HDD close to useless

I wiped one of my HDD (IDE), and I don't have a way to reformat it! Window's internal formatter cannot handle it because it is to large. Are there any free formating programs that work good? If not, what would I need to buy? I recently bought a new HDD, but its formating software will only work for its brand.jed-at-war

How fast is your connection? Knoppix (or for that matter, most LiveCDs) can be used to format a hard disk. Otherwise..I don't really know what to suggest. Whatever you do stay away from PartitionMagic..there have been some very serious issues that it causes (at least in the past, don't care to look into it again).

Knoppix and SystemRescueCD are probably the best known ones out there, but theres alsoTrinity Rescue (or something like that) and I know a couple of people who swear by that.

[QUOTE="jed-at-war"]I wiped one of my HDD (IDE), and I don't have a way to reformat it! Window's internal formatter cannot handle it because it is to large. Are there any free formating programs that work good? If not, what would I need to buy? I recently bought a new HDD, but its formating software will only work for its brand.RichterBelmont7

How fast is your connection? Knoppix (or for that matter, most LiveCDs) can be used to format a hard disk. Otherwise..I don't really know what to suggest. Whatever you do stay away from PartitionMagic..there have been some very serious issues that it causes (at least in the past, don't care to look into it again).

Knoppix and SystemRescueCD are probably the best known ones out there, but theres alsoTrinity Rescue (or something like that) and I know a couple of people who swear by that.

I don't need to rescue anything, I just need to format it. I do have a similar Ubuntu 7.04 disc. Would I be able to format a HDD using it?

I have a HDD in my PC now, obviously, but I need to format my spare HDD to back-up data.

Does anyone know of any programs for formating.jed-at-war

Sorry, I was logged off. That Ubuntu disc should do the job. Hit Alt+F2 and type in Gparted, I believe that will work. If not you can act like you about to install it to the HDD (select manual) and format it from there.

What version of Windows are you running and how large is the hard drive?

The reason I ask is because Windows doesn't have a format size limit. However, there are circumstances in which the format can fail depending on OS version, file system and configuration. For example, if you are formatting FAT32 then there -is- a size limit. You -should- be formatting NTFS if you aren't already unless you need to create a swap partition for an OS that doesn't support NTFS write access (like Linux)

Another potential pitfall is if you have not kept up on your updates in XP then you might hit a wall at 127gig (the 48-bit LBA problem). If you are current on your updates this should not be an issue.

Post back with more info and we should be able to help you with your problem without the need to try to find a 3rd-party utility.

-Byshop

What version of Windows are you running and how large is the hard drive?

The reason I ask is because Windows doesn't have a format size limit. However, there are circumstances in which the format can fail depending on OS version, file system and configuration. For example, if you are formatting FAT32 then there -is- a size limit. You -should- be formatting NTFS if you aren't already unless you need to create a swap partition for an OS that doesn't support NTFS write access (like Linux)

Another potential pitfall is if you have not kept up on your updates in XP then you might hit a wall at 127gig (the 48-bit LBA problem). If you are current on your updates this should not be an issue.

Post back with more info and we should be able to help you with your problem without the need to try to find a 3rd-party utility.

-Byshop

Byshop

I am running 2K and I am formating a 40GB HDD.

The Ubuntu disc looks like the easiest bet. I have installed it before, so it should be easy.

Are you using 2 HDDs ?

If 1 for Win 2K & other one for DATA & thoses stuff ,go to the Manager (right click on my computer then Manager) from there got to Disk Management from there delete the HDD that you want to format & recreate it

Voila

I am running 2K and I am formating a 40GB HDD.

The Ubuntu disc looks like the easiest bet. I have installed it before, so it should be easy.

jed-at-war

2k only supports NTFS so there's definately not a size limit problem. I would take the previous poster's suggestion of deleting and recreating the partition. If Windows is failing this simple operation it could also be an indication ofa hardware problem or a misconfiguration on the hardware level. What is the exact error that Windows throws when you try to format it?

-Byshop

You could use the hard drive manufacturers tool.zeus_gb

Listen to him. Your HD manufacturer should be able to supply a reformatting program. This program should be available on the CD that came with the drive or you should be able to download it from their website.

[QUOTE="zeus_gb"]You could use the hard drive manufacturers tool.jcohenx

Listen to him. Your HD manufacturer should be able to supply a reformatting program. This program should be available on the CD that came with the drive or you should be able to download it from their website.

This HDD is VERY OLD.

Windows just says the the hard disc drive is to large. I will try deleting the drive and recreating it. I have some information on it that I need until I get my new rig. I will reformat it when I am ready to build my new rig.

[QUOTE="jcohenx"]

[QUOTE="zeus_gb"]You could use the hard drive manufacturers tool.jed-at-war

Listen to him. Your HD manufacturer should be able to supply a reformatting program. This program should be available on the CD that came with the drive or you should be able to download it from their website.

This HDD is VERY OLD.

Windows just says the the hard disc drive is to large. I will try deleting the drive and recreating it. I have some information on it that I need until I get my new rig. I will reformat it when I am ready to build my new rig.

What did you mean by you wiped your hard drive? I was assuming you deleted the partition which basically means your info's gone anyway (there are ways to recover it, assuming it hasn't been written over, but i don't know how to do it).

[QUOTE="jed-at-war"][QUOTE="jcohenx"]

[QUOTE="zeus_gb"]You could use the hard drive manufacturers tool._Margulis_

Listen to him. Your HD manufacturer should be able to supply a reformatting program. This program should be available on the CD that came with the drive or you should be able to download it from their website.

This HDD is VERY OLD.

Windows just says the the hard disc drive is to large. I will try deleting the drive and recreating it. I have some information on it that I need until I get my new rig. I will reformat it when I am ready to build my new rig.

What did you mean by you wiped your hard drive? I was assuming you deleted the partition which basically means your info's gone anyway (there are ways to recover it, assuming it hasn't been written over, but i don't know how to do it).

I wiped and installed Ubuntu on my 40GB HDD for a dual boot with my windows 2K on my 160GB HDD, but I did something wrong which caused my system to run SLOWWW. I had to wipe the Ubuntu OS and swap partition. I then found that a program that I had installed on the OS installed on the 160GB HDD prevented me from backing up discs. So, I installed a dual boot of windows on my 40GB HDD, but I only built two partitions and left the rest unpartitioned. Know that space is wasted. What I really want to do now though, is to wipe the 40GB HDD and format it into a blank HDD.

Well if you want to wipe it just delete all partitions on the 40gb then make and then make how ever many partitions you want on it. You should be able to do it in Windows on the Admin account under Control Panel>Adminstrative Tools>Computer Management>Disk Management.

Both reformating and deleting partitions will wipe it.

Also i think whats happening is you might be making your partition to big. Like i have a 73gb drive and the biggest partition windows will let me make is 69gb (idk why, its probably where it keeps the File system list or something)