Hard drive crash, now unable to format

[ytsud]

My second hard drive appears to have had a crash and I am unable to format it using windows, command line.
It states that the drive is unreadable.
Norton disk doctor states also that it cannot fix the drives as it has unrecognisable data on it.
Is there a way just to format the thing? I am not concerned with saving any data, just want it formatted and usable.
Apologies for lack of technical prowess, and any help would be gratefully received.

 

[wolluf]

You could go to the drive manufacturer's website and download their diagnostic utility to check the drive is actually usable. It may include a zero binary fill option to re-initialise the drive (or there may be another utility on the site for this - depnds on drive manufacturer).

There's also this utility -

http://www.killdisk.com/features.htm,

if none available from manufacturer (to wipe drive).

 

[KimLeece]

Have you tried fdisk? If fdisk can see the drive - remove the partition and create it again. Be careful not to touch the primary (C partition. If you are unsure what to do but fdisk can see the drive - write down the partition information and don't do anything else yet - post the information back here.

Kim.

'Everybody is ignorant - only on different subjects.'
Will Rogers.

 

[ytsud]

Fdisk didn't work either. There were no partions.
But I have downloaded a utility from Hitachi and am currently erasing the drive.
I will see if there are any problems once it has done, but thankyou very much guys for your help it is greatly appreciated.

 

[ytsud]

All sorted now. A nice empty drive!
Thanks for the advice guys.