HDD won't format

[clem58]

I have a 1tb wd external hdd, i am tring to format it, it won't happen nor will it open.I have a lot of video files especially vids of the little guy in my avatar, i forgot about those and wouldn't like to loose them.I tried connecting it to my xbox so as to automatically format it, but i get an error msg. Is their anything thing i can do, or does it go in the bin. I also had the idea of taking the hdd out of its casing and installing it into my ps3, but i think that unlikely to help matters. Any suggestions folks?

Thanks in advance for replies.

[R_J]

How about removing it and installing it as a second drive in a computer, you should be able to access all your information.

[kobulis]

Also, if things get messy, try to use a formatting tool from the disk manifacturer.
Most of them can be found in HirenCD's.

[clem58]

How about removing it and installing it as a second drive in a computer, you should be able to access all your information.

Thought of that, a bit anxious about wrecking me lappy and i not how to.

[hmc]

sata drives can be funny ,you should have ahci mode change from sata 'ata'mode then it will load windows to format ,aslong as it runs through the installation ya ok ,change one of the values to ahci in the bios & bingo youl find you will see it 7 the system will see it.remeber you can always change back your settings when finished .ahci is similar habbit as raid.you wont knacker it vista& win 7 always have this prob 9 times out of 10.if it xp you will to use driver on usb floppy formatted usb pen & press f6 on the xp installation which you will see in the bottom margin in the lower screen 'thats xp only

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Advanced Host Controller Interface Specification

[dasteph]

best bet is to remove it from its case and put it into a desktop. it will probably be a 3.5 inch drive so it will not fit in a laptop as they are normally 2.5 inch drives.
had two external drives go down one was the usb connection the other was a failing hd, putting it into another pc will tell you which it is.

[hmc]

yeah ya right dasteph forgot you can get 3.5 caddys that is a good option!

[clem58]

Problem solved, I downloaded a wd formator and was able to get it back in working order . Thanks for your post guys.

[hmc]

glad to hear it !

[nsw9154]

i am having the same type of problem with a 500 gig WD drive taken out of a tivo box that i bought from fleebay for ?20 the pc will not recognise the drive, it acknolages that their is a drive in the sata port i have tried it in all 6 and it says what port it is in ie 1 -2 3 etc but it just will not recignise it - i have it set to ahci auto enable on all ports and it recognises my other 2 500 gig samsung spinpoints whatever port i have them pluged in to, but not this WD drive what am i missing thanks in advance

[XRay333]

Tivo Format

i am having the same type of problem with a 500 gig WD drive taken out of a tivo box that i bought from fleebay for ?20 the pc will not recognise the drive, it acknolages that their is a drive in the sata port i have tried it in all 6 and it says what port it is in ie 1 -2 3 etc but it just will not recignise it - i have it set to ahci auto enable on all ports and it recognises my other 2 500 gig samsung spinpoints whatever port i have them pluged in to, but not this WD drive what am i missing thanks in advance

Tivo uses a linux format, you'll have to format the drive for PC.

[nsw9154]

thanks for the info i did not know that
but what program would i use as the PC dose not recognise the drive so their must be a way or a program to trick it, i have tried drive manager and partition software and even that would not recognise it

[XRay333]

Partition Genius

thanks for the info i did not know that
but what program would i use as the PC dose not recognise the drive so their must be a way or a program to trick it, i have tried drive manager and partition software and even that would not recognise it

Try Partition Genius (sees almost everything), can be found on "Hiren"s Boot".

[nsw9154]

Thank you XRAY i found Hirens Boot and downloaded it loads of usefull utills on it, it had Partition Guru not Genius but it seems to do the same thing it did not recognise the Maxtor but it repaired a Samsung spinpoint 500 gig sata that i have not been able to use for years it just kept clicking and i was going to throw it out but it seems ok now so i am going to fit it in a External case that i have and use it for backups, but i will try the Maxtor again now that i am getting used to Partition Guru

Thanks again mate