Need help formatting hard drive please!

[TheBeliskner]

I have a Seagate 1.5 TB portable hard drive and have recently tried to format it. Now I'm not really good with all this tech stuff and I am having problems. The formatting process seems to be stuck in the middle. This is what it looks like on the formatting progress window:

Capacity: 875 GB (Why does it say 875?)

File System: NTFS

Allocation Unit Size: 4096 bytes

Restore Device Defaults

Volume Label: (Left it blank)

Format Options: Quick format and MS-DOS start up disk (Left both unchecked)

Then the progress bar which is seemingly stuck somewhere close to the middle. It hasn't moved for hours now and I'm getting worried. I tried to do a quick format but it says it couldn't be formatted. I need some help

 

[Emerald]

have you tried using the Seagate tools?

 

[fantastik250]

Are you doing anything else while it's formatting? You should leave it turn off any unnecessary programs such anti-virus and other programs. With a 1.5TB drive it takes quite a while to format.

 

[TheBeliskner]

I do have some other programs running yes. I will try again with nothing running but I've already left it alone for 24 hours and it still hasn't made any progress. Is this normal?

 

[fantastik250]

It normally shouldn't take that long. But you can do a quick format first. And then try a full format. Don't worry about formatting too many times. It will not degrade and not decrease the life of your hard disk drive.

 

[TheBeliskner]

I've tried to do a quick format but a window pops up saying that it could not complete the format. What should I do?

 

[fantastik250]

Okay try this. I suggest deleting the volume on the drive and format it to NTFS again. Go to Start->create and format disk partitions. And right click the drive and you should see the options.

 

[TheBeliskner]

Ok I deleted the volume but now it isn't showing up

 

[fantastik250]

Now make a partition or create a simple volume.

 

[TheBeliskner]

Alright. I'm at a new simple volume wizard. should I choose the quick format option?

 

[TheBeliskner]

Alