who would never be bothered to format it, put it inside laptop , or fiddle with it.

 

I know you are tired of testing the drive but it is probably worth running the short and or long test in Western Digital's Data Lifeguard utility to see if the long test can repair errors.

Since you reformatted there shouldn't really be any errors. At least see if the short test passes or fails. The utility can give you the model number of the drive so you know it is WD.

***
I'm not sure if you are saying everything is working fine after a reboot. If the drive is being seen in your computer now while attached by USB and you can write large files to it then you are OK. If still won't accept large files then run the WD long test and see what it says. [I find WD has the best diagnostic utility of all the HD brands. If their Windows version won't fix the drive the CD version almost always will.]

 

It reads like the drive has "sleeping sickness", it's spinning down too fast or not responding correctly - the controller board is probably damaged.

It must be a WDC, according to the screenshot, it was on the USB connection.


I'd steer clear of any external drive software, stick to Windows tools when you can, otherwise things sometimes become very complicated to sort out if an error occurs in software.

 

Now that i remember i saw a sticker( and found it) of a hard drive that had the name western digital , my brother in law's brother must of stuck it in my house walls when he came over a few days ago..

The sticker had the WD logo and says WD Scorpio Blue

MDL: WD3200BEVT-75ZCT2
WWN:50014EE0019ACD8
date: 11 sep 2009
dcm: HHNTJAB
LBA: 625142448
Interface: SATA
capacity: 320 gb
rpm: 5400
firmware: T2
S/N: WXC0A89C8048

 

I ran tests with the western digital software and it says failed

It has green checkmarks on everything except ''Re- allocate Sector count''

Do you guys think it can be fixed?

It also failed the quick test run in 8 seconds, i am running the extended test run right now and ill post the results back in 1 hr ( states it will take 45 min).

Again i cannot do anything with this HD in my pc but my brothers desktop detects it and is able to access it ( with problems).

i have attached screenshots of the errors

 

You know I was just thinking you have nothing on the drive so get the WD Windows diagnostic I linked to in my last post and right-click the 320WDC drive and Select Run Diagnostics. From there choose Write Zeros. That will completely erase the drive and try to put a zero in every sector. It should mark any bad sectors bad. So you will have a completely blank drive with all errors fixed.

Then try to create a partition and format it on the computer you will be using it in through Disk Management.

Although writing zeros takes some time that saves you the time of running the extended/long test which isn't needed because you don't have any data to preserve, yet still cleans up the drive.

After that if the drive works directly connected to your desktop then test it through USB. See if it can write large files either way.

Edit: I'd say skip the long test and try the Write zeros to save an hour. Then create a partition and format it all on the computer that recognizes it (your brothers). Then test if your computer will recognize the drive and see the new partition you created.

 

That indicates that there are too many bad blocks (damaged data storage areas) to swap out (put shortcuts to 'spare' blocks instead), thus the drive is pretty useless, it'll only get worse, probably sooner rather than later. Any data on those blocks will be lost.

I think the unknown error could be the sleeping sickenss, I doubt if it's stopped because of bad blocks - I've yet to see that happen.

Reallocated sector count, SMART, wikipedia:

There were times when the only working drive I had were ones that I'd remapped useful lifespan once remapped was a few days to, maybe 4 months, depending on how accurate my partitioning was.

 

it failed the extended test within just a few minutes and would not proceed further than that.

It also failed to write zeros

This drive is hopeless now i assume? Should i just not bother with it anymore?

 

It looks pretty much gone. Given Satrow's advice, reallocation seems to be a particularly bad error.

I've always had good luck with the WD diagnostics fixing errors. I usually run the DOS version which you haven't tried. If you don't have a blank CD available then I would just give up on the drive (no point in buying a bunch of CDs for one test). If you have a CD then I would burn the disc and see if it could either complete the long test and attempt to fix errors, or Write zeros to the drive. Sometimes the bootable CD has better luck than a Windows version but since a couple different programs/computers have had trouble reading the HD it seems most likely the problem is worse than a few bad sectors.

I don't like to give up but the drive seems to be not worth the trouble.