Simple HD question

[beauelwell]

I am trying to fdisk a hard drive on a Dell computer. I believe the HD is a Maxtor but I can't be positive. When I try fdisk command, I receive an error 'operation failed, cannot lock disk.' So then when I try the lock command in DOS I receive and error message that says the disk cannot be locked.
Any ideas on how I can lock the disk so that I can reformat this drive?

Thank you in advance.

 

[SESaskDFC]

Howdy:

You should have gotten a Maxtor utility disk with the hard-drive.. If you didn't, go to the Maxtor website and download the "MaxBlast" program and install it on a floppy.. Use that to format and partition your hard-drive.

Murray

 

[bcastner]

I agree with SES above, but you should prior to running the Maxblast software ask your BIOS to reset to default settings.

When using maxblast, I think you may need to do the low-level format routine once. The Media Desciptor byte on your hard disk is identifying the drive as a removable device, and the normal approaches to fdisk, format, etc. are unlikely to modify that sector. You need to make certain it is wiped clean. This will clear up the confusion your Windows utility are experiencing.

Why did it think it was a removable device? I do not know, but it happens. The Media byte really only bothers Win2k and above versions of Windows, but in any case is not reset by the normal fdisk, etc. type utilities.