Can't Format HDD

[Stabgotham]

So I recently scrapped my old PC. I decided to place the hard drive from that PC into my current rig to use as backup storage. My current rig uses a 250GB SATA hard drive. The one that I have put in this rig from the old rig is an 80GB IDE drive.

So, first...Windows shows the 80GB drive as a 1098.53GB drive with a RAW file system. Wow...if only that were true!

Second, when I try to format from Disk Management, it gets to 6% and then all activity ceases. No errors, no messages, nothing.

How can I format this hard drive and get it functioning properly? I'm running Windows Vista 64.

 

[Samalama]

Well I recommend you give Gparted a try, it's a Linux based partition manager that can be booted from a disc. It allows you to format in NTFS or FAT32, along with several Linux based filesystems and I've found it to be nothing but reliable. You might also try checking the drives SMART info for any errors with a program like DiskCheckup.

 

[Stabgotham]

I noticed during a check of the BIOS that the HDD is not showing up. Weird...it shows in Vista, but not in the BIOS???

 

[Samalama]

Originally posted by: Stabgotham
I noticed during a check of the BIOS that the HDD is not showing up. Weird...it shows in Vista, but not in the BIOS???

Well isn't that interesting...Now I'm really curious to see what another OS can find. If you haven't already tried Gparted, maybe you could download Ubuntu and boot it as a Live CD, then run the command "fdisk -l" in a terminal. That will truly tell you if the drive's being detected. Though I still think it's a good idea to check SMART first to see if there's anything fundamentally wrong with the drive.

 

[Stabgotham]

Okay so GParted saw the drive, but it recognized it as a 23.82GB drive of unallocated space. It was unable to do anything with it, though. Ubuntu also sees the drive, but again, it can't do anything with it. I've tried mounting it through the terminal and it doesn't work. I've checked my cable and jumper settings 3 times.

I guess, maybe, somewhere between when I pulled it out of my old PC and installed it into this one, it went bad???

 

[Quiksilver]

Did you wipe the drive before taking it out of the old pc?
If you don't have anything important on it, you could try Dariks boot and nuke and see if wiping the hard drive will fix it.

 

[Samalama]

Originally posted by: Stabgotham
I guess, maybe, somewhere between when I pulled it out of my old PC and installed it into this one, it went bad???

That looks like it may be the case. I think you should try what Quiksilver recommended and use Boot and Nuke to wipe the hell out of that drive. Otherwise I'm just about out of ideas.

 

[Stabgotham]

No go on DBAN. Didn't see the hard drive.

I SHALL NEVER GIVE UP! ARG!

Okay, I'm just going to drop $90 and get a 1TB hard drive then...dangit!