Formatting HD

[w9ffc]

I have a Maxtor 80 gog HD and I want to format it. Sounds simple right, well seems there must be a bootstrap loader or something else that's taking 4 gig of space and nomatter what I do, I can't get rid of the 4 gig.
All I want to do is format the entire drive in NTFS.

Thank you............Bob

[rhbowler]

Have you tried a zero write utility?

[w9ffc]

No, can you point me to one.

Bob

[rhbowler]

Samsung has a free one at :

http://www.samsung.com/Products/HardDiskDrive/utilities/clearhdd.htm

works well on all brands of HDD, there is also one on your Max Blast floppy, it's the low level format, takes awhile, but does a very thorough job.

[Techvillage]

A low level format will do it.

***WARNING***

A low level format, if u choose to do it, will wipe *everything* on ur disk, it will wipe all partitions, it will wipe all files - everything will go. K End of warning :)

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

This is Maxtors utility to low level format- it checks out the state of your disk too.

It will take about an hour to run.

:)

[w9ffc]

Thank you, just what I want.

Bob

[Dramen]

Bob, all drives never translate to their stated size after formatting, a few gigs lost for an 80gb drive is normal. Which program have u used to format and check size?

[w9ffc]

Thank you for the info. I guess what I never understood was the reporting of my HD by Partition Magic. It shows Drive C with an Unallocated partition of 7.8 gig. It's the next line below partition C and partition is listed as *:
It also lists the status as None, and the Pri/Log as Primary.

Does any of this mnake sense?

Bob

[Dramen]

Bob the 7.8 mb space is reserved for primary partitions. I think your good but can u post a screenshot of PM8 just so I can be sure it's setup ok?

[Dramen]

Does it look anything like this, note where the red circle is, that's a 7.8 mb unallocated space that would normally be used had I created a primary partition, but if you notice I only have logical partitions within an extended partition.

[w9ffc]

Hi:
I never put a screen shot in my threads before, please tell me how.
I have PM7.01 and it won't let me create any partitions, it comes back and tells me Error 100 (Bad Partition File).
I have a ghost image so don't worry about me losing data.
It won't let me format so there is a partition problem.

Thanks..............Bob

[Dramen]

to post a pic make sure you select the 'post reply' button, then type in your reply and then scroll down to you see the 'browse' button. Click on it and a dialogue will open like filemanger and just browse to where the pic is located and then click the 'submit reply' button.

Maximum size: 360000 bytes
Valid file extensions: gif jpg png txt zip bmp jpeg mpa

[w9ffc]

Hope this works.................

[Dramen]

That partition looks right. have you run chkdsk?

also, do you have any removable drives attached to your pc?

btw, i think pm7 has some probs with winxp ntfs version, maybe someone here knows.

this image u have, was this an ntfs filesystem that had been formatted with pm7?

[rhbowler]

Did you try the low level format yet?

[w9ffc]

Tried to low level format it and the Maxtor powermax utility didn't want to do it.
I forgot which program I used to orginally format the drive in ntfs but it wasn't pm7.
Would you suggest I invest in pm8, is it worth the money for the little amount I use it.

I ran chkdsk /r /p from the xp setup disk, repair console. Found and repaired some things but didn't tell me what it repaired.

Bob

[Dramen]

ok, so after you ran chkdsk does pm7 still not work?

odd that your max utility did not work, is it finding the drive?

I don't think you need to get pm8 just yet.

[w9ffc]

PM7 still doesn't work after a chkdsk and full surface scan.
Still comes up with error 100, bad partition file.
Think I'll give them a call and find out what error 100 is.

Anyway, computer is running good, boots up, runs all my programs, and other than having 1 partition of 76 gig, I think maybe I should either leave it alone or buy a new HD.

Bob

[Dramen]

heres error 100.

http://www.powerquest.com/support/primus/id115.cfm

[w9ffc]

yep already checked it out...........seems pm7 doesn't like XP SP1 upgrade

Bob

[Dramen]

Yeah your hd is fine, it's pm thats have the hiccups. have u tried using the pm bootdisks to partition the drive, who knows maybe it will work outside of winxp.

[rhbowler]

Have you tried the zero write utility from Samsung i gave you early on? Never known that to not work.

[w9ffc]

Hey Guys, I'm getting in over my head...............I'm low level formatting the 80 gig drive now, and it will take all night using Maxtor's PowerBlast. That's ok.

Now for the other computer which is a P4 and also having problems like the other Maxtor drive. Don't worry guys I've got ghost images for both computers.

Maxtor PowerMax will not recognize that drive either.........Hmmmm onto the website I go. Downloaded their Maxblast 3.6 to install Maxtor drives. That program recognizes the drive but tells me the drive is not formatted.....(YES IT IS) I'm on it now. ...........They want to install their own format with a special partition file and MBR. Should I do it.

Bob

PS By the way, PM8 doesn't work on either of the 80 Gig Maxtor drives either. Keep getting error 100