New HD formatting problem

[Guest]

I have just installed a new 400GB (Seagate Ultra IDE, same type as drive 0)
internal hard drive (1). Using XP's Disk Management, I tried to format the
new drive. I selected NTFS file system (same as drive 0) and default
allocation unit size. Even running overnight, the format did not complete
(and the XP user log-on took a long time). I then switched off my PC manually
(no option to cancel given), and restarted. The new drive (D showed up as
having a capacity of 372.61GB, Online and Healthy. However Windows Explorer
gives the error message <D:\ is not accessible. The parameter is incorrect>.
I then tried formatting again, with the Perform a quick format option
selected. The error message <The format did not complete successfully.>
appeared immediately.
Help, please!

 

[Rich Barry]

Maurice, I would look here for some help
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=dce3b27d0434e010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

 

[Rock]

I have just installed a new 400GB (Seagate Ultra IDE, same type as drive 0)
internal hard drive (1). Using XP's Disk Management, I tried to format the
new drive. I selected NTFS file system (same as drive 0) and default
allocation unit size. Even running overnight, the format did not complete
(and the XP user log-on took a long time). I then switched off my PC
manually
(no option to cancel given), and restarted. The new drive (D showed up
as
having a capacity of 372.61GB, Online and Healthy. However Windows
Explorer
gives the error message <D:\ is not accessible. The parameter is
incorrect>.
I then tried formatting again, with the Perform a quick format option
selected. The error message <The format did not complete successfully.>
appeared immediately.

Your post is unclear. You state, "Even running overnight, the format did
not complete..." Doing a full format on a drive that large can take a long
time. Did you let it finish? Run a drive diagnostic on it which you can
download from the Seagate site. You may need to write zero's to the drive
and then reformat and let it complete.

 

[Guest]

Many thanks, Rich. I got the help (and education!) I needed from your Seagate
site reference.

 

[Guest]

Rock: Many thanks. It turned out that the BIOS was not set to AUTO detection
of the new drive. When I corrected this, the drive formatted OK, in about 2
hours.

 

[Rock]

Great, Maurice, glad you have a resolution and thanks for posting back the
outcome.