How can I format new HD after replacing bad HD?

[arlendo]

Seagate 750GB HD crashed on my ASUS PC. Bought a Seagate ST32000542AS (2TB) as a replacement and just assumed I could boot from my ASUS Recovery Disk, partition & format the new drive, and reinstall the Vista Home Premium 64-bit OS.

Recovery Disk tries to load into memory, then stops with a message indicating the HD isn't formatted. Tried to download DiskWizard from Seagate but had to use my wife's laptop for the download and when I install the downloaded file, it says she doesn't have a Seagate HD and there aren't any options to continue except to just exit.

Thinking all I need is a utility to format the HD from a bootable disk but so far I don't have one. Am I on the right track, or is it more complicated than that?

 

[RealBeast]

You should be able to format at the beginning of the Windows recovery, it should not require any additional utilities.

IMO partitioning is no longer worth doing -- not since Win98 or so unless you are going to run a different OS, like Ubuntu, on the partition.

Check out the Microsoft site for detailed information.

 

[arlendo]

When I insert the recovery disc and reboot, it says "Windows Loading" and then the program comes up with a choice to recover to a partition or recover to the full HD. The choice doesn't make any difference though because the table below the choices should show the disk size and any partitions and the partition sizes. There is NOTHING showing there. I think that is my actual problem. How can I get the Windows Install to show my HD? Can I change something in the BIOS setup to fix this? The BIOS shows the model number of new HD correctly.

By the way, I probably will partition it as I do run Ubuntu. Shortens time for defragging and such, too.

 

[zanny]

If you dual boot Ubuntu, just install it first and partition the disk into seperate NTFS and ext4 partitions and then install Windows into the second partition.

 

[unksol]

is this an ASUS built PC, is this a recovery disk that came with it, and did the computer have a recovery partition? if so it will not work as its looking for the recovery partition and can't find it.

most modern prebuilt PCs require you to burn multiple DVDs containing the recovery data when you first set it up if you ever want to be able to reinstall without the recovery partition. if that's the case and you didn't do it your options are:

trying to repair the original harddrive or get the.recovery partition off it. we may be able to help you depending on why it "crashed".

get your hands on a vista disk and try and install using the key on the windows sticker. think that worked for me on XP but had to be an OEM disk.

Contact ASUS and explain. your situation and ask for full recovery disks. most companies charge a small fee.

Buy windows 7

 

[arlendo]

It is an ASUS built computer with an ASUS recovery disk for Vista Home Premium SP1. The original problem was that it kept showing an error box saying SMART had failed and since disk failure is imminent, to back up and replace the HD. As I always thought my HD churned way too much under Vista anyway, I decided to go ahead and replace the drive.

First, I wanted to format the old drive and get rid of any personal data just as a security measure (weak, I know). But Vista wouldn't let me format the drive I booted from, so I used the recovery disk. The disk recognized the old Seagate and I formatted it without incident.

After installing the new 2TB Seagate, however, I put in the recovery disk and it loads up to the partitioning screen but does not show the new drive size or partition... NOTHING. I'm wondering what is different about the 2TB drive that the recovery disk can't see it. Does the size of the drive play any part? I just assume 2TB isn't too big, but I don't know for sure as I'm a bit uninformed about loading or reinstalling Vista. I bought the ASUS built and it worked fine so I never had to mess with it. My previous experience was with older OS's.

I can try Zanny's solution of loading Ubuntu first, but I don't have a bootable disk for that and will use my wife's laptop to make one. It certainly seems like a logical answer.

Thanks for everyone's help. I'll keep you posted.

 

[arlendo]

Tried to create a bootable Ubuntu disc without success. Some MS crap about needing administrative permission. Laptop doesn't even use an administrative password?! So I bought Windows 7 and it recognizes the new harddrive where the Vista Recovery disc did not. At least now I know I didn't buy a faulty harddrive.

Thanks for the input.

 

[RealBeast]

Recovery disks only work when you still have the OEM recovery partition on the HDD.

If that recovery partition is gone, you need a full OS disk -- like the one for Win 7 that you bought.

 

[arlendo]

OK, that makes sense. Just assumed a recovery disc would have everything you need to make a recovery. I guess not.

Went on the ASUS site and looked at the specs for my computer and it says they were built with HDD's sized up to 1TB. I'm thinking the ASUS recovery software was written with some kind of 1TB limit in mind and that is why it would not recognize my 2TB HDD. Oh well. Installed Windows 7 and my computer works again.

Thanks to all!

 

[arlendo]

Best answer selected by arlendo.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey