Problem Formatting an External hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter PT
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PT

I've long had an external 80GB Iomega HD connected to my WinXP home system
via
USB. It was formatted into two equal sized partitions, and has functioned
without problems for several years. I wanted to transfer this device to
another computer. So first, I wanted to wipe both partitions clean, then
create a single NTFS partition. Here's what I did:

I went into the Computer Management section and deleted each partition. But
when I tried to create a new portion and then format it, I ran into a
problem. Windows XP now does not recognize the HD. I tried the Control
Panel |Add Hardware, and looked into some help files on Iomega's site. But
still no recognition.

I'm certain this is a software issue, as the drive has functioned perfectly
until now.

Is there a simple step I've overlooked?
 
PT said:
I've long had an external 80GB Iomega HD connected to my
WinXP home system via
USB. It was formatted into two equal sized partitions, and
has functioned without problems for several years. I
wanted to transfer this device to another computer. So
first, I wanted to wipe both partitions clean, then create
a single NTFS partition. Here's what I did:
I went into the Computer Management section and deleted
each partition. But when I tried to create a new portion
and then format it, I ran into a problem. Windows XP now
does not recognize the HD. I tried the Control Panel |Add
Hardware, and looked into some help files on Iomega's site.
But still no recognition.
I'm certain this is a software issue, as the drive has
functioned perfectly until now.

Is there a simple step I've overlooked?
Click to expand...

Perhaps you need to "reinstall" the drivers for that drive?
Maybe the part deletion removed something that had to be there
for identification purposes? Fdisk?

Don't know, just sort of thinking out loud.

Pop
 
Try and remember that when you originally formatted the drive, if you use
some IOMEGA tools. I know when I had a Zip drive under Windows 95, I had to
use Iomega tools to set it up.

Also just thinking out loud.
 
That's what I thought. But the CD that came with the drive doesn't seem to
have any drivers or tools - just a program for doing backups. Nor does the
Iomega support web site. In my Windows XP Add hardware wizard, Iomega isn't
a listed manufacturer.

But in general, if the drive is now unformatted, and "un-partitioned"
wouldn't I have to first get Windows to recognize it before I could add any
drivers? It seems to me there must be a way for Windows to access a
completely clean drive.

--

PT
Larry Gardner said:
Try and remember that when you originally formatted the drive, if you use
some IOMEGA tools. I know when I had a Zip drive under Windows 95, I had
to use Iomega tools to set it up.

Also just thinking out loud.
Click to expand...
 
The drivers I referred to would not reside ON the external drive,
but would reside in the windows operating system. They tell the
system how to access the drive. IF there are drivers, they
should have been supplied on floppy or CD with the drive. They
may not be required, which might explain why there are none on
the CD.
If there is no "install" components other than the backup
software, then you probably don't need drivers.

I do know that, to be recognized, a hard drive does have to have
an MBR (Master Boot Record) written to it. Usually the MBR is
written when a partition is created. In my experience, which
isn't great, fdisk is the program which creates partitions and
prepares the disk to be formatted.

Here's a link that may help you:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313348

It talks a lot about prepping a disk for the OS, but all the
other uses are mentioned there too, along with a couple good
links such as:
255867 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255867/) How to use the
Fdisk tool and the Format tool to partition or to repartition a
hard disk

Give those a read and see if it doesn't help.

Until fdisk, or its equivalent, has been run, it's my
understanding that hte disk is not yet ready to be formatted.
fdisk must come before formatting.

HTH,
Pop
 
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