can't format 2 TB WD caviar green

[akd]

I am running windows 7 32 bit in my PC with 1 TB HDD, recently I bought a 2 TB HDD. Now the problem

1.I connected the new HDD, it was shown correctly in WIN 7, when I tried to format it it was taking too long time. I left it for few hours and saw the status bar has reached almost at the end but error message returned.

2. Tried again, again it happened

3. Then I tried reinstall WIN 7 in the older 1 TB HDD and during partitioning created 2 partitions for the 2 TB HDD and gave for formating, again it took long time and fained.

So the issue is I could not format the 2 TB HDD in any way. I found its not unusual and there is no known fix for this. whats the matter??

BTW how much time does a 2TB HDD takes to format?

 

[ranjeetrain]

You may have to use a GPT partitioning scheme rather than MBR. Detailed instructions on how to do that are available on a number of sites. Check these links:

HOW TO: Use the Diskpart.efi Utility to Create a GUID Partition Table Partition on a Raw Disk in Windows
What is a GPT disk and GUID Partition Table? How to create a GPT disk?
Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk - Windows 7 Help Forums

Follow the instructions in one of the pages. You should be able to use your drive.

If the above don't help, return your drive. It's faulty.

 

[hemantwaghe]

There is a utility swissknife - try it for formatting.

 

[vaibhavyagnik]

install Western Digital Data Lifeguard utiilty on windows and check the Drive. Chances are that it is faulty/on the verge of dying.
Alternately if you dont have a working copy of windows, you could try the bootable version of data lifeguard utility. Both are freely available on western digital site.

 

[k2max6]

Basically the system is able to detect the drive but you can't format it; it is inaccessible.

Have you tried creating the partitions using Disk Management without selecting the format option? Are the partitions created?
Also have you tried swapping the sata ports.

Most probably Its faulty IMO.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

... but error message returned.

What error message?

 

[akd]

thanks a lot to all of you, I will try one method after another, will try to do it today night and get back to you. My target is

A. 1 TB HDD (3 partitions) -100 GB WIN 7, 100 GB Ubuntu 11.04 ("/" and "swap"), rest NTFS
B. 2 TB HDD - 2 partitions - both NTFS

I want to access all the NTFS partitions equally from WIN 7 and Linux. Target A is already achieved. Target B is turning out to be a pain.

@k2max6
I created partitions in the 2TB drive and WIN 7 showed them but couldn't format them, as I said once formatting starts it remains busy forever and finally error message pops up, I am not sure the drive is faulty, before calling WD I must try

@Thad E Ginathom
can't reproduce the exact message, but its close to "unable to complete the format"

never thought formatting a HDD can be this painful - are we really moving forward in technology??

lets see....

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I haven't encountered a disk bigger than one Tb yet.

Suggest you use gparted, either running from Linux on your first disk, or the Live CD, and see if it will do it. After creating Windows partitions with a non-windows tool, though, I like to do a Windows chkdsk twice: does that still exist in W7?

 

[akd]

Last night I tried a few things

1.In the Disk Management tried to create two simple volumes, "I/O error" returns, got suspicious

2. In the Disk Management when I open the logical drives, it says 2TB HDD needs to be initialized - options are MBR and GPT, tried with both of them - "I/O error" returns

3. tried with diskpart utilities - could not finish it because what is written over there is inconsistent.

4. tried WD lifeguard utilities - d/led installed and gave the disk for tests - status progressed but even after 30 minutes nothing happened - it also said each test can take a few hours - I don't have that kind of time which is ridiculous - so this method remained inconclusive.

5. Linux didn't even show the disk - /dev doesn't contain it, so couldn't do a thing

I asked for a replacement from FLIPKART, they said next week it will be replaced. Now need to figure out how to format the same as the next one will not be a faulty piece.

whats the easiest way to install, initialize and format (2 NTFS partitions) of a 2TB HDD?
I have running W7(32 bit) and Ubuntu 11.04(64bit) from a different 1 TB disk. the new one will just be added as NTFS data partitions w/o any OS.

 

[ranjeetrain]

whats the easiest way to install, initialize and format (2 NTFS partitions) of a 2TB HDD?

Theoritically, 2 TB is manageable with MBR schema. So, you don't need to bother with GPT. But using GPT will make it future proof (as in more and more partition managers would default to GPT in future).

If you go for MBR, just add two PRIMARY partition of 1 TB each.

I do have a laptop running Ubuntu. And yes, it does contain 5 partitions, 2 for Ubuntu rest for data. One of them, iirc, is FAT32 and another NTFS. Works like a charm.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Linux didn't even show the disk

First place to check if it exists to the hardware is what you see on the BIOS display as it boots. Second is to go into the BIOS hard-disk screen and see if it is there, or you can nudge it to recognise it. You could try connecting it to a different SATA port, especially if there is more than one SATA controller. I've never been a hardware engineer: that is as far as my knowledge goes.

whats the easiest way to install, initialize and format (2 NTFS partitions) of a 2TB HDD?

I think you have a faulty disk and, as Flipkart are replacing it now, that is the end of the story. There should be no problem: plug and play!

I've only done GPT once, and, actually, I think I made some mistakes, but hey it works and is even bootable, so, with backups, I'm not fussed. IIRC, I needed to add a driver to GRUB to get it to cope with the GPT disk: I had to edit it into one of the GRUB config files. I was on 11.04 at that time, but GRUB is probably updated since anyway. If you don't want to boot from that disk then this probably doesn't matter.

If I were you I would not allocate the whole disk to two filesystems: I'd make them the size I need now plus a healthy chunk, layout the disk so that they can be expanded, but also leave myself free space. You might want to test another Linux, or a later version before upgrading to it. Better to be flexible. gparted does allow shrinking and moving of partitions, but it takes a while about it and is never completely risk free.

Theoritically, 2 TB is manageable with MBR schema. ... ... ... If you go for MBR, just add two PRIMARY partition of 1 TB each.

And even that allows for future flexibility.

 

[akd]

Got the replacement from Flipkart yesterday, installed it

using manage>disk management created 2 partitions and formatted in NTFS (MBR), took less than a minute, tested by transferring approx 40GB data, everything worked they should, so earlier HDD was indeed faulty