unable to format external hard disc drive

[skorpinok]

Hi, i have a 5000 GB samsung external hard disc drive, i cant even access the drive & say's Format disc, but when i do so everything freezes. is there any option to format & save the disc? please suggest me, great thanks in adavance.

[rcubed]

skorpinok,
You might indicate if the drive is connected by USB, E-Sata, or other means then someone might be able to help. If it is in an external enclosure what type/brand.

rcubed

[TreeTops]

"5000 GB samsung external hard disc drive" ???

[dragonkeeper]

"5000 GB samsung external hard disc drive" ???

I'm with you TreeTops i was shocked to find Samsung is now producing 5 TB drives. I could use several of those .

Hi, i have a 5000 GB samsung external hard disc drive, i cant even access the drive & say's Format disc, but when i do so everything freezes. is there any option to format & save the disc? please suggest me, great thanks in adavance.

skorpinok which OS are you using? Also go control panel > administrative tools > computer management > disk management.

What details are listed about the drive in question?

[gll99]

The standard OS format program may not work with these drives. Did you check the Samsung site for a format utility? Disk manufacturers usually provide a basic utility to format their extra large drives.

[skorpinok]

oh my god ! Iam Extremly sorry for mis- information.. its actually 500 GB, NOT 5000..i was in a hurry & it was a spelling mistake.

thank you.

[skorpinok]

"5000 GB samsung external hard disc drive" ???

I'm with you TreeTops i was shocked to find Samsung is now producing 5 TB drives. I could use several of those .

Hi, i have a 5000 GB samsung external hard disc drive, i cant even access the drive & say's Format disc, but when i do so everything freezes. is there any option to format & save the disc? please suggest me, great thanks in adavance.

skorpinok which OS are you using? Also go control panel > administrative tools > computer management > disk management.

What details are listed about the drive in question?

Windows 7/32 bit/2gb ram.160 gb hdd, acer desktop.

[Computer Nerd Kev]

On Windows XP, I have often similar issues where the OS is having trouble accessing the drive. It may thus be likely that the drive does not need re-formatting.

Try using the drive on annother PC.

[dragonkeeper]

On Windows XP, I have often similar issues where the OS is having trouble accessing the drive. It may thus be likely that the drive does not need re-formatting.

Try using the drive on annother PC.

I agree with Computer Nerd Kev Win 7 does not like dynamic disk. If this drive was previously formatted on a XP system chances are it was formatted as a dynamic disk and Win 7 chokes on a dynamic disk.

Easiest thing to do would be to plug the drive into an XP system go into drive management and check to see what type of disk has been set up, if the disk is set up as a dynamic disk formatting alone will not gain you anything. To use in Win7 you need to change the disk type. Be aware the following instructions will remove all data from disk, please back-up any data you wish to keep.
1. In disk management right click the volume and select delete volume.


2. once the volume has been deleted, right click the disk number. The option "Convert to Basic Disk" should now be available. Click this option.




Once conversion is complete you can disconnect from system and plug into you Win 7 system and format.

[dragonkeeper]

If a XP based machine is not available to you go tho the site PenDriveLinux install Yumi. Reboot run Yumi you will need an empty USB thumb drivefollow the onscreen prompts and be sure when asked which distros you wish to install in stall "Gparted". Once finished restart the PC and set it to boot from USB drive. Yumi should start-up, select "Gparted" from the list, once the system has booted up delete partitions from your external drive and format the drive. Remove the usb stick and re-boot your system.

You should be good to go.