Trouble formating new hardrive

[krish123]

just recieved my new western digital cavier external hd and am now trying to format the drive. i right click the disk icon in my comp and choose ntfs the drive is currently fat32. the drive begins to format but after three quarters of the way it seems to stop and no progress is made. any1 no why this is? any help appriecated.

[Broken]

It should be simple, sound like you are doing it right.
But, lets trying actually going into windows disk managment utility and doing it. Maybe it'll work better for you.

Do this by right clicking on 'My Computer', then choosing 'Manage' and 'Disk
Management'. Then choose the drive. Click on the gray field on the left side to initialize the drive or click on the empty field on the right side to create a partition.

[Detale]

You are saying it's a WD caviar I imagine it's a My Book right? If so they have a Support site (http://support.wdc.com/) that you can get their disk management tools like the WD button manager and stuff you could also try that if Broken's suggestion doesn't work

[krish123]

thanks for the replies, i tried again this time the format fully completed but said windows could not format hardrive any idea why?

[krish123]

thanks for the replies, i tried again this time the format fully completed but said windows could not format hardrive any idea why?

[krish123]

thanks for the replies, i tried again formatting and this time it fully completed, however said that windows could not format drive any ideas why?

[krish123]

thanks for the replies, i tried again formatting and this time it fully completed, however said that windows could not format drive any ideas why?

sorry about the multiple posts. i seem to have lost the drive completely now, its not present in my comp.

i am in a real mess now, i accidently deleted usb mass storage device in device manager how do i get this back, all my removable drives hav gone from my comp. plz help.

[clocker]

What kind of computer do you have?

[krish123]

its a acer aspire t120e-f870 any help on this appriecated. i think i have made a big error in deleting usb storage manage i hope i can get it bak

[clocker]

Try plugging the new drive into another computer and see if it works.

[krish123]

the drive works because the first time i plugged the drive in it showed up as drive j i then tried to format the drive and afterwards the drive had gone. any1 kno how i can get usb mass storage bak on device manager?

[krish123]

i think the hardrive is fine because when i first plugged it in the drive came up(J:) but after i tried to formatt it it went. any ideas how to get usb mass storage bak ?

[clocker]

the drive works because the first time i plugged the drive in it showed up as drive j i then tried to format the drive and afterwards the drive had gone. any1 kno how i can get usb mass storage bak on device manager?
I would assume nothing about that drive yet.

First things first though...the USB drivers are reinstalled with your motherboard's chipset drivers. If your PC came with disks you should be able to find them there.
If not, download them from Acer.

[krish123]

ok downloaded the chipset drivers for my comp, but there are many files within different folders which do i need to go in for the usb mass storage?

[clocker]

Just reinstall the chipset package as a whole.

[krish123]

ok got the usb storage back and the ide drivers. now how to get the external hardrive to appear? when i go into the disk drives in device manager there is wdc-wd400bb etc i think this is the external hardive but its not present on my comp.

[clocker]

Start> My Computer.
Right click> Manage.

Left pane> Disk Management> double left click.

What shows up here?

[krish123]

just my c and d drives not the j drive of the external hd? i tried rescan for drive but that doesnt work either i have the external hd' usb at the front of the modem does this make a difference

[clocker]

Dunno.
Try a port in the rear and see...

[krish123]

plugged it into the bak and it says usb mass storage, new hardware, hard disk drive, then says your device may not work properly unless you reboot, so it asks for reboot, and after rebooted the drive doesnt appear in my comp. what shall i do? first time a pluged it in drive j appeared in my comp.

[clocker]

Go back into Disk Management and see if it's appearing.
If the disk hasn't been initialized/partitioned/formatted it won't appear in My Computer.

[krish123]

no it isnt appearing, ioh right i havent done all three but was trying to format it, how do u intailize the disk?

[clocker]

Typically, when you plug in a raw disk the wizard will pop up automatically.

I think you have a problem with that drive.
Or maybe the enclosure.

If possible, you could remove the drive from the enclosure and connect it directly to the PC (via IDE or SATA, whichever it happens to be)...basically, eliminate the enclosure from the equation and see what happens.

[Broken]

I'd strongly recommend returning the drive for a replacement.
There is no reason you should be having as many problems as you are. The easiest explanation is usually the correct one, and I'd say you have a bad piece of hardware on your hands.

[krish123]

thing is when i first plugged in the drive it did appear in my comp as fat32. when after unsuccesfully formatting the hd then it went from my comp. preferably i dont want to open the hard drive.

[clocker]

I think Broken has it right...you shouldn't be having this much trouble.
External drives are supposed to be plug-n-play and clearly, yours is not.

Seems to me you have two options:

-Return the unit as defective

-Try it on another PC and then return it as defective.

[krish123]

i am going to email the company i bought it from, thing is ive already had many problems getting it to me and dont want to post it bak to america. when i on the hd it makes a repetitive clicking noise for about 10-15 seconds then goes quit is this usual?

[clocker]

No.

Repetitive clicking noises are never normal.

[Broken]

Grinding And Clicking are signs of a failed hard drive.
Along with the other problems your reporting I say that's probably the case.

[krish123]

ok ive sent an email to who i bought it from. thanks very much for all the help you have given me today clocker and broken.

[krish123]

i am in the process of refunding the hardrive, therefore am looking for a replacment, any1 know a good quality drive with a capcity of around 250gb. what is the cache/buffer speed of the hard drive and is it important to have a good speed say a 8mb cache?

[Broken]

Western Digital isn't a bad brand. There's going to be a certain number of defective devices in every lot, from any brand. I would guess that at this point you are feeling a bit soured about them though, so I would recommend something from Seagate.

On an external USB connected hard drive cache is just about irrelevant. Your speed is crippled by the interface and not the drive. More cache is better, and allows for faster loading for files. But 8mbs vs 16mbs, you're not gonna see it unless you go eSATA instead of USB.

[krish123]

ok thanks for that, is the likes of maxtor and buffalo any gd, is there any particular models that are well rated?