Unable to format the drive partition

[sonuc85]

Hi,
I have Seagate 160GB HDD. I was using the drive for 8months without any issues and i had 3 partitions(50GB,50GB,49GB). One day i start the comp and i can't access some files on 3rd partition. I tried to troubleshoot as far as possible.....no go.

Then i tried to format the drive(quick format and normal) but i got a message "could not format the drive" and partition become inaccessiable. I try to repartition the drive, i can create 2 partition successfully but while creating 3rd partition failed. I tried with "SEAGATE Disk Wizard" to do repartition....result same for 3rd partition. Even I tried to repartition with windows Disk Mgmt...no go and also I tried to repartition with windows XP CD .......failed.

I contact SEAGATE Tech Support they told to Run "LONG DST-TEST" with SeaTools. I got "Test-Failed". Support people said to replace the Drive.

Now I got a drive replacement. But still I have same Issue. So far i tried to format with NTFS File sys. With SEAGATE Disk Wizard i tried to repartition with FAT32, i surprised....................partition successfull and size also same(50GB,50GB,49GB) for drive partitions which was wierd.

Again i tried with seagate disk wizard with NTFS.......failed for 3rd partition.

I need my drive be in NTFS

Any solutions..........Helppppppppppppppppppp......... ............................

[BipolarBill]

Have you tried scanning for bugs?

Avira AntiVir Rescue System

I would back up all critical data on the working partitions and nuke the drive:

Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe

[RicheemxX]

Dang bill what is it with you and Avira these days

Get a copy of the Ultimate Boot CD - Overview and test the the new drive from there, is this a SATA or IDE drive, have you tried switching cables/connections. Its possible one of your connections is bad giving you some odd errors.

[BipolarBill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RicheemxX

Dang bill what is it with you and Avira these days

It's easy for even novices and it tested best in the latest issue of Windows Secrets - against paid versions of rescue CDs, including Kaspersky's. It's certainly easier than UBCD and takes less disk space. Try explaining to the average user how to update the malware definitions in UBCD - I dare ya! Since it's a boot environment, no malware is safe from it.

As you know, most problems with the average user are rooted (pun intended) in malware and rootkits. Any old AV proggy can get garden-variety viruses. Trojans and rootkits are another story. This CD gets 99% of everything.

[RicheemxX]

I just found it as an odd suggestion considering he said he's on a new drive, not much chance that its virus related unless he cloned the old drive. I was also curious because I've seen you post it a million times lately, personally I'd never heard of it until you posted it in another thread so I was wondering.

[BipolarBill]

Yeah - it's good and free. I get no points for recommending it. I hate scanning once only to find that the scanner can't remove a bug. That means another hour sitting in Safe Mode and maybe that won't do it. A boot CD makes it easy - one scan and all gone.

I subscribe to Windows Secrets. Their test isn't available on the web page - only via newsletter. It should show up when the next newsletter goes out. I'm trying to get the word out the best I can, but trust is hard to come by these days.

He didn't mention, but I'm sure that he's using Seatools to clone the old drive to new - to save his data. If that is the case, he's got the same problems now as he may have had before. I've seen bugs that can

[BipolarBill]

Here's the excerpt from the newsletter:

Bootable rescue CDs can fix your damaged Windows

By Mark Joseph Edwards

When your system is so corrupt with malware that it becomes unstable or won't even boot, a bootable rescue CD can give it the scrubbing it needs.

The free anti-malware rescue CDs I describe today have all the tools you need to remove viruses and restore Windows' health.


Two anti-malware rescue CDs outshine the others

When your PC is infected with one or more types of vicious malware, the machine may behave erratically or not boot at all. The best cure is to boot the system using another OS and scan the PC's hard drives to find and remove the malware.

But how can you do all that without installing a whole new OS? The answer is simple: use a bootable anti-malware rescue CD.

At a minimum, such a CD should contain a decent anti-malware scanner, although such CDs usually include other helpful tools, such as a partition manager and Web browser. You boot your system from the rescue CD, select options from a menu, and let the tool scan your PC to detect and possibly remove malware. Hopefully, that process resolves your problems.

Some desktop anti-malware solutions allow you to create a rescue disk. However, there are at least six vendors who make standalone, downloadable rescue CDs that anyone can get their hands on: Avast!, AVG (formerly Grisoft), Avira, BitDefender, F-Secure, and Kaspersky. All of these solutions are offered for free except the ones from AVG and Avast.

The advantages to using a bootable rescue CD are that you have access to another vendor's solution and you don't need to install a full-blown desktop application in order to create a rescue disk.

I found each of the products to be useful, though one is clearly better than the others: Avira's free AntiVir Rescue System. When it comes to anti-malware detection and removal, however, one vendor's solution may not handle every issue that other vendors' solutions can.

I suggest that you download all four of the free solutions. If you administer a business network, you should seriously consider buying the AVG and Avast solutions, too. That way, when you're in a pinch, you can try all the possible options to clear up a problem.

When you've got at least four free anti-malware solutions to choose from, which one do you use first? That comes down to which tool provides the best on-demand malware detection rates. Since I don't have a full-blown anti-malware test lab — which is a complex and difficult-to-maintain service — I defer to the experts who do maintain such labs.

As in the past, I rely on the results published by Virus Bulletin, a well-known and respected independent lab. Virus Bulletin recently tested 35 anti-malware solutions using samples from the WildList as it stood in April 2008. The tests were conducted using product releases available as of June 24, 2008. Five of the 35 virus scanners are available on their respective vendors' rescue CDs and are reviewed here.

My overall scores cover the ready-made free products; I also summarize the features available in the two commercial products and offer a couple of other rescue alternatives.

All of the products that I rate work basically the same way: there is no installation or removal process required with a boot CD, and disk scanning is performed by selecting menu items. My ratings are based on each product's ability to detect malware and on the other features included on each CD. As it turns out, the tools with the most features also have the best on-demand scanning capabilities.

#1: AVIRA ANTIVIR RESCUE SYSTEM
Free version
95
More info

The rescue CD with the best malware detection

Avira's solution is the best anti-malware rescue CD you can get today. The AntiVir Rescue System doesn't come with a full-blown Linux GUI-based desktop, as does BitDefender (my #2 choice). But the program's text-based command shell comes in handy for such basic tasks as copying, moving, and deleting files.

You can set the AntiVir Rescue System to update its anti-malware definitions when it boots up, although this requires an active Internet connection. What makes AntiVir the #1 rescue CD is that its malware scanner has the highest virus-detection score of all the products I examined.

AntiVir detected all worms, bots, file infectors, and polymorphic virus strains. The program also caught 98.27% of all Trojans thrown at it. Very little gets past AntiVir, and that's a big reason why Avira's solution earns the top rating.

[frankgw]

NEVER LOSE ANY FILES IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE ONE YOU ARE USING...easy way to rescue them is to disconnect your hard drive and connect up another hard drive..install any version of windows on the new hard drive..when installed turn off computer and reconnect the hard drive you were having problems with..restart computer and the version of windows you have put on new hard drive will/should load first. when it is loaded double click on 'my computer icon' at the top left of your screen and you will see the icons for your new hard drive(which will be :c drive) and your old one which will be assigned another letter(might be :d) double click on that and you will be able to access files..music,documents,photo's etc...right click on anything you want to rescue and select send to my documents..they will be transferred to your new hard drive.

Post edited. Phone number removed. - RR

[sonuc85]

Hi,
Thanks for ur replies.....
I am using an ATA IDE HDD.
Right now im using my HDD with FAT32 which is working great. But i want my HDD to be NTFS.
There is no option to clone the disk in SEATOOLS. But "Seagate Diskwizard" Has clone option and i havent done any clone. Its just an additional HDD in my PC.

Its impossible to format an drive Partition with FAT32 for 50GB in XP.
I used "Seagate DiskWizard" to format and repartition to FAT32 for three 50 GB paratition.

I also tried by changing IDE cables.........no go

I Removed my primary HDD and i inserted only new HDD. I tried to install Win XP in 3rd partition (that is last partition), but installation quits and got a msg that unable to format the drive. I also tried by formating with "NTFS Normal Format option"(not quick NTFS format) using WIN XP boot cd.........no success.

I not yet tried with Rescue CD and with Seatool-DOS...I will try that and let u know guys.

[BipolarBill]

Since nothing is actually on the 3rd partition, use Disk Management to delete it and recreate it. As a matter of fact, you can do this in Windows Setup. When you get to the part where setup asks where you want to to install, read the prompts and delete the 3rd partition. You will then see unallocated space. Create a new partition there and install.

You can convert to NTFS anytime in Windows.

Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows XP