My ext hdd wont format on my new computer (not solved)

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fr4nkenstein

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Jul 14, 2013
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I have a 1tb Toshiba ext hdd where I keep music/movies and when I connected it to my new computer (windows 7) it said I needed to format so I moved everything off my hdd onto my old computer/laptop and it said it can't format.

I deleted absolutely everything on the drive, i figure the partition might have been corrupted when I (one of many, only in a rush) unplug the hdd without safely removing it

so, smarter people on tom's, how do i fix it?

i need to fix today as my computers are out of memory.
 
Solution
RealBeast
The Blue drive can also be allocated as a simple drive and it will be available for storage and even program installs if you want, although I would keep most of those on the SSD if you have space.

The external also needs to be allocated as a simple drive.

You should have plenty of space after you get those going. And don't forget -- never trust a USB drive as your ultimate storage for important files. They fail for many reasons and way too often to trust for critical backup.
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Can you see the drive in disk management on either computer? If so, just unpartition the drive -- be VERY careful to select the correct drive when you do this -- by right clicking on the right side of the drive information in disk management and selecting delete volume. Then you can re-inialize it and format.

If this won't work for you I can give you a set of diskpart commands to run in the command prompt, but that can be risky for inexperienced users, so try the disk management way first.
 
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It doesn't show up on my new computer, but does in my old for disk management. I'm not sure how to unpartition it. and do I need to do to restore anything to the hdd? or can i just plug it in and hope it works after unpartioning.

I have error checked and it seems fine in one computer, but not the other. ty for the link


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the solution on that thread is just how to format, which i have already tried and it isn't working. thanks though.
 
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On the old computer find it in disk management then try "right clicking on the right side of the drive information in disk management and selecting delete volume." Just be positive that you are selecting the correct drive.

Then I would attach it to the new computer and try to initialize and format there.
 
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deleted the volume, it was the right drive. on the new pc, nothing happens when i put the hdd in. it's not in 'my computer' but i can find it in disk management now.

How to format without the option coming up when putting it in or from my computer?

and thanks a bunch for your help
 
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Do I want simple, striped, or spanned volumes?

I figure simple but I also figure I don't know anything and I might as well ask.


also, I see my WD blue there (in disk management), is it possible to boot off my SSD and have my Wd blue come up in my computer so I can save music/files/etc on it?
 
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correct, I believe I see it in disk management listed as WDC WD10EZEX-00UD2U0 ATA Device in disk 0. it's the only disk with the correct amount of size, it's a 1tb and there's 931.41gb unallocated.

when I right-click i get new simple volume, options, or help.

there's also 100mb NTSF healthy (system, active) right next to it in the same disk 0. it says system reserved in bold on the top. the system reserved, ssd, and a usb flash drive i have in are blue on the top while my ext hdd and wd blue are black on the top (the 2 not working)

again thanks for the help.

--

when i tried simple on my ext hdd it didn't work and said 'The operation failed to complete because the Disk Management console view is not up to date. Refresh the view by using the refresh task. If the problem persists close the disk management console, then restart disk management, or restart the computer'

I've restarted the computer management console, now i'm going to restart the computer and hope.
 
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The Blue drive can also be allocated as a simple drive and it will be available for storage and even program installs if you want, although I would keep most of those on the SSD if you have space.

The external also needs to be allocated as a simple drive.

You should have plenty of space after you get those going. And don't forget -- never trust a USB drive as your ultimate storage for important files. They fail for many reasons and way too often to trust for critical backup.
 
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Solution
Still wouldn't format. I got it formatting but at 100% it said unable to format. my other pc is windows 7 also, so i'm not sure why this is making this so hard.

any other advice is appreciated. i'll try to format the WD blue but it looks like my HDD is a no-go.


as my storage drive what letter should i assign my wd blue? does it matter?
 
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The Blue formatted fine, in seconds. The HDD is still a mystery. I'd rather not take it to a computer shop and have a kid fix my computer.

Anyone have any ideas what to do? I've tried deleteing volume and putting it back in, restarting disk management/computer, i've had it formatting, it took about 20 minutes but when I left I came back and I had the message box 'You were unable to format this drive' (not word for word, it was a few hours ago)

Any help would be seriously appreciated as I'm transferring data via a 8gb usb at a extremely slow rate until I figure this out.

also dumb question but should I have formatted the WD blue as exFAT or NTFS? (i did ntfs)
 
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bump, before someone asks if i've tried to take it apart and plug it in with a sata, no. i don't have the extra sata, but if it comes down to it, i'll order another. sucks usb 3.0 wouldn't work though

and i gave the best solution because the hdd was formatting but at 100% it said 'can't format this'
 
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I formatted it on my old PC, reconnected and still nothing. I can see it in Control Panel > Devices/Printers, and in disk management, and it's blue for primary partition (whatever that means), and it says healthy. I did a quick format and it seemed to work fine, but I still don't see it in My Computer. I just noticed that in the 'Volume' on the disk management list of my drives that my HDD doesn't have a drive letter set, it just says Toshiba HDD whereas my hdd says WD Blue (K: ). Do i need to assign a new letter? I thought it was using F and that was fine but maybe it's the letter assigned? Idk.

And yes I have the 3.0 drivers.

 
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