formatting HD

  • Thread starter Thread starter shackrock
  • Start date Start date
S

shackrock

New member
So i got winME. it's terrible.
I just bought XP PRO, and I am ready to reformat my whole drive and install it - complete with NTFS filesystem. I got drivers ready, and backed everything I need up, etc. etc.

I booted from the XP cd, and clicked to do a full format and install XP PRO on my only available partition (the full HD) - so, it goes all through the proccess...it takes 30 min.

Then it says, "setup is unable to format your harddrive. it may be damaged" also it says some stuff like make sure it's connected properly through scsi, etc. etc.

well, it's a computer, about 2 years old, from DELL - so I figure it's all fine except for it may be damaged. CRAP!

haha

I started the computer back up, and it ran just as it used to, no files were deleted/formatted, etc. and WINME is still on it.

I am running a scandisc on the computer as I type this (from my "recording" computer..haha).

Any ideas??? just try again????
 
look for bad clusters...do a complete scan on disk not just files
 
just finished running scandisk. 3 hours later, (thorough scan) - no problems found.
 
well - now i'm screwed. haha.

i have a broken hard drive i assume. it still wont format, even after i deleted everything (delted the partition) - and made a new partition (the size of the drive)..... and still, "damged disk".

my nieghbor is trying to save the HD as we speak, i just gave it to him, and he's taking it to his computer next door and gonna try to format it to NTFS for me.

otherwise, i guess my only option is a new HD, right?
 
Without knowing what size the harddrive is, the price/per storage area of new harddrives is pretty reasonable these days.
The problem is that sometimes problems arise from installing new components in pc's that are 2 or more years older.
I recently had a Western Digital 60 gig that would not format in Windows. I was however, able to format the drive with Data Lifeguard Tools from Western Digital.
 
yeah, this is rediculous

so i bought a western digital HD. thinking the other was "damged." of course, same shit happened, and it wouldnt format. god damn 80 bucks.

so my niehgbor was able to format the old one in the meantime.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! haha.

piece of crap windows xp....?

i guess i'll just have to have him format this new one too for me.
 
If you can ask him to format this one too (much easier for you :D ), but I think he did it through command prompt, or used one of those utilities for formating and other HD-related stuff.
 
so i bought a western digital HD. thinking the other was "damged." of course, same shit happened, and it wouldnt format. god damn 80 bucks.

so my niehgbor was able to format the old one in the meantime.
Click to expand...

Crap piece of Dell I would say. Very likely, the HD is fine, but Dell doesn't want you to do anything without them having a share. They use a lot of non standard components and/or bios. See if there isn't something in your bios.
 
Well, I AM 2 versions behind in my bios updates. there is some shiht that they say is important to update for if you have XP (which I have now...).

So I got some files on a disk...some program put it there for me. but now how do I update bios? it says, cant run under a protected environment.
I suspect it involves "flash updating" or something...whatever that is.

can anyone help? haha.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top