Windows Cant Format Hard Drive
- Apr 17, 2013 Can't format hard drive. Tried diskpart/disk management. Hi guys, I recently bought an SSD and decided to install it on my machine, I've set it as the #1 boot option, and then I tried to format my previous hard drive so I can use it for data.
- Select the USB drive and click 'Format' button to format the flash drive. Note: Repairing bad sectors damages files stored on and near bad sectors, thus if files on the drive are important to you, you need to backup or recover data first.
- May 26, 2012 Turn off computer, unplug your HDD and reboot into your SSD (Make sure your bios priority boot is from your SSD). Then turn off computer, re-plug your HDD and try to format.
Jan 17, 2019 Right-click the new hard drive and select the Format option. In the 'Value label' field, type a descriptive name for the drive. Use the 'File system' drop-down menu, and select NTFS (recommended. Jun 11, 2018 Right click the unallocated space on your 4TB drive and choose 'New Simple Volume' Then if asked, Assign a Drive Letter to the Drive - choose the letter suggested in the Drop Down. Close Disk Management, you should now be able to see the full 4TB Drive in Windows File Explorer!
How-To Geek Forums / Windows 7
(Solved) - External hard drive won't format HELP
(23 posts)I have an LG external hard drive which I unplugged one day without doing the safe eject. Now it won't work. The computer recognize its existence on the F drive and disk management says the status is healthy (primary partition) But it will not format. Under File system, the drive is described as RAW. I do not need to recover the data but I got it only six months ago and hate to have to throw it away and buy a new one. Any help would be much appreciated.
Try this, with the drive attached;
From command prompt type: Convert f: /FS:NTFS
Mike
Thanks Mike but the formatting was unsuccessful because it is a RAW volume. I tried doing the formatting from Disk Management but that did not work either. Any thoughts on what else can be done? The status is still marked as healthy
Go to Disk Management and delete partition and volume until you have unallocated space. Then start anew by defining a new simple partition.
take the drive out of the enclosure. get a new enclosure or a USB 'bridge' that reads sATA and try above stuff again. and get a fresh USB cord
Thanks WHS. I did that and now, six hours later it says 8% is formatted. Does this sound right to you?
Hi 202D - thanks for the suggestion but I am a bit of a novice. What is an enclosure and how do I take the drive out? Is there a link you know that explains these things?
Did you make the new partition NTFS. Capacitor conversion chart table pdf.
@202d, Why would you suggest the Op get a new enclosure? The drive was working. All new USB drives are SATA drives. The original older ones that you purchased just an enclosure you could put an IDE drive in it.
8% in 6 hours does not sound right. Do the following>
Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt. Right click on Command Prompt and 'Run as Administrator'. Into the black window type:
chkdsk /f
Then press Enter. That will run for a while and fix any bad sectors. When that is done, run these commands in the same window - each followed by Enter
Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given in List Disk for your disk in question)
Format /fs:NTFS Quick
When that is done, continue in the same window
Select disk n (same as above)
Create partition primary
And still in the same window
List volume
Select volume n (n is probably 0)
Assign letter=M (or any other higher letter )
Exit
Now you should have a volume with one partition M that should show in Computer.
Hi WHS. I got as far as
DISKPART> SELECT DISK 1
DISK 1 IS NOW THE SELECTED DISK.
I pressed RETURN.
DISKPART> (THEN I TYPED) /fs:NTFS Quick
I pressed return and I got this message:
The arguments specified for this command are not valid. For more information on the command tupe: HELP FORMAT
I typed HELP and was told (among a lot of other technical terms) that a volume must be selected for this operation to succeed.
So what should I do now?
Can't Format Hard Drive Windows 10
When you typed
diskpart
list disk
There should have been a volume assigned to the disk you want to format.
re read the last paragraph that whs posted above.
EDIT: you may need to type
detail volume
to get the volume information
Try a LIST VOLUME followed by a SELECT VOLUME (the right one from the list). Then do the FORMAT.
@WHS @Germ-X. Thanks people but no luck. The list volume worked.
The info is:
Volume 5, (LTR) F, no info under Label, (Fs) RAW, (Type) Partition, (Size) 298GB, (Status) Healthy.
Then DISKPART came up and I did the following:
DISKPART> Select Volume 5
Volume 5 is the slected volume
DISKPART> Format /fs:NTFS Quick
The arguments specified for this command for not valid.
for more info type HELP FORMAT
DISKPART> HELP FORMAT
blah blah..A volume must be selected for this operation to succeed
Examples:
FORMAT FS=NTFS LABEL='NEW vOLUME' QUICK COMPRESS
FORMAT RECOMMENDED OVERRIDE
This is where I am up to so far and I did do the chkdsk so I presume the hardware on the external hard drive is OK. Help is much appreciated.
DiskPart <ENTER>
list disk <ENTER>
select disk X <ENTER> X=Disk Number
clean all <ENTER> Will take time
list disk <ENTER>
select disk X <ENTER> X=Disk Number
create partition primary <ENTER>
format fs=ntfs quick <ENTER> NO slash
active <ENTER>
exit <ENTER>
exit <ENTER>
Reboot and check Letter assigned in Windows Disk Management
@Raphoenix. Thanks I will give it a try tonight when I go home and let you all know how it goes. I am sure there are many people who have unplugged their USB by mistake.
Hi. The latest in the saga:
Diskpart> Select disk 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
Diskpart> Clean all
DiskPart has encountered an error. The remote procedure call failed.
See the System Event Log for more information.
I WENT TO THE SYSTEM EVENT LOG AND IT HAS THESE ENTRIES:
ERROR: The Virtual Disk service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s). The following corrective action will be taken in 60000 milliseconds: Restart the service. <SERVICE CONTROL MANAGER>
INFORMATION: The WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service service entered the running state. <SERVICE CONTROL MANAGER>
INFORMATION: SerVIce started.<VIRTUAL DISK SERVICE>
INFORMATION: The Virtual Disk service entered the running state. <SERVICE CONTROL MANAGER>
INFORMATION: The Multimedia Class Scheduler service entered the stopped state. <SERVICE CONTROL MANAGER>
If you are willing download this free partition utility > burn to Cd > change your boot order > then boot your system and look at your drive.
You will be able to see if it is partitioned correctly then make any corrections as needed. You can also format from PW
http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html
Scroll down about mid page and download the free bootable version
Just a thought. Have you tried to 'Initialize' the drive in disc management. I remember having to do something of the sort on my external.
Raph and WHS can probably tell you a little more then I can.
@rdunseith, If you have time take a look at PW you can do everything and more then disk management. I think you will like it.
I use Paragon which is about the same as PW.
The reason I suggest PW over diskpart is you can boot with it and has a graphical interface which makes it a little easier for the majority of computer users to use. You can see what you are doing and also it prompts you before actually making any changes.
g-x
Thanks Germ,
I usually just use Windows repair disk that raph suggested in an earlier topic or g-parted bootable cd. I do like that PW has an option for bootable flash drive. Going to give it a go on my test system to see if I like it better.
Robert
Thank you everybody. IT WORKED .. but in a VERY STRANGE way. This is what happened.
1. I downloaded PW and clicked on create partition and then format partition (Other options were greyed out). I was told the operation was successful.
2. I went to computer management and looked at disk management. It still told me the volume was RAW. I repeated STEP 1 and rebooted but still the volume showed up as raw.
3. Then I clicked on create partition but this time I set the size at only 50GB (my drive is 300GB). Gave it a new drive letter (not F:). Formatted the partition. It worked.
4. So I got greedy and resized the partition to 298GB. PW says the operation was successful but disk management told me the volume was RAW.
5. So I repeated Step 3 with the 50GB size. It worked again.
6. Then I thought I would be smart. I created a new partititon with 225GB and gave it a new drive letter. The new partition worked but the old 50GB partition turned RAW again.
7. I started from scratch. Deleted the entire volume and began again with PW. I still put in two partitions but sized 50GB and 138GB. THAT WORKED.
I conclude there must be some bad sectors that chkdsk could not fix. That is why when I tried formatting the entire external hard drive it did not work.
CURIOUSLY:
1. On disk management, it shows I now have four partitions. The two that I had set up. And two more: One that says 78GB of free space and one that says 27GB unallocated.
