External hdd non-formatting...

[AJ@PR]

Hello guys,

I was hoping you can help me out with a n00bish problem I'm having, before I go all Ichbin's Hammertime Technique on it.

I have an external hdd.
It's a normal, internal unit, but I bought an external USB case in CompUSA.
Fine.

The drive was giving me data read problems (like, it would hang windows explorer when I tried to access certain folders).
So, I tried to format it.

But it didn't format.
So I did a 'low level format' on it.
Don't ask me why.

So, now I try to use it, and I can't.

I right-click on my computer, Manage.
I see the hdd...
Format... nothing.
I deleted the partition, and created another one.
Then format.... nothing.

I remember when I first got the USB case, I installed the hdd, and it didn't work.
After trying some things, I decided to read the instructions.
In those instructions, it said something along the lines that you have to 'activate' the drive, or its partition, or SOMETHING before windows can 'see' it.

Anybody have any ideas?

I'm at lost here...

That hammer looks interesting...

Thank you guys very much for your help and attention. :)

Looking forward to your help,

-AJ@PR

[Rankenphile]

Interesting. It has never shown up on your PC?

One thing you might try is pulling your second internal drive out and installing this trouble drive as a slave and reformatting it from there. If you still can't access it, pull it out and check your jumper settings. I'm not sure what the settings would need to be for an external (anyone?), but that may be part of the problem.

Another avenue would be to try to access it from a Linux LiveCD, such as one of the recent Knoppix distros. Download one, burn the ISO to a CD and boot from it, then access the drive and try to reformat it from there. I believe Knoppix won't support NTFS, but it should support FAT, and if so you can format it as FAT, reboot into Windows (which I'm assuming you are running now) and reformatting it again as NTFS.

What disk utils were you using to wipe the partition? FDisk?

[AJ@PR]

^^^ Thanks for the reply Ranken!!! :)

The utilities, I was using regular windows right-click.
But to do the 'low level format', I downloaded a 'Hard Disk Low Level Format Tool'.

When I turn ON the case, it pops up in My Computer... as drive 'J:'.

If I try to access it or something, it tells me it isn't formatted, and if I want to format it.

So, I click YES, and try... but it 'Failed to Format the Drive'.

Wierd.
I'm going to try the booting-from-Live-Linux-CD option.
Hopefully, that'll give me something to grab a hold on.

I'll go try that now.

Be back soon.
Thanks Ranken! :D

[Spawn-Inc]

thats what happened to me with my nexstar 3 esata and usb external. i went to the manage you hard drive thing and found it and activated it, formated it and it worked after. but there was a folder on the hdd i could not access and it wouldn't let me open it either. i'm pretty sure thats the way i did it, if not that way then i just put it in the computer and formated it that way.

[AJ@PR]

My gosh, it worked!

I deleted the partition, did a new one full-disk size.
Clicked format... and... left...
When I came back, it's done!

Wow. Amazing that thing they talk about... patience is it?
:p

HAhah.a... Anyways, thanks a TON Ranken and Spawn! :)
Your help has been very much appreciated!!!

Now I can transfer stuff from the other external hdd, format that other one, and get on with the organization of the mess I call back-ups. :p

Thanks! !!! :D