Formatting hard drive

[computercare]

I am formatting my hard drive and I got this message:
Formatting hard drive 1,218.62M
trying to recover allocation unit (with a number that is counting up, ex 190,200)

Is this a problem? Did I do something wrong? How long will this take? Should I stop it and start over? I want to load WIN95 onto this hard drive.
Any help would be great.

 

[Rhort]

Looks to me like there are physical errors on that HDD :-( I'd suggest replacing it; don't trust it with your data.

 

[Jakespeare]

Here is a recommend practice to do, to thoroughly test your hard drive, and to confirm that it is indeed bad.

> Download the manufacturers HDD diagnosis utility software.
ALL the HDD manufacturers have this, and it's readily avialable on their websites.

If you want to certify that it is indeed bad, and verifiable, this is the only way that I know how to do it.
SCANDISK,,,, is a rudimentary tool, and very slow, not to be trusted to give you the real deal.

 

[shirleyowl]

Hi I havent got an answer but another question. I used fdisk on my second physical drive because it was in 4 lots of 2gb, Now my drives show as C 30 gb, D 2 gb which is what it was. I fdisc'd E,F,G so now I have got 6gb hiding somewhere. I know I am supposed to format this hard drive but I cant find out how to tell my computer to do this.
Instructions please.>:-< the 'Help' was no use in My windows ME, it only told me how to format discs, not my drive.
Thanks for all the help I know i am going to get.
Regards Shirleyowl

 

[shirleyowl]

Ok, I have found out how to format the drive, bUT it is showing only 2807mb, is this right and when it is formatted will I get back the 6gb that should be there.
also do I have to add anything to it or will it work just like that.
i.e. can I just move the video editing stuff to that drive. It doesn't need anything of the operating system? Sorry I havent ever done anything like this before and want to get it right. I cant lose all my husbands hours of work. but I need to free up my C drive.
If anyone can work out what I am trying to say. MY Grateful thanks.X-)