Accidental reformat(?) of my external hard drive.

youdee · 11-02-2009, 06:30 PM

I'm trying to boot Windows 7 from an external hard drive and was following instructions on how to format the drive when the power failed and my computer died. I now have what I think is a half-formatted external disk drive that does not appear on My Computer when it is plugged in.

These are the directions I was following. I was up to this part:

SELECT DISK 1

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds)

...and that's when the power failed. It was 1% complete with formatting when it died. Is there anything I can do to get my external drive working as normal again?

When I plug in the drive I get the 'safely remove hardware' symbol popping up in my toolbar as usual but it just doesn't appear in My Computer any more.

Madcatz · 11-04-2009, 09:24 AM

you can go into the disk management to reformat the drive. To get there, right click on My Computer > Click on Manage > Click on Disk Management > Find your external drive in the lower portion of the window and format it.

**Tyree** · 11-04-2009, 11:06 AM

Are you saying the power to the external drive failed, the PC power or the household power?
USB devices are very susceptible to power fluctuations. Most prebuilt external enclosures use very low quality circuitry and are easily damaged.
Booting an OS from an external drive is not a good idea.

11-02-2009, 06:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
youdee Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista SP1	Accidental reformat(?) of my external hard drive. I'm trying to boot Windows 7 from an external hard drive and was following instructions on how to format the drive when the power failed and my computer died. I now have what I think is a half-formatted external disk drive that does not appear on My Computer when it is plugged in. These are the directions I was following. I was up to this part: SELECT DISK 1 CLEAN CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SELECT PARTITION 1 ACTIVE FORMAT FS=NTFS (Format process may take few seconds) ...and that's when the power failed. It was 1% complete with formatting when it died. Is there anything I can do to get my external drive working as normal again? When I plug in the drive I get the 'safely remove hardware' symbol popping up in my toolbar as usual but it just doesn't appear in My Computer any more. Last edited by youdee; 11-02-2009 at 06:32 PM.

11-04-2009, 09:24 AM	#2 (permalink)
Madcatz Tech Hardware Team Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 1,387 OS: XP/7/Server 2008 My System	Re: Accidental reformat(?) of my external hard drive. you can go into the disk management to reformat the drive. To get there, right click on My Computer > Click on Manage > Click on Disk Management > Find your external drive in the lower portion of the window and format it. __________________ memtest86+ \| Hard Drive Diags \| Speed Fan \| Unknown Device Identifier

11-04-2009, 11:06 AM	#3 (permalink)
Tyree Mentor Hardware Team Join Date: May 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 5,391 OS: XP Pro-7RC-Mandriva My System	Re: Accidental reformat(?) of my external hard drive. Are you saying the power to the external drive failed, the PC power or the household power? USB devices are very susceptible to power fluctuations. Most prebuilt external enclosures use very low quality circuitry and are easily damaged. Booting an OS from an external drive is not a good idea. __________________ Posting your PC specs will help us to help you quicker and more efficiently. Last edited by Tyree; 11-04-2009 at 11:07 AM.