hard drive error "drive is not formatted"

[Tom Itri]

I recently upgraded from Windows 98 to 2000. My computer
had a 40G for "c" and a 60G for my "d" drive. After
upgrading to windows 2000, when I try to access my "d"
drive, windows tells me that the drive is not formatted.
Any suggestions?

Thanks
Tom

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

I recently upgraded from Windows 98 to 2000. My computer
had a 40G for "c" and a 60G for my "d" drive. After
upgrading to windows 2000, when I try to access my "d"
drive, windows tells me that the drive is not formatted.
Any suggestions?

Thanks
Tom

What file system on D:?

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

H'mm, that's odd, since according to my usually trustworthy sources, in W2K
the max. size of a FAT32 partition is 4GB, which you have exceeded. That
seems to be the problem. If C: is in fact 40GB, then W2K installed NTFS on it
- just how, I don't know, since I wasn't there when you installed W2K. If you
used an install mode that asked you few or no questions, then it's very
likely that C: is in fact NTFS. I'd double check if I were you.

But D: appears not to have been converted, so its 60GB size would make it
unreadable by W2K as is. It needs to be converted to NTFS..

Try convert.exe from the command prompt, but be sure to read the help first.
Enter "help convert" (without the quote marks) at the command line.

To convert drive D:, enter

convert d: /fs:ntfs

If you want to watch the program do its stuff:

convert d: /fs:ntsf /v

If you want to have a record of the files converted:

convert d: /fs:ntfs /nametable:files.log

HTH&GL

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

PS: if convert.exe refuses to work, you will probably need a utility with
which you can change certain data bytes on the HDD. This is not a job for the
typical user, so I'd take the box to a reliable technician. If you are leery
of using convert.exe, take the box to the technician anyhow.


HTH&GL

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

Max FAT32 volume size W2k can create is 32GB, but it easily supports the
bigger volumes created by W9x; for instance your system disk aka C: drive
(40GB).

Hah! An error in my "usually trustworthy sources."

Thanks for the info.