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    Windows XP CANT FORMAT my Harddrive!

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by somerandomguy, Aug 29, 2009.

  1. somerandomguy

    somerandomguy Notebook Geek

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    im on a new eee pc just reinstalling xp.

    im using an external cdrom
    but the hardrive is coming up as an unknown format instead of NTFS. and when i try to format it says it failed or something and cannot continue. and the hdd could be damaged.

    i know the hdd isnt damaged. why cant it format????????????????
    :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
     
    somerandomguy, Aug 29, 2009
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  2. goofball

    goofball Notebook Deity

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    clear the partitions, recreate them, then format
     
    goofball, Aug 29, 2009
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  3. comrade_commissar7

    comrade_commissar7 Notebook Evangelist

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    Try booting up your EEE PC in BIOS mode and check if your hard drive memory is detected by displaying the memory it has in MB or GB. IF not, then you have to replace your hard drive with a new one since what you are facing is one of the symptoms of a failing hard drive.
    However, if yes (I mean you are able to see the displayed memory of your hard disk in the BIOS), then you might want to type in command/prompt mode chkdsk and choose R for repair. With that, you can see what error(s) has your hard drive been experiencing.
     
    comrade_commissar7, Aug 29, 2009
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  4. somerandomguy

    somerandomguy Notebook Geek

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    Tried. Still not working. :confused:

    It says it in MB, but it the right amount. its like 160,000MB or something. :eek:

    ill try chkdsk. :mad: :(

    I NEED HELP SOON. :eek: i need the netbook in a few hours. :/
     
    somerandomguy, Aug 29, 2009
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  5. comrade_commissar7

    comrade_commissar7 Notebook Evangelist

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    Okay, try it and then update us with your post. :)
     
    comrade_commissar7, Aug 30, 2009
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  6. ntheo

    ntheo Notebook Consultant

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    I hope you saved all your data first before trying to format. ;)

    The check disc idea sounds good. If there are no errors and everything is fine, it may be the windows format program that has gone down hill.

    Before you give up, you might want to the Ultimate Boot Disk a try. http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

    Test Disk 6.5 might be do a better job than the chkdsk in recovering from bad sectors.

    Since you said it's not recognized as NTFS, test disk can also Rebuild NTFS boot sector or recover NTFS boot sector.
    It saved me twice when I "accidentally" deleted one of my partition table.

    Once that happens, Windows should be able to format it correctly.
     
    ntheo, Aug 30, 2009
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  7. Hep!

    Hep! sees beauty in everything

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    Use a partitioning tool like Gparted to create and format an NTFS partition. See if you can install to that.
     
    Hep!, Aug 30, 2009
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