Can't format 200 GB Maxtor SATA drive with Windows XP

[Lucas Partridge]

Hi,

I've got a new Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200 GB SATA hard drive, model
6B200MO, and I want to use it as an additional drive in my PC. I don't
want to make it my bootable drive. I already have Windows XP Home newly
installed on a separate Western Digital IDE drive.

My motherboard is quite old: Micro-Star International MS-6330 K7TPro2
with a VIA KT133 chipset. I'm using AWARD BIOS W6330VMS v3.6 100702 (the
latest version I could download from MSI's website). Because the
motherboard is old I had to get a PCI controller card to recognise the
Maxtor drive. I got a Silicon Image SIL-3112 SATA card and am using the
Sil 3112 SATARaid Controller driver v1.0.0.51 (downloaded from Windows
Update).

The Western Digital drive is jumpered as the master drive and is
connected to the primary IDE controller on the motherboard (using the
terminal black connector on the IDE cable). The Maxtor drive is
connected to the SATA controller card.

I downloaded Maxtor's setup software MaxBlast 4.0 for Windows and used
that to partition and format the new drive. I had to do this before
Windows would list the drive in Windows Explorer. When I click on the
drive in Explorer I'm told it's not formatted but when I do choose to
format it there and then I get the following error:

"Windows was unable to complete the format."

This happens whether I use the quick or the full format. Disk Management
shows the drive to be healthy but I can't format it there either: "The
format did not complete successfully."

I tried jumpering the Western Digital drive as Master with Slave but the
BIOS reported "Primary master hard disk fail" so I removed the jumper as
it was before.

Maxtor's diagnostic utility PowerMax v4.21 reports no problems with the
Maxtor drive: I've done a low level format writing zeroes to the disk
several times but that doesn't cure the problem.

Originally I had tried installing XP directly on the Maxtor drive but XP
setup also failed with "Setup was unable to format the partition. The
disk may be damaged... blah, blah." I did press F6 during setup to load
the Sil 3112 Raid driver.

Interestingly Microsoft's Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) doesn't
include model 6B200MO among its list of compatible hardware
(http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ca...=search&qu=diamondmax+10&scope=1&btnSearch=Go).

Please can someone help here? Many thanks.

 

[Guest]

Try this,unplug C: drive,unplug the IDE cable,leaving SATA and youre cdrom.
Boot to BIOS,set to boot to cdrom,in cd boot,press F6 load drivers,then at
info
page,select repair,you shouldnt be prompted for password,its enter key if
you are,
then typeiskPart In DiskPart,create a partition,then press Esc key,then
type:
FORMAT C: /FS:ntfs When its thru,type:EXIT Shutoff computer,reatach IDE
drives,start-up computer.The SATA drive is now ready for use...

 

[Guest]

Also,silicon image controller 3112 is compatable with XP,intel,Abit,plus
dozen others have used it,its a good controller,however silicon image has
retired it and updates for it,the last was around aug.04

 

[Bob Harris]

Originally XP had a limitation of about 127Gig for a hard drive, not one
partition, but the whole drive.

A fix was added in SP-1, but it is not on by default. See the following
article on enabling 48-bit LBA:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

 

[Lucas Partridge]

Thanks for the advice, Bob. I checked out the Microsoft article you
mentioned but it said that registry entry (EnableBigLba) is ignored in
Windows XP SP 1 or later, and I have SP 2.

I had found mention of this registry setting before in Maxtor's ATA
Installation Guide (see below).

When I get a chance I'm going to try out Andrew E.'s suggested solution
and report the results back to this newsgroup.

Thanks again,
Lucas.

-----------------------------

The Windows operating systems that natively support the full capacity
of drives larger than 137 GB are:
• Windows XP Home, Service Pack 1 (SP1) and higher
• Windows XP Professional, SP1 and higher
• Windows 2000 Professional, SP3 and higher
• Windows 2000 Server, SP3 and higher
You must install the latest Microsoft Service Pack, then install and run
the Windows version of MaxBlast to enable complete support for large
drives. To download the latest Service Pack for Windows XP or 2000,
visit http://www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
Once you have installed the latest Service pack, install MaxBlast for
Windows from the MaxBlast CD. Run the MaxBlast for Windows
application (Start menu: Programs: Maxtor MaxBlast: MaxBlast) and
select the Set Up Your Hard Disk option. MaxBlast will check for the
existence of a compatible Service Pack and install the EnableBigLBA
(Logical Block Addressing) patch into the Windows Registry. Windows
should now be able to properly support partitions larger than 137 GB
that have been created in MaxBlast.
Installing the latest Service Pack without subsequently running
the Set Up Your Hard Disk Option in the MaxBlast application will
not fully enable large drive support and may lead to data loss.

 

[Lucas Partridge]

Thanks for the advice. I followed your instructions and the format
within diskpart reported 100% completion without any errors. I then
reconnected the IDE drive and rebooted into XP. However when I clicked
on drive F: (the SATA drive) it behaved exactly as before: This drive is
not formatted. When I let it format it for me I got the same old error
as before: Windows was unable to complete the format.

To be honest I'm not sure why the format in the disk repair part of the
XP setup CD should be any different to the format in the normal part of
the setup, so I'm curious as to why you think your solution would work
(although at least it said it completed the format without problems!).

Just in case I also tried setting EnableBigLba = 1 in the registry as
Bob Harris had suggested, but that's made no difference either.

Any more ideas please? Thanks for your help.
Lucas.

 

[Jim Macklin]

Delete the Maxtor MaxBlast software, make sure the PCI SATA
card is installed and working properly using device manager.
Be sure it is set to run the correct setting for a single
drive, not a RAID.

Then try the format command using the disk management
function of XP. Right click My Computer, select manage,
then Storage/Disk Management.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| Thanks for the advice. I followed your instructions and
the format
| within diskpart reported 100% completion without any
errors. I then
| reconnected the IDE drive and rebooted into XP. However
when I clicked
| on drive F: (the SATA drive) it behaved exactly as before:
This drive is
| not formatted. When I let it format it for me I got the
same old error
| as before: Windows was unable to complete the format.
|
| To be honest I'm not sure why the format in the disk
repair part of the
| XP setup CD should be any different to the format in the
normal part of
| the setup, so I'm curious as to why you think your
solution would work
| (although at least it said it completed the format without
problems!).
|
| Just in case I also tried setting EnableBigLba = 1 in the
registry as
| Bob Harris had suggested, but that's made no difference
either.
|
| Any more ideas please? Thanks for your help.
| Lucas.
|
| Andrew E. wrote:
| > Try this,unplug C: drive,unplug the IDE cable,leaving
SATA and youre cdrom.
| > Boot to BIOS,set to boot to cdrom,in cd boot,press F6
load drivers,then at
| > info
| > page,select repair,you shouldnt be prompted for
password,its enter key if
| > you are,
| > then typeiskPart In DiskPart,create a partition,then
press Esc key,then
| > type:
| > FORMAT C: /FS:ntfs When its thru,type:EXIT Shutoff
computer,reatach IDE
| > drives,start-up computer.The SATA drive is now ready
for use...
| >
| > "Lucas Partridge" wrote:
| >
| >
| >>Hi,
| >>
| >>I've got a new Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200 GB SATA hard
drive, model
| >>6B200MO, and I want to use it as an additional drive in
my PC. I don't
| >>want to make it my bootable drive. I already have
Windows XP Home newly
| >>installed on a separate Western Digital IDE drive.
| >>
| >>My motherboard is quite old: Micro-Star International
MS-6330 K7TPro2
| >>with a VIA KT133 chipset. I'm using AWARD BIOS W6330VMS
v3.6 100702 (the
| >>latest version I could download from MSI's website).
Because the
| >>motherboard is old I had to get a PCI controller card to
recognise the
| >>Maxtor drive. I got a Silicon Image SIL-3112 SATA card
and am using the
| >>Sil 3112 SATARaid Controller driver v1.0.0.51
(downloaded from Windows
| >>Update).
| >>
| >>The Western Digital drive is jumpered as the master
drive and is
| >>connected to the primary IDE controller on the
motherboard (using the
| >>terminal black connector on the IDE cable). The Maxtor
drive is
| >>connected to the SATA controller card.
| >>
| >>I downloaded Maxtor's setup software MaxBlast 4.0 for
Windows and used
| >>that to partition and format the new drive. I had to do
this before
| >>Windows would list the drive in Windows Explorer. When I
click on the
| >>drive in Explorer I'm told it's not formatted but when I
do choose to
| >>format it there and then I get the following error:
| >>
| >>"Windows was unable to complete the format."
| >>
| >>This happens whether I use the quick or the full format.
Disk Management
| >>shows the drive to be healthy but I can't format it
there either: "The
| >>format did not complete successfully."
| >>
| >>I tried jumpering the Western Digital drive as Master
with Slave but the
| >>BIOS reported "Primary master hard disk fail" so I
removed the jumper as
| >>it was before.
| >>
| >>Maxtor's diagnostic utility PowerMax v4.21 reports no
problems with the
| >>Maxtor drive: I've done a low level format writing
zeroes to the disk
| >>several times but that doesn't cure the problem.
| >>
| >>Originally I had tried installing XP directly on the
Maxtor drive but XP
| >>setup also failed with "Setup was unable to format the
partition. The
| >>disk may be damaged... blah, blah." I did press F6
during setup to load
| >>the Sil 3112 Raid driver.
| >>
| >>Interestingly Microsoft's Hardware Compatibility List
(HCL) doesn't
| >>include model 6B200MO among its list of compatible
hardware
|| >>
| >>Please can someone help here? Many thanks.
| >>

 

[Lucas Partridge]

Thanks Jim. Windows reported the SATA PCI card is working properly. It's
not configured for RAID. I uninstalled MaxBlast 4 and I formatted the
SATA drive (not using the Quick option) from within Disk Management. But
all I got was: "The format did not complete successfully."

Any ideas what to try next, please?

Thanks,
Lucas.

 

[Jim Macklin]

Have you checked for any FAQs on the subject on either
Maxtor or the SATA card sites?



Have you tried a Google search for the
subject(s)...formatting SATA drive, SATA PCI card, format
did not complete.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas at the moment.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| Thanks Jim. Windows reported the SATA PCI card is working
properly. It's
| not configured for RAID. I uninstalled MaxBlast 4 and I
formatted the
| SATA drive (not using the Quick option) from within Disk
Management. But
| all I got was: "The format did not complete successfully."
|
| Any ideas what to try next, please?
|
| Thanks,
| Lucas.
|
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| > Delete the Maxtor MaxBlast software, make sure the PCI
SATA
| > card is installed and working properly using device
manager.
| > Be sure it is set to run the correct setting for a
single
| > drive, not a RAID.
| >
| > Then try the format command using the disk management
| > function of XP. Right click My Computer, select manage,
| > then Storage/Disk Management.
| >
| >

 

[Lucas Partridge]

I've checked loads of different websites and FAQs but nothing useful so
far. Funny thing was I could get Windows ME to see the whole SATA drive
without any problems in Windows Explorer (although I couldn't get ME to
boot from the drive). But XP can't even format the drive. That ME could
see the formatted drive ok suggests my hardware's ok but XP or the
drivers just aren't right for it.

 

[Lucas Partridge]

Well I finally managed to get the 6B200MO Maxtor drive formatted in
Windows XP (hooray!!!). I did this by removing the old SATA RAID
controller and putting in a different one instead.

The original controller that didn't work was this one from eBuyer:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=48670
One of the customer reviews pointed to the manufacturer's description of
this card:
http://www.syba.com/us/en/product/43/02/03/index.html
I was using the model SD-SATA150R which has the RAID option.
The driver was downloaded from MS Windows Update, v1.0.0.51, dated
27/08/2004.

I got the new card from Maplin Electronics:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=36702&TabID=1&source=12&doy=30m5
The website doesn't specify the make and model of the card, so it was a
gamble that it would work. To my horror, when I got it out of the box I
saw that like the previous card it was using a Silicon Image Sil 3112
chipset! However it was a later version, v1.21 instead of v1.1 on the
old card. The new card came with driver v1.0.0.33 on CD so I chose to
stick with the v1.0.0.51 I already had on Windows.

I removed the old card, put the new one in and booted the machine into
Windows XP no problems. Then I shut the system down, connected up the
Maxtor drive to the primary channel of the new card and rebooted.
Finally I did a quick NTFS format of the new drive in Windows XP: Format
completed - yippee! I've had no problems with the new drive since.

So either the original card make/model is completely incompatible with
the 6B200MO Maxtor drive (but only in Windows XP, because it worked fine
in Windows ME!); or my particular copy of that card was bust. Either way
I would advise against getting that model card if you want to use the
6B200MO Maxtor drive in WinXP.

(Note that I only have one SATA drive and did not make a RAID set. The
SATA drive is also only used for storage; I boot from a separate Western
Digital IDE drive.)

Thanks for all your help everyone, especially to "Paperinik" for
suggesting I switch the controller rather than the drive.

 

[PCDaddy]

Just read your question. two months ago i tried to install the same drive. 200 gig and all. I had near exact problems. I have a newer mb and all. I also have a friend who had the same hd and same with him. I eventually took the hard drive back. The same model would not work for anything so i went with a simple 80 gig and it was fine. I have, only in the past year, had many problems with maxtor. the 80 gig i went with was western digital which i used to coin (lessthandigital) but seem to work far better than the maxtor with xp home\pro. I tried maxblast, and other partition software and nothing would get the 200 gig to work. I told maxtor about this but they really didn't seem to care. So, as a consumer, i don't care either and will shop elsewhere. I also bought a 250 gig maxtor prior to this and couldn't even get a format. Plus the case was made out of plastic with a thin metal cover. Maxtor has really lowered itself in my book. I won't say this is 100% the case for you but it might just be another maxtor that seems to do this.

 

[Lucas Partridge]

Sorry to hear about all your problems (PCDaddy). Yes, I'd contacted
Maxtor too but they only responded once every 2 or 3 days - not often
enough when your only hard drive won't work and you can't use the
computer at all!

I was reluctant to buy a new controller because I'd wasted enough money
on the problem. If the controller hadn't worked I would have asked
Maxtor for a refund or an IDE replacement. I also recently got a Western
Digital drive for my boot drive (120 GB IDE) and that set up and worked
fine right away without any problems at all.