Cannot format a new replacement 2GB hard drive.

moist_lenny

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Dec 20, 2015
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Around a month ago, my computer was acting up when I was trying to launch Fallout 4 from Steam (Fallout 4 was stored on my old G drive, a Seagate 2GB HDD). I don't remember all of the details now, but I ended up trying to restart my computer while Fallout 4 was still "running" (and not launching). My computer was stuck on the "Restarting" screen for fifteen minutes before I decided to switch off the PC with the power button (a decision that I now regret).

When I booted the computer back on, I could not launch any of the games stored on the G drive, and the Windows file explorer would not let me view the files on the drive itself. I assumed I had broken the drive, so I went and bought a replacement yesterday. I bought the same model and put it in the same spot as the previous one.

I can see the new drive in the File Explorer, but if I try to format it, a window will pop up stating "The format did not complete successfully."

I've look around on the internet and have tried a few different things to resolve the problem. I reset the BIOS, but that didn't work. I downloaded the Seagate DiscWizard, which managed to successfully format the drive, but I still cannot download Steam games (Steam claims that there is a "Disk Write Error").

This problem has been a huge headache for me. I now know that I shouldn't have power down my computer during a restart, and I certainly will not do that ever again.

I'm still not sure what the problem is, and I have no idea how to go about figuring that out. Any additional help or information would be greatly appreciated. If anyone needs additional information, I'd be more than happy to provide it.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: I should also mention that Fallout 4 was stored on the hard drive that broke, and my computer is running Windows 10 (if that's of any help).
 
Solution
Hey there, Lenny. Welcome to the community!

It's possible for the SATA port or the cables to be at fault here. Have you tried the old HDD with a different computer or at least with a different SATA port and cables, to see if the drive is still not accessible. You should do the same with the new hard drive as well. I'd also advise you to download the HDD manufacturer's diagnostics tool and test the new drive (and the old one, if possible), to see if any errors or bad sectors pop-up.
Basically if the old drive (and/or the SATA port, or the cables) had issues, turning off the computer via the power button, didn't make any difference, so don't let it bother you that much. It sounds unlikely for this to have caused the problem, since you...
Hey there, Lenny. Welcome to the community!

It's possible for the SATA port or the cables to be at fault here. Have you tried the old HDD with a different computer or at least with a different SATA port and cables, to see if the drive is still not accessible. You should do the same with the new hard drive as well. I'd also advise you to download the HDD manufacturer's diagnostics tool and test the new drive (and the old one, if possible), to see if any errors or bad sectors pop-up.
Basically if the old drive (and/or the SATA port, or the cables) had issues, turning off the computer via the power button, didn't make any difference, so don't let it bother you that much. It sounds unlikely for this to have caused the problem, since you had issues before you turned off the PC.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD
 
Solution