New Hard Drive Weirdness

[starfish]

I recently purchased and installed a new 120GB hard drive to use as a
secondary/backup storage drive. It is formatted to FAT32 with a partition.
The odd thing is, sometimes when I look at it in My Computer I can explore
the default files that came on it, and other times it tells me it is *not*
formatted and asks me if I want to format it. Also, when I go into Disk
Management I get two different results as well - sometimes it is the
FAT32/partition reading (but with proper capacity), others it tells me it is
simply a 6.xx GB drive. Is there something wrong with the drive?
Should I ignore all this and go ahead and reformat it? If so, what is the
safest way to do so?

 

[Guest]

If you just purchased the drive,and its new,no files would/should be on it,
also,they come unformatted from the factory.try going to
run,type:diskmgmt.msc
In msc,R.click on the drive,then select,format,a wizard will open usually set
in default settings,select format the drive.When its thru,go to actions,all,
select,make drive active,then close out.Then,open system properties,advanced,
v.memory,advanced,change button,highlite the drive(s) one at a X,set to,let
windows manage,click set 2X after each,close out,a restart is mandatory,if
set
properly.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

If the drive was formatted with WinXP / Fat32 the maximum size
partition would be 32GB's. The rest of the drive would be free
unformatted space. Do you see this free space in Disk Management?

 

[starfish]

Actually it is a replacement drive from Gateway, not strictly a purchase.
They come formatted to FAT32 (for some reason) with their default
installation files. However since I am using it as a secondary, I won't
need these as I already have a boot drive.

 

[starfish]

It says 6.75GB for both capacity and free space (*this time* - as I
mentioned it keeps changing).

Hi,

If the drive was formatted with WinXP / Fat32 the maximum size partition
would be 32GB's. The rest of the drive would be free unformatted space. Do
you see this free space in Disk Management?

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/

I recently purchased and installed a new 120GB hard drive
to use as a secondary/backup storage drive. It is
formatted to FAT32 with a partition. The odd thing is,
sometimes when I look at it in My Computer I can explore
the default files that came on it, and other times it
tells me it is *not* formatted and asks me if I want to
format it. Also, when I go into Disk Management I get
two different results as well - sometimes it is the
FAT32/partition reading (but with proper capacity),
others it tells me it is simply a 6.xx GB drive. Is
there something wrong with the drive? Should I ignore all this and go
ahead and reformat it? If so, what is the safest way to do so?

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi,

I would suggest starting over. Wipe the drive, partition it using NTFS
and format.
Also make sure it's jumpered correctly, as per there instructions and
the cable is connected correctly.

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/

It says 6.75GB for both capacity and free space (*this
time* - as I mentioned it keeps changing).

Hi,

If the drive was formatted with WinXP / Fat32 the
maximum size partition would be 32GB's. The rest of the
drive would be free unformatted space. Do you see this
free space in Disk Management? --
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/

I recently purchased and installed a new 120GB hard
drive to use as a secondary/backup storage drive. It is
formatted to FAT32 with a partition. The odd thing is,
sometimes when I look at it in My Computer I can explore
the default files that came on it, and other times it
tells me it is *not* formatted and asks me if I want to
format it. Also, when I go into Disk Management I get
two different results as well - sometimes it is the
FAT32/partition reading (but with proper capacity),
others it tells me it is simply a 6.xx GB drive. Is
there something wrong with the drive? Should I ignore
all this and go ahead and reformat it? If so, what is
the safest way to do so?

 

[jazz]

the drive probable has a hidden partition on it with restore files for a
gateway computer. Why is it gohsting around on you? well a guess might
include that they hid the restore partition in the windows xp software that
was to be restored on it. you might be loading those settings but they are
not saving and surviving a reboot. OF couse take this with a grain of salty
as this is only a guess.

If you are worried about the drive being defective, thre are hardrive
analisis tool savailible. most hadrive manunfacturers have a diagnostic
utility you can runn too. you will need to find the manufacturer of the
drive (not gateway although there is a possability gateway ahs a simular
tool) and run thier specific tool or get a third part aplication. i l;ike
"fix it utilities" but it won't/might not be a completly as thrurough as a
manufacturers tool.

 

[starfish]

This time it is showing the proper capacity of 19.16GB FAT32 + 95.88GB
Unallocated.

A quick test with Norton Disk Doctor says all is OK. I really don't know
what to think or where to go from here. I am afraid to reformat it because
the last time I did that the drive went bad immediately afterward. Maybe
that was coincidence. This is the third replacement drive Gateway has sent
me. The previous one is the one I just mentioned. The first was the wrong
kind of drive entirely. They have been replacing the bad drives with little
hassle but they absolutely refuse to give any kind of support beyond that
unless the system is in the exact same configuration it was when I bought
it, ie: no additional hardware.

Maybe I should just tuck this drive away in a safe place and keep it in case
I ever need a replacement boot drive (since it seems that's what it's
pre-loaded for) and buy a fresh, blank HD for my secondary storage (and eat
the cost.) I don't know.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Look for the manufacturers name on the drive. Download there
diagnostic software and run it on the drive. Rerun it and see if the
results are consistent. I don't have much faith in Norton.