hard drive format problems

[Jim Clark]

Just installed a usb 2 external hard drive on my daughters computer running
XP sp2 . It recognizes the hard drive I was able to partition it but have
been unsuccessful in formatting it will get to almost being done and then it
errors out and you get the format failed. Any suggestions? The hard drive is
a western digital 60 gig that I just got as a replacement for a failed
drive. I set the partition to a primary one and tried the format to NTSF
default sectors.
Jim

 

[Guest]

At this stage you will need 3rd party drive management utilities such as
available from the Hard Drive Manufacturer. I say this because, once Windows
has completed the partitioning of a disk, it cannot undo that work.

My suggestion would be to revert to a single partition and then attempt a
format.

Once this is successful use a 3rd part utility to partition if needed.

Once partitioned and formatted it needs to be set as active.

 

[Anna]

At this stage you will need 3rd party drive management utilities such as
available from the Hard Drive Manufacturer. I say this because, once
Windows has completed the partitioning of a disk, it cannot undo that
work.

My suggestion would be to revert to a single partition and then attempt a
format.

Once this is successful use a 3rd part utility to partition if needed.

Once partitioned and formatted it needs to be set as active.

Jim:
It's hard to tell exactly why this problem arose based on the info you
provided, so let me pose a few questions and recommend some possible actions
you might take...

1. I assume you installed that 60 GB WD drive in a USB external hard drive
enclosure, i.e., it's not a sealed unit that you purchased. So that the
drive can be easily removed from the enclosure.

2. Did you use XP's Disk Management utility to partition and then attempt to
format the USB EHD? And when the formatting failed, did you try at least
once or twice more?

3. When you say it "errors out" during the formatting, what precise message
do you get?

4. Are you reasonably certain that both the HD and the USB enclosure are not
defective? Did you use the WD diagnostic utility to check out the HD? (BTW,
BAR's statement that "once Windows has completed the partitioning of a disk,
it cannot undo that work." is not correct. You can easily delete a partition
using XP's Disk Management utility).

5. Assuming you can remove the HD from its USB enclosure... Can you install
it in the computer as an internal drive and try formatting it that way?

6. Assuming your HD and your USB enclosure are not defective, there should
be no reason why you cannot partition/format that drive using XP's Disk
Management utility.

7. If all else fails, i.e., your HD and USB enclosure are not defective, but
you're still unable to format the drive either externally or internally
using the DM utility, you could try formatting the drive in FAT32 while you
have it internally connected. You will, of course, need a DOS bootup disk,
e.g., a Windows 9x/Me Startup Disk, in order to invoke the FDISK/FORMAT
commands on that bootup disk. Should that prove successful you could then
convert the FAT32 file system to NTFS if you desire, although that's not
particularly necessary for a USB EHD. And then, of course, reinstall the
drive in its USB enclosure.

I mention the above course of action, because we've run into a couple of
situations where (for some unexplained reason(s)) we were unable to format a
USB EHD where we knew both the drive & enclosure were not defective, and we
had to resort to a FAT32 format (using a DOS bootable floppy disk) while the
drive was connected internally. It's a rare occurrence in my experience, but
we did run into it on at least two occasions as I recall.
Anna

 

[Keith]

At this stage you will need 3rd party drive management utilities such as
available from the Hard Drive Manufacturer. I say this because, once
Windows
has completed the partitioning of a disk, it cannot undo that work.
Rubbish

My suggestion would be to revert to a single partition and then attempt a
format.
Rubbish
Once this is successful use a 3rd part utility to partition if needed.
Rubbish

Once partitioned and formatted it needs to be set as active.
Rubbish

 

[Jim Clark]

Yes it is installed in a external case

1. I assume you installed that 60 GB WD drive in a USB external hard drive
enclosure, i.e., it's not a sealed unit that you purchased. So that the
drive can be easily removed from the enclosure.

Yesd to using the disk management software

2. Did you use XP's Disk Management utility to partition and then attempt
to format the USB EHD? And when the formatting failed, did you try at
least once or twice more?

I will have to try it again and will write it down

3. When you say it "errors out" during the formatting, what precise
message do you get?

Well the enclosure seems to be fine the HD I just recieved as a replacement
from Western Digital

4. Are you reasonably certain that both the HD and the USB enclosure are
not defective? Did you use the WD diagnostic utility to check out the HD?
(BTW, BAR's statement that "once Windows has completed the partitioning of
a disk, it cannot undo that work." is not correct. You can easily delete a
partition using XP's Disk Management utility).

I can try this yes.

5. Assuming you can remove the HD from its USB enclosure... Can you
install it in the computer as an internal drive and try formatting it that
way?

6. Assuming your HD and your USB enclosure are not defective, there should
be no reason why you cannot partition/format that drive using XP's Disk
Management utility.

Thanks for the info
Jim Clark

 

[Jim Clark]

Ok I tried the WD (Western Digital) utilities and deleted the partition that
the XP management installed then let the WD utilities add new partition and
let WD format the USB drive. The format goes very quickly and then Windows
wants to format the drive when you try to access it. I let XP format the
drive and it gets to 100% done then the Logical Disk Manager window comes up
and says this "Format did not complete successfully"

Jim

 

[Anna]

Yes it is installed in a external case

Yesd to using the disk management software

I will have to try it again and will write it down

Well the enclosure seems to be fine the HD I just recieved as a
replacement from Western Digital

I can try this yes.

Thanks for the info
Jim Clark

Jim:
I notice in your most recent posting you say that "the HD I just recieved as
a replacement from Western Digital". Is that the same 60 GB drive you were
having problems with, or is this a new drive to replace the one you were
having problems with? If it's a new one, does the same problem still exist?

Here are the detailed steps to partition & format a USB external hard drive
using XP's Disk Management utility. In this scenario, the drive had been
previously partitioned...
1. In Disk Management, right-click on the external hard drive's drive
letter in the upper pane and click on "Delete Partition".
2. A message will appear "...All data on the partition will be lost. Are
you sure you want to delete this partition?" Click Yes.
3. The partition will be immediately deleted. The external drive capacity
will reflect the disk's capacity as "Unallocated".
4. Right-click on the unallocated region and click "New Partition".
5. The "New Partition Wizard" will open. Click Next.
6. Select the Primary partition option and click Next.
7. In the "Specify Partition Size" window that opens, specify the size of
the first partition you wish to create. For example, if you want your first
partition to have a size of 40 GB, enter 40000 MB in the "Partition size in
MB" box. If you desire only a single partition encompassing the full
capacity of the disk, enter the appropriate number of MBs. Click Next.
8. In the "Assign Drive Letter..." window that opens, assign a drive letter
to the partition you are about to create. Click Next.
9. The "Format Partition" window will open. Select desired options and
click Next.
10. Review your settings in the next window and if OK, click Finish.
11. The Disk Management window will open, indicating the partition you have
created is being formatted. After the formatting has been completed, the
bottom pane will reflect the partition size and the "Unallocated" space (if
any)
remaining on the drive.
12. Repeat the process from step 4. for each additional partition you wish
to create, (again, assuming you're multi-partitioning the drive).
13. Reboot the computer and verify that your external drive has been
partitioned and formatted correctly and is recognized in the system.



Try it again and let's see what happens. Make sure your USB cable is
securely connected to the USB enclosure and to the computer's USB port
(*not* a USB hub).

Anna

 

[LVTravel]

Jim, check the jumper on the drive. It should be set to Master/Single
drive. If you have it set to Master with slave, you will get this error
most times.

 

[Anna]

Jim, check the jumper on the drive. It should be set to Master/Single
drive. If you have it set to Master with slave, you will get this error
most times.

No you won't. At least based upon my experience working with a fairly large
number of USB external hard drives. Jumper position is irrelevant in the
case of USB EHDs. You can jumper the EHD any which way or even jumperless.
As long as it's connected as a USB device the system will recognize it
regardless of jumper position. This is true for Western Digital drives that
have the Single jumper setting as well.
Anna
Anna

 

[Jim Clark]

I downloaded western digital diagnostic software and in the test the drive
failed. It had a bunch of bad sectors so WD is sending me another drive.
Thanks to all for the help Especially Anna

Jim Clark

 

[LVTravel]

Just tried your suggestion on aWD 80 GB. Had set in an USB enclosure and
was working fine. Changed jumper from Master/Single to removing the jumper
and the drive stopped working. Change it back and worked again!

 

[Anna]

Just tried your suggestion on aWD 80 GB. Had set in an USB enclosure and
was working fine. Changed jumper from Master/Single to removing the
jumper > and the drive stopped working. Change it back and worked again!

LVTravel...
I really can't explain your experience. All I can tell you is that I've
worked with dozens of HDs, including the WD ones, installed as USB external
hard drives in a variety of USB external HD enclosures, and I have *never*
experienced a drive recognition problem due to jumpering the drive in any
position, or for that matter, not jumpering the drive at all. I've spoken
with my colleagues about this - they've installed & serviced hundreds of USB
EHDs - and they tell me their experience parallels mine. But it *did* happen
to you, so proceed based upon your own experience and ignore my comments.

Needless to say, in any event, the jumpering of the OP's USB EHD is *not*
his problem in this case.
Anna

 

[LVTravel]

LVTravel...
I really can't explain your experience. All I can tell you is that I've
worked with dozens of HDs, including the WD ones, installed as USB
external hard drives in a variety of USB external HD enclosures, and I
have *never* experienced a drive recognition problem due to jumpering the
drive in any position, or for that matter, not jumpering the drive at
all. I've spoken with my colleagues about this - they've installed &
serviced hundreds of USB EHDs - and they tell me their experience
parallels mine. But it *did* happen to you, so proceed based upon your own
experience and ignore my comments.

Needless to say, in any event, the jumpering of the OP's USB EHD is *not*
his problem in this case.
Anna

Absolutely agree with both of your last statements. It seems that not all
USB enclosures treat HDDs the same. I don't know what electronics are in
the various enclosure devices that recognize the drive's particulars but it
does have to access and control the onboard electronics some way.
Apparently the different controllers work differently. My enclosure is a 2
year old no-name 5.25" one that only has USB2.0 written on it and it will
work with both CD/DVDs drives and also 3.5" HDDs. This may be the reason.
It wouldn't take a CD-RW drive either until I put the M/S jumper to Master.

Just a shame that his "that I just got as a replacement" drive was a dud.
It does happen.