Help Formatting C Drive - Won't Finish!!!

[leejoy]

Help

I am trying to load windows XP or Windows 2000 on my home PC and first need to format the hard drive to NTFS file system. I am using a Windows 2000 installation CD to boot from and perform the format process.

The format procedure starts and goes well all the way to 100 % (it's a 20 GB HDD - takes about 15 minutes) and then instead of saying it's complete, it gives me some kind of error message, like "windows was unable to format the selected partition - press enter to continue"..............or something like that. I tried it twice - same problem. It won't finish..........

what should I do?

thanks

Lee

[leejoy]

Help

I am trying to load windows XP or Windows 2000 on my home PC and first need to format the hard drive to NTFS file system. I am using a Windows 2000 installation CD to boot from and perform the format process.

The format procedure starts and goes well all the way to 100 % (it's a 20 GB HDD - takes about 15 minutes) and then instead of saying it's complete, it gives me some kind of error message, like "windows was unable to format the selected partition - press enter to continue"..............or something like that. I tried it twice - same problem. It won't finish..........

what should I do?

thanks

Lee

[Robert Diggs]

Try using the command "chkdsk /r" without the quotation marks. This should attempt to repair any surface errors on the disk. That should allow you to format the drive.

Regards,

Brandon

[leejoy]

Try using the command "chkdsk /r" without the quotation marks. This should attempt to repair any surface errors on the disk. That should allow you to format the drive.

Regards,

Brandon

brandon thanks...........

but, how do I invoke the chkdsk /r command if I can't get to a command prompt? I need the command prompt to do that command right? The installation CD does not allow me to get to a command prompt if I am correct. Should I be using a bootable floppy disk to get to to a command prompt?

Lee

[Robert Diggs]

Sorry... go into your Recovery Console. You can get there through your install disc. Just be observant and there is a point in which you can get into the Recovery Console. From there you can use the command in the previous post.

REgards,

Brandon

[Spyders]

You might want to try to download a win98 boot disk and run chkdsk to make sure there are no drive errors first before going forward with formating. Either that or try a different hard drive since it sounds like this one has errors or is failing

[leejoy]

Sorry... go into your Recovery Console. You can get there through your install disc. Just be observant and there is a point in which you can get into the Recovery Console. From there you can use the command in the previous post.

REgards,

Brandon


brandon - thanks - I will do that. I forgot about the recovery console thing. I only do this like once a year and forget that stuff.

doesnt it seem weird though that the format process will proceed through the entire disk - to 100% before generating the error message? If portions of the disk were bad, does it not fix it or bypass those sectors automatically? or do you have to invoke the /r switch to repair those bad sectors?

Lee

[Robert Diggs]

You do have to invoke the /r switch in order for it to repair bad sectors. No, it doesn't seem weird that it gets to 100% and then generates an error. AFter all, this is Windows.

Regards,

Brandon

[leejoy]

You do have to invoke the /r switch in order for it to repair bad sectors. No, it doesn't seem weird that it gets to 100% and then generates an error. AFter all, this is Windows.

Regards,

Brandon

hey brandon - thanks.

I agree with what you are saying and will do as you say tonight when I get home.

I guess what I meant to say was, the installation prompts ask you if you want to format the selected partition, and to press a key to continue. It doesnt give you the option to "repair bad sectors" of the disk as it formats it - that just seems strange to me. why would they not think of that when writing the code - it's a very common problem I would think.

anyway, I'll try it tonight like you said, using the recovery console and the /r switch and let you know.

Lee

[Robert Diggs]

Well, there are two different kinds of formats. We'll go with the two different kinds within Windows. There's the 'quick' format and then there's format. If you use the 'quick' format, it does not check for bad sectors. If you use the regular format option, it checks it for bad sectors.

Try a low level format. Here is an article with a debug script that will low level format your hard drive. It will also require you to use fdisk. This could be a good exercise for you and you'll learn a few things in the process. You may need to look up how to use fdisk. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/106419

If you don't like that, check out the link to this website with a low level formatting tool. http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool.shtml

Regards,

Brandon

[leejoy]

Well, there are two different kinds of formats. We'll go with the two different kinds within Windows. There's the 'quick' format and then there's format. If you use the 'quick' format, it does not check for bad sectors. If you use the regular format option, it checks it for bad sectors.

Try a low level format. Here is an article with a debug script that will low level format your hard drive. It will also require you to use fdisk. This could be a good exercise for you and you'll learn a few things in the process. You may need to look up how to use fdisk. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/106419

If you don't like that, check out the link to this website with a low level formatting tool. http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool.shtml

Regards,

Brandon

Brandon

I figured out what was going on. Indeed the hard drive was defective. It's a 20 GB. somewhere between 5GB and 10GB was the bad sectors. I was able to successfully format when only using a 5GB partition size - the remaining 15 GB can't be used. I really just need a new hard drive, but since it's for my mother in law and just for internet use mostly - 5GB is enough. I already installed windows 2000 on there - upgraded to SP4 via the microsoft website and all seems well now

learning experience for me though. I don't know why it would allow a 100% format to take place and then at the end just say

" the drive was unable to be formatted" without telling me why.

Lee