IBM 82 GB hardrive refuses to be formatted/seen

[Seekely]

AMD Athlong 2000+
Windows 2k
Seagate 20 GB Master
IBM 80 GB Slave

I have a master/slave setup with the IBM as the slave, and everything was working fine and happy until one time when i reset my D: (the ibm) said it had not been formatted and if I wished to format it now. I already knew that was bad, and very depressing, but fortunately I did not have much data on the drive yet and so I precedded to try and format it in windows. It finishes format (which of course takes forever) and then at the very end says "Cannot format this drive". I try with Partition Magic and it gives either a error saying i might have Anti-Virus software installed (which I don't, not in windows, and its not enabled in hte bios) or just gives another random error. I also try to format in the Windows 2000 repair process and it completes the format but the drive is still not formatted. And to top it off, windows does not even see the drive under My Computer (Partition Magic sees the drive and its size, but can't format it). Any suggestions?

 

[dave holbon]

Personally I would use the IBM drive as the master with the correct IDE (80 core) cable and put you other drive on the other IDE controller. What did you do to reset your D drive?

Windows 2000 is very picky about how these drives are set-up especially during formatting or installation. The IBM drive has to be checked with IBM disk manager tools (as supplied by IBM). Set it to DMA 33 and turn off write behind cashing. Re-create the partitions and logical drives on the IBM drive and try another format. You can always re-set the drive using the same utilities after 2000 has recognised the drive correctly.

It is possible to change the drive letter assigned to the system and boot partition in Windows 2000 or Windows XP by editing values in the registry. In general, doing so is not advised. The only time this option makes sense is when a system configuration unexpectedly causes drive letters to change, so that the letter assigned to the system or boot partition is different from the one that was assigned when Windows was installed. This might be the case if you use third-party partitioning tools to alter the layout of partitions on a disk, or if you add or remove a disk controller. If this situation describes your system, read details about this tricky procedure in Microsofts Knowledge Base article Q223188, "How to Change the System/Boot Drive Letter in Windows 2000." The steps are the same for Windows XP.

 

[Goatman]

grab the disk utilities for it and zero the drive, I had that problem, and it fixed it for me

 

[Seekely]

Thanks for the replies, but unfortunately this drive is being RIPed. The drive in its two week life was never able to boot an operating system as it always blue screened with a Mount error of some sorts, so I decided to deal with it as a slave. Unfortunately that just blew up and the disc won't respond to anything properly and judging by the error messages I've been getting, it has permanent damage. Either way, I went out and bought a Wester Digital 120 GB instead and it works beautifully and I know it will be far more reliable. Thanks for the help anyways guys

 

[gonaads]

You should go to the IBM web site and get a *Return Authorization* and send it back for repair or replacement. There is a 3 year Warranty on DeskStar IDE Hard Drives.
They (IBM site) will ask for the Drive's Serial No. and then spit out info on how much of the Warranty is still valid.