How do I format my external hard drive?

**BIzFlawless** · 06-08-2006, 10:40 PM

Sup guys, Ive been having a problem with my external hard drive...It wont work, it takes forever for windows to detect it and then when it does I double click it to get my files from it and it takes a while to try to open it then it says something about an error, I want to format it and wipe everything off but I dunno how, ive searched on the net and all ive found is use disk utility but I cant find that in windows?

Im sure someone has had this problem, and knows how to fix it. Please help!!!!!!!!

**ukchris** · 06-08-2006, 10:43 PM

Go to disk manager in Windows... Control Panel, Admin Tools, Computer Management, Disk Manager. Right-click it and format...

**xBrady** · 06-09-2006, 12:03 AM

Or go to Windows Explorer (or my computer) Win+E, right click the drive and click format.

**BIzFlawless** · 06-09-2006, 06:09 AM

sup,
I reformatted it...but it still takes forever for windows to locate the drive and open it or do anything with it....here is a screen shot

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this one is a picture of the message I always get after it takes forever trying to open the drive....

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wtf does it mean and how can i fix this!????????

thanks 4 the help

B

**Puffanug** · 06-09-2006, 12:44 PM

Find a hard drive test program. Looks like the drive may have gone bad, or the cable/port you use to connect the external drive has gone bad. Try putting the drive in your system as an internal drive, see if you get the same error. Try another drive in that external enclosure, see if you get the error. What brand is the drive and what size? Most manufacturers have a hard drive anaylsis tool on their website.

**BIzFlawless** · 06-09-2006, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by Puffanug

Find a hard drive test program. Looks like the drive may have gone bad, or the cable/port you use to connect the external drive has gone bad. Try putting the drive in your system as an internal drive, see if you get the same error. Try another drive in that external enclosure, see if you get the error. What brand is the drive and what size? Most manufacturers have a hard drive anaylsis tool on their website.

how do i get it to recongnize it as an internal?, where would i find a hard drive test program?...its a Western digital 120gb

**jjh221** · 06-09-2006, 12:55 PM

have you taken it out of its case?

**kevinlekiller** · 06-09-2006, 01:31 PM

Click : Make partition active. ( its where you right clicked in the screenshot )

**Splash-X** · 06-09-2006, 02:03 PM

The drive is definatly going bad OR it needs to be serviced by a professional who may be able to use some utilities to repair the drive.

This IS a common problem our repair shop sees with USB hard drives. The problem occures when the drive is unplugged or disconnected from the PC while in use. A Delayed Write error will occure and some times the MFT of the drive can become corrupt. If that is corrupted a standard format wont fix it and you need to use a utility to wipe it and recreate it.

**BIzFlawless** · 06-09-2006, 05:44 PM

sup guys! thanks for all the help, well I checked the WD site and there was a format tool for my hard drive that I didnt see when i first looked, it took a while but it finally erased everything and now its back to normal, thanks again guys!

B