2. On PW, it shows I have four partitions. Two with drive letters that I had set up. And THREEadditional partitions each labelled *: (asterisk-colon). File system is unallocated and type is logical.
I might not have all the 300GB back but I am very very happy to have more than half of it back. So thank you again everyone. I really appreciate you all taking the time to help.
Windows Can't Format Hdd
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On Windows 10, whenever you get a new hard drive, it's important to format it before you start dumping files. The reason is that you want to ensure that the drive is working correctly, completely clean, and free of malware or malicious code that may harm your installation and personal files.
And it's not just a good practice for new drives, but for used hard drives too (especially those previously connected to a different OS), as using the proper formatting, you can avoid issues and compatibility problems.
Basically, when you format a hard drive, you're deleting all the data residing on the storage, and you start clean with a compatible file system (including NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT), which in this case Windows 10 understands to read and write data.
There are many methods available to format a hard drive, but using Disk Management could be considered one of the best options for most users.
In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to correctly format a traditional hard drive or Solid-State Drive (SSD), whether it already has a partition or it was never initialized.
How to format existing partition using Disk Management
If you have a hard drive already configured with a partition, you can just format the existing partition to erase its content and start fresh with a clean drive.
To format a partition using Disk Management, use these steps:
- Open Start.
- Search for Disk Management and click the top result to open the experience.
Right-click the new hard drive and select the Format option.
- In the 'Value label' field, type a descriptive name for the drive.
- Use the 'File system' drop-down menu, and select NTFS (recommended for Windows 10).
- Use the 'Allocation unit size' drop-down menu, and select the Default option.
Check the Perform a quick format option.
Quick Tip: While performing a quick format wipes the drive faster, it doesn't check if the drive is damaged. On the other hand, when clearing the option, a full format will be performed, which not only wipes the drive clean, but it'll also check for bad sectors. It's an option that could take several hours, but it's a good practice to make sure the hard drive is in working conditions.
- Unless necessary, clear the Enable file and folder compression option.
- Click the OK button.
- Click the OK button again in the warning message.
Once you've completed the steps, the system will format the selected partition on the drive, and then you can start using it to store files.
How to create and format new partition using Disk Management
Windows Can't Format External Hard Drive
If you happen to have a hard drive that was never formatted, you'll need to initialize and create a new partition before you can format it.
Typically, you'll know when a hard drive doesn't have a partition, because it'll not appear in File Explorer, and on Disk Management, it'll appear as unallocated space.
To properly set up a blank hard drive, use these steps:
- Open Start.
- Search for Disk Management and click the top result to open the experience.
Right-click the hard drive marked as 'Unknown' and 'Not Initialized,' and select Initialize Disk.
- Check the disk to initialize.
Select the partition style:
- Master Boot Record (MBR) for hard drives smaller than 2TB in size.
- GUID Partition Table (GPT) for hard drives larger than 2TB in size.
- Click the OK button.
Right-click the Unallocated space, and select the New Simply Value option.
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- Click the Next button.
Under the 'Simple volume size in MB' section, leave the default size if you're planning to use the entire hard drive to store files. Otherwise, specify the amount of space in megabytes that you want to allocate for the partition.
- Click the Next button.
Use the 'Assign the following drive letter' drop-down menu to select a letter for the new hard drive.
- Click the Next button.
- Use the 'File system' drop-down menu, and select NTFS (recommended for Windows 10).
- Use the 'Allocation unit size' drop-down menu, and select the Default option.
- In the 'Value label' field, type a descriptive name for the drive.
Check the Perform a quick format option.
Quick Tip: If you prefer a full format, clear the quick format option. Just keep in mind that depending on the size of the drive, it can take hours to finish.
- Unless necessary, clear the Enable file and folder compression option.
- Click the Next button.
- Click the Finish button.
After completing the steps, the new hard drive will be initialized, partitioned, and properly formatted.
If you're having trouble using Disk Management to format a hard drive, because of data corruption or other severe issues, you can use the DiskPart command-line tool to fix the problem.
While we're focusing this guide on Windows 10, the steps outlined above will also work on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.
More Windows 10 resources
For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources: