Cannot format 20gig drive under xp pro

[steve2003]

I recently purchased a new 20 gig drive (ata-100) 7200 rpm. This will be my new system disk (C and I will re-install all programs on this disk. When I boot off the xp cd, the xp setup starts and then begins the formatting of c:
The first thing that is wrong is that format only sees 15864 mb - not 20gig. The next thing that goes wrong is that at the end of the formatting, I get this error message: "setup was unable to fromat. This disk may be damaged" I have some thoughts on this:
1- the disk really is damaged
2- my bios cannot deal with an ata-100 drive
3- I should have purchased a disk controller for the ata drive
4- I should format differently somehow

your thoughts?
thanks

 

[moggy44]

I'm not sure what the problem may be but it sounds like a faulty drive.

Try and Partition and then format using say Win 98 startup disk and then use FDISK to partion and then FORMAT but put format C:/s in drive C: and see what it formats to.
FDISK should also display the size of drive.
I always use this method even on an XP installation.
You can also try a utility I found on IBM site "Drive Fitness Test" should work for any drive, just download it and copy to floppy and run as boot disk.

Merry Christmas.

Regards John M

 

[steve2003]

john - thanks for reply. I do have a question - If I use a w98 boot floppy let's say and the 20gig drive formats ok, I would then boot off the xp cd. xp would try to partition and format the new 20 gig disk. I would think I would be right back in the same spot - format errors? or since the disk was formatted under w98, xp would not reformat the disk? thanks
steve

 

[imatthec]

If the disk is already formatted, xp will not reformat the disk unless you tell it to. You can install directly to your newly formatted disk.

 

[moggy44]

Hi Steve,

imatthec is correct once drive is partitioned and formatted XP will install directly to disk.

Have fun.

Regards John

 

[steve2003]

john/others - thanks for reply. Do you (from your experience and knowledge) believe this is not a hard drive problem? I have also contacted the company who sold me the hard drive to ask their advice - send it back or try some additional formatting. It is such a pain to open the pc box, mess with disk and cables...
thanks
si

 

[paparazi]

I havn't seen one mention of the system setup or hard drive make and model. I saw someone mention IBM's Drive fitness test!! but most of these hard drive utilities are "brand specific" so only use the utility for your brand of drive.
I would recommend a low level format and then a drive health check (with brand specific utility) free off there website.
Boot from the XP bootable OS disk set one partition? and reformat to NTFS not fat 32 (unless there is a reason)
I just think something got mixed up here and a proper low level will sort it. Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[ashpp]

The problem could be hardware. Its not worth sending the drive back yet - you'll only end up buying for the restock fee if it isn't fauly.
I have see this problem myself with XP and no at that time it wasn't a problem with the drive itself.

1 - What motherboard do you have? Are you on the latest BIOS?

2 - What drive have you got? Have you tried the diagnostics that are usually on the manufactures website?

3 - Follow moggy44s advice that solved my problem.

Ash.

 

[steve2003]

group: wanted to give you an update. The seller of the disk (upgrade-solutions) told me the disk was bad - so I sent it back yesterday. I then purchased here in town a Western Digital 40 gig ata100 drive. Finding a 20gig is almost impossible anymore. I then followed your advice and booted under a w98 boot disk (floppy) I had created years ago. I did a partion of the disk and then formatting. had some problems because it defaulted to fat32 format. I then booted off xp cd and did another format to ntfs (conversion from fat32 to ntfs was a disaster). It found almost 38 gig of 40. I then built xp pro on the new cd.
So far, so good.
thanks

 

[koljooo]

hi i have 20 gig fireball hd and i have xp pro and my comp is very clin but something is wrong is taking 5 gig for nathing i tried everything on add and remove i only have one game that is all pl help and there is no way that i game can take u to 5 gig it takes only 333mb

 

[linney]

koljooo,

You should start your own thread rather than sticking them on the end of other threads as it is going to make it hard for you to locate the replies.

System Restore might be using your hard drive space. It by default will use up to 12% of the drive. Windowx XP will grab another 2GB. With your game included this could account for your 5GB.

Run Disk Cleanup and look under "More Options" and you can remove all the restore points except the most recent one.