"The disk in drive G cannot be formatted" "Windows was unable to complete the format"

[Guest]

We bought a new 320 GB internal drive and installed WinXP Pro on it. A
previous user of a 60 GB hard drive seems to have partitioned it into two
partitions of approx. 30 GB each. Drive letters are F and G. We
reformatted Logical drive F: NTFS without a problem. All attempts to
format G: fail. It is not possible to open G:. What we want to do is
reformat the entire 60GB physical drive, as a single partition.

I have lost my notes on the navigation path to get to "Disk Management" but
when I got there, F: was identified as NTFS and "healthy" but G had no File
System type shown, although it was also called "healthy."

Please remind me of how to navigate to the Disk Management utility. Getting
there will not enable me to format G, as my attempts have failed completely,
but I want to know for future maintenance.

Please tell me how I can force the operating system to delete both
partitions and reformat the entire 60GB.

 

[Leonard Grey]

Whoa...what does your new 320GB hard disk have to do with some
unexplained 60GB hard disk?

Are you trying to erase an internal hard disk that you have installed in
your computer? Go to the website of the disk manufacturer and download
their free low-level formatting program.

[And make sure you're erasing the correct disk. Don't laugh - bad things
happen.]

 

[Guest]

1. Just a clumsy expression of a reason why we might have an old 60GB disk
we want to make a different use of.

2. Yes; trying to erase an internal hard disk, moved from HD0 to HD1 on the
IDE cable.

3. HD is the Maxtor 96147H6. "Manufacturer" now in the Seagate family. I
went to the Seagate site, and what I was able to find was a reference and
redirection to an MS KB about how to use Disk Management, which I already
knew failed to reformat the logical G: partition.

4. If you know how to navigate on the Seagate website to download a
low-level formatting program, that would be useful information. The program
that they do offer as a free download, DiskWizard, does not do it in my
situation, as far as I could determine. To repeat, if you know how to get
their low-level formatiing program, that could possibly be useful in the
future, so let me know.

5. With some help from another source, I was informed the existence of CLJ;
Capacity Limiting Jumper. The JPG diagram I downloaded from Seagate, of
jumper settings, did not name or otherwise identify the settings for the
Maxtor 96147H6. The Seagate JPG-format chart showed four groupings of
Seagate drives, with both consistencies and inconsistencies in jumper
positions for CLJ. I speculated that the existing jumper setting was in a
CLJ position. I changed it to what I presumed was a Cable Select position.
I then used Disk Management to reformat the old HD. It worked.

So the crux of the problem was a hardware matter, and could not have been
solved by any software utility.

Whoa...what does your new 320GB hard disk have to do with some unexplained
60GB hard disk?

Are you trying to erase an internal hard disk that you have installed in
your computer? Go to the website of the disk manufacturer and download
their free low-level formatting program.

[And make sure you're erasing the correct disk. Don't laugh - bad things
happen.]
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

We bought a new 320 GB internal drive and installed WinXP Pro on it. A
previous user of a 60 GB hard drive seems to have partitioned it into two
partitions of approx. 30 GB each. Drive letters are F and G. We
reformatted Logical drive F: NTFS without a problem. All attempts to
format G: fail. It is not possible to open G:. What we want to do is
reformat the entire 60GB physical drive, as a single partition.

I have lost my notes on the navigation path to get to "Disk Management"
but when I got there, F: was identified as NTFS and "healthy" but G had
no File System type shown, although it was also called "healthy."

Please remind me of how to navigate to the Disk Management utility.
Getting there will not enable me to format G, as my attempts have failed
completely, but I want to know for future maintenance.

Please tell me how I can force the operating system to delete both
partitions and reformat the entire 60GB.

 

[Leonard Grey]

The technique is described in Answer ID 3119 of the Seagate knowledge
base. I doubt it was a hardware issue, since you were able to access the
drive. Nonetheless, you accomplished your goal and that's all that
really matters. Enjoy all that extra disk space.

---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

1. Just a clumsy expression of a reason why we might have an old 60GB disk
we want to make a different use of.

2. Yes; trying to erase an internal hard disk, moved from HD0 to HD1 on the
IDE cable.

3. HD is the Maxtor 96147H6. "Manufacturer" now in the Seagate family. I
went to the Seagate site, and what I was able to find was a reference and
redirection to an MS KB about how to use Disk Management, which I already
knew failed to reformat the logical G: partition.

4. If you know how to navigate on the Seagate website to download a
low-level formatting program, that would be useful information. The program
that they do offer as a free download, DiskWizard, does not do it in my
situation, as far as I could determine. To repeat, if you know how to get
their low-level formatiing program, that could possibly be useful in the
future, so let me know.

5. With some help from another source, I was informed the existence of CLJ;
Capacity Limiting Jumper. The JPG diagram I downloaded from Seagate, of
jumper settings, did not name or otherwise identify the settings for the
Maxtor 96147H6. The Seagate JPG-format chart showed four groupings of
Seagate drives, with both consistencies and inconsistencies in jumper
positions for CLJ. I speculated that the existing jumper setting was in a
CLJ position. I changed it to what I presumed was a Cable Select position.
I then used Disk Management to reformat the old HD. It worked.

So the crux of the problem was a hardware matter, and could not have been
solved by any software utility.

Whoa...what does your new 320GB hard disk have to do with some unexplained
60GB hard disk?

Are you trying to erase an internal hard disk that you have installed in
your computer? Go to the website of the disk manufacturer and download
their free low-level formatting program.

[And make sure you're erasing the correct disk. Don't laugh - bad things
happen.]
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

We bought a new 320 GB internal drive and installed WinXP Pro on it. A
previous user of a 60 GB hard drive seems to have partitioned it into two
partitions of approx. 30 GB each. Drive letters are F and G. We
reformatted Logical drive F: NTFS without a problem. All attempts to
format G: fail. It is not possible to open G:. What we want to do is
reformat the entire 60GB physical drive, as a single partition.

I have lost my notes on the navigation path to get to "Disk Management"
but when I got there, F: was identified as NTFS and "healthy" but G had
no File System type shown, although it was also called "healthy."

Please remind me of how to navigate to the Disk Management utility.
Getting there will not enable me to format G, as my attempts have failed
completely, but I want to know for future maintenance.

Please tell me how I can force the operating system to delete both
partitions and reformat the entire 60GB.