External Hard Drive won't format

[ClubSpade12]

I have a 750gb external usb hard drive and when I plug it in, it says it needs to be format. windows is unable to complete the format. can't run chkdsk, it's RAW format. Can't create an NTFS partition because I can't format it. Help me please

 

[awwlawdngeebus]

Does it show up in disk management? https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-open-disk-management-2626080

 

[nzalog]

So try this (it will delete all partitions and data so be sure you get the correct disk).

Start a administrative cmd.

From there run "diskpart".

From diskpart do the following:
"list disk" ( this will identify the drives on your system, disk 0 is generally your windows boot drive so it won't be disk 0, most likely disk 1 or disk 2)

Once you are sure you have the correct disk #, type the following:
"select disk #"

Now one last time if you are sure you have the correct disk #, type:
"clean"

You can now exit diskpart by typing "exit"


This should clean up the drive completely. At this point I'd "safely eject" the drive from windows. Unplug and plug it back in.
Now try to format your drive like your normally would.

Let me know how this goes.

WARNING: BE VERY CAREFUL WITH DISKPART!!!

 

[ThatVietGuy]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from ClubSpade12 : "External Hard Drive Can Not Be Formatted"

This external hard drive won't format. I guess it's in RAW format or something like that? I can't use CHKDSK or even make a new partition on it when it's like that. I can't use drive management to delete it and then make a new section because it once again wants to format it, and it won't. Please help me this thing is like 700gb and it's kind of important (no there's nothing on it, it's just sort of critical to the future of this- PC)

I'm on Windows 7. The drive connects via USB 3.0

You can always follow the advice on your last post - http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3316909/external-hard-drive-format.html

 

[ClubSpade12]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from ClubSpade12 : "External Hard Drive Can Not Be Formatted"

This external hard drive won't format. I guess it's in RAW format or something like that? I can't use CHKDSK or even make a new partition on it when it's like that. I can't use drive management to delete it and then make a new section because it once again wants to format it, and it won't. Please help me this thing is like 700gb and it's kind of important (no there's nothing on it, it's just sort of critical to the future of this- PC)

I'm on Windows 7. The drive connects via USB 3.0

You can always follow the advice on your last post - http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3316909/external-hard-drive-format.html

Sorry, these both weren't showing up in my tracked threads so I thought they weren't posted. Thank you.

 

[ClubSpade12]

It shows up in disk manager, as RAW, I can delete it, but when I try to make a new volume, I can't format it.

 

[ClubSpade12]

I did the cmd thing, it didn't appear upon unplug, replug. I opened Disk Management again, and now it's asking me to pick a partition style, MBR or GPT. Any ideas?

 

[ClubSpade12]

I did MBR, and that just took me back to unallocated storage, and when I tried to format, guess what? It failed. Is this thing just broken?

 

[nzalog]

I did MBR, and that just took me back to unallocated storage, and when I tried to format, guess what? It failed. Is this thing just broken?

GPT is better for your use but it would not cause an issue formatting.

It's possible either the drive itself is bad or the enclosure that converts USB to Sata is bad.

If possible try this thing on another PC.

If you still get the same results it might be worth a shot to take the drive out of the enclosure to see if you can at least salvage the drive. It might work directly connected over sata.

 

[ClubSpade12]

Yeah I've tried on two PCs now, doesn't work on either. I even tried one of those recovery programs. I will probably attempt this procedure later.