KO:
Can you provide a clearer picture of what you want to do?
1. The 250 GB HD is a USB 2.0 external hard drive, right?
2. Do you want a single partition encompassing the full capacity of your 250
GB drive?
3. Are you interested in creating *only* FAT32 partition(s)? You do
understand that XP will not allow you to format FAT32 partitions > 32 GB,
don't you? (Although there's a workaround for this).
4. Or, you'd be satisfied with NTFS partition(s)?
5. You're running XP with SP1 and/or SP2, right?
6. Provide a detailed description of how you've attempted to
partition/format that 250 GB drive.
Anna
From Ko:
1. Yes, it's a 250 GB USB 2.0 EHD.
2. Nope three partitions 2x100GB NTFS and 1x50GB NTFS 3. Yes (I do
understand). 4. Fine with me (NTFS partitions).
5. You're running XP with SP1 and/or SP2, right? (Unanswered)
6. Provide a detailed description of how you've attempted to
partition/format that 250 GB drive.
My Computer->Manage->Disk Management->Initialize disk->New primary
partition 100GB and format NTFS style. When the progressbar is At 100%
windows says that it could not complete the format.
My Computer->Manage->Disk Management->Initialize disk->New primary
partition 100GB without format (trying to format after all partitions
are created) -> new extended partition 150 GB-> new logical drive
100GB NTFS->New logical drive 50GB (actually 33,2GB) works fine: but
formatting when the progressbar is At 100% windows says that it could
not complete the format.
Hope you can help me Anna,
Greetings,
KO.
Glad you got it working. I was just going to update the thread myself. I
just had a very similar experience with an external USB hard drive. On a
computer with USB 1.1 I could make the partitions but the format would fail
with NTFS, FAT32 worked fine. I used a computer with USB 2.0 and NTFS
formatted fine.
Kerry
Ko:
I too am very glad things worked out for you re this issue. But I'm really
not clear on why you encountered such difficulty partitioning/formatting
your USB 2.0 external hard drive in terms of your initial objective of
creating three NTFS partitions of 100 GB, 100 GB, and 33 GB (approx). I do
understand that with respect to a EHD there's no problem in establishing
FAT32 partitions (as you ultimately did) instead of NTFS ones. Indeed, one
can make a case that it may be wise to do so since the EHD can then be used
with Win9x/Me operating systems. But setting that aside, using XP's Disk
Management utility to partition/format a EHD in NTFS should be a relatively
simple & straightforward task. So it's not clear to me why this process
failed you. (It *nearly* goes without saying that we're assuming the USB EHD
(enclosure & drive) are without defects and is properly
connected/configured). I do note you made some reference in a prior posting
to "extended partition" and "logical drive" in connection with your initial
attempt to partition the USB EHD. Ordinarily there would be no reason to
create anything *but* primary partitions on your EHD and I'm wondering
whether somehow your (apparent) attempt to create an extended partition with
logical drives kind of "muddied the waters" here. But all's well that ends
well as they say.
I note Kerry's comment as well that he too had some difficulty in this area.
We too have run into some strange & unexplained goings-on with USB devices
chiefly in terms of system non-recognition of these devices and other
anomalies. And we're at a loss to explain them. I'm beginning to wonder
whether the (many) manufacturers of these devices are not adhering to the
strict specifications of the USB 2.0 protocol and this is at the root of the
problems we're increasingly seeing with these devices.
Anna