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[SOLVED] trouble formatting a hard drive, or is it user error?

3K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  cowpuncher 
#1 ·
question - if I'm having trouble reformatting a hard drive is that an indicator that it's dead ?

I took out a hdd from a Dell pc (running XP Home + SP 3) because of a number of issues that I couldn't resolve, or thought I'd resolved only to have them reappear so figured that a wipe and reformat would do the job along with a clean install.

After placing the 'problem' hdd into another pc running W7 I used Killdisk (freebie version) to kill the drive then used another app (Easeus) to reformat it; only problem is that the drive will not reformat.

I've reformatted hdd's before but never had this problem hence this post to request any available assistance pls.

regards,

yoyojoe
 
#2 ·
Re: trouble formatting a hard drive, or is it user error?

Try using GParted (the Gnome PARtition EDitor), to wipe that drive. You can boot from a CD / DVD / USB flash drive to do this, avoiding Windows completely. You can download Gparted from here:

GParted -- About

Screenshots:

GParted -- Screenshots

Burn a CD / DVD or create a bootable USB drive with it; then set the BIOS to boot from the appropriate device, and use GParted to examine your system. If you've ever used a program to partition an HDD, such as Partition Manager, you'll have no problem figuring out how to use GParted. Use GParted to completely wipe the HDD again, then try to format it with the NTFS or FAT32 file system. Some HDDs can be stubborn, so if you can't format the HDD the first time, don't be afraid to wipe it several times; you'll learn how to use the features of GParted in the process. It is a powerful tool, and one you'll find multiple uses for.

Good luck; let us know what you learn.
 
#6 ·
Re: trouble formatting a hard drive, or is it user error?

hey guys,

Sorry it took a while to get back to you on this item.

First I'd like to offer a big :pray:Thank You:pray: for your contribution to this item.

My initial attempts with Gparted were unsuccessful despite downloading and installing successfully; I used its default settings (I believe) in order to get to the 'workarea. Gparted ran successfully and reported a full reformat on numerous occassions HOWEVER each time the hdd was subsequently accessed via Windows 7 OS and Easeus to verify its status, the drive was found to have remained as 'unallocated'.

Next I downloaded, installed and ran the WD Data Life Guard diagnostics (as it's a WD unit); the drive passed the SMART Test and then the Extended Test so I had the WD diagnostics write all zeros to the hdd in an attempt to wipe it completely. That effort took about 15 minutes and was reported as successful.

Now living in hope I accessed it via Easeus, created some partitions and formatted them. This time I didn't get any error message and discovered that they were 'recognised' by Windows. Next I 'merged' them so as to have a single partition offering the full capacity of the hdd.

All I need to do now is re-assemble the hdd back into the Dell case and do a clean install of XP then my cousin can have her pc back as good as new, well as good as a seven year old pc can be :grin:

Again a BIG thank you for your help and contribution to me in helping me resolve this matter (at last)!

Best regrds,

yoyojoe
 
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