Why I cannot format this 500 Gig Seagate HD ?

[zooco]

I just got a 500 Gig Seagate HD ( ST3500630A) for my WinXP SP2 PC ( Mobo : Asus P4GE-V , Celeron CPU) . After installation, I formatted the HD with WinXP ( using its disc management utility )but it failed at 100% or less . When went to view the drives in "Disk Management", I saw this HD listed as healthy but on the File System column, it was blank !! When I tried to access this HD from Win Explorer, it could not be found ( i.e. just waiting forever !! ).

I took this HD and installed in another newer PC (i.e. a Newstar mobo), I reformat the disc and everything was O.K !! I could copy files and saw everything in this HD .

Just last week, I could format a 500 Gig Western Digital
HD successfully for a friend with this PC .


My questions :

1) Could it be that the old Mobo didnot support this big Seagate HD ?

2) Can an updating of the Bios fix this problem ? Or my love for Seagate HD will always be denied in this PC ?

3) Any suggestions to fix this issue ?

Thanks...

 

[goombawaho]

Yes, definitely try a BIOS update if for no other reason that you should be up to date on your BIOS. Just for kicks, put the new hard drive back in the PC where you can "see" it and run the manufacturer's disk utility on it to check it out.

You could also try formatting the hard drive on the PC where it can't be seen with a boot disk of some type to see if it's Windows related. If it formats successfully and can be seen in something like BART PE, then it's not the computer itself, but Windows.

 

[zooco]

Thanks for the tips .

I did check this HD out using SeaTools on another PC and it passed all tests !!

_I'll check out the BIOS update option and see .

I am not sure fdisk can format this huge HD in an old PC ??

SeaTools does not have a format utility . It suggested to use Disk Management in WinXP which I did but it did not work !!

Thank you

Best regards,

 

[cdogg]

If it has anything to do with the motherboard, then a test would be to use a third-party utility outside of Windows to format it. The retail version of drives usually comes with one, and some manufacturers include them on their website.

I recommend using Parted Magic which you can make a bootable CD from. It looks like Partition Magic but is free and allows you to do a "quick" format. If it works in this program, then obviously it's not a hardware issue...

http://partedmagic.com/wiki/PartedMagic.php

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[zooco]

Thanks cdogg for the suggestions .
_SeaTools does not include a format utility. I'll have to check further if it has other tools.

_I tried to format the HD using Partition Magic 8.0 under Wondows XP SP2 but it stopped at 87% ???

_I'll check out the Bios upgrade option and see.

 

[goombawaho]

After BIOS update, it's time to contact tech support regarding returning the drive, but it is odd that it works on one PC.

 

[zooco]

_I just successfully reformatted this Seagate 500 HD in another friend's PC this morning , using "Disc Management" Utility in Windows XP SP2 . When I re-installed in my PC , Alas ... the same problem persists : I saw the HD but nothing was shown as to the system file type ( i.e. It supposed to show NTFS in the Disc Management Pop-up window !! ) . And I could not access this HD from Window Explorer .

_If nothing works, I may need to upgrade the BIOS and see. However , it is my last resort ...

_Any other comments as to probable reasons why I could not format this Seagatec HD in my PC ?

 

[goombawaho]

Don't be shy about updating your BIOS. Every PC I touch, I update the BIOS if there's an update available. You may be banging your head against the wall for a problem fixed by a quick BIOS flash.

 

[cdogg]

zooco,
I realize you have tried Partition Magic inside Windows, but my suggestion is to try something outside of Windows in case that's the problem.

Parted Magic is a free download and can be made into a bootable CD (which I've linked to above).

If you can format the 500GB drive in Parted Magic, then you'll know nothing's wrong with your BIOS or motherboard and that you have a Windows problem on your hands...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[zooco]

Finally, a success !!

I just upgraded the BIOS to the latest version from Asus ! Still , it did work ...So BIOS is not the issue here .

In desperation, I went to see a friend who installed the HD on his PC then used "Disk management" in WinXP SP2 to re-partition the HD first then reformat . The reformating took more than one hour to finish . He then loaded some softwares & documents in the HD . When I brought the HD home, installed it in my PC , I saw everything in this HD !!

The difference was that my friend repartitioned the HD then formatted it . I still did not know why in previous attempts, I could format the HD in other PCs without repartition and it still worked in those machines ?? Any explanation on this point ?

In any case, I am happy everything is O.K. right now . Thanks goombawaho , cdogg for your kindness and great tips .

Best regards,

zooco

 

[acewarlock]

You probaly didn't creat the partion in the first place and just did a format, that would have screwed the HD up.




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[zooco]

Thanks acewarlock for the comment ...

Can you really format the HD without partition first ? Hm..Hm..

I am not sure about this ! The strange thing was without reformatting and just reformatting, why could I still access this HD in two other PCs . The problem occurred when I re-installed it in the original PC . It was in the third PC ( apart from the original one) that I knew a re-partionining was done before reformatting and it worked !

 

[zooco]

Repost here...Sorry errors in typing in my previous post making it incomprehensible ! Here is the corrected version !

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Thanks acewarlock for the comment ...

Can you really format the HD without partition first ? Hm..Hm..

I am not sure about this ! The strange thing was without re-partitioninging and just reformatting, why could I still access this HD in two other PCs . The problem occurred when I re-installed it in the original PC . It was in the third PC ( apart from the original one) that I knew a re-partionining was done before reformatting and it worked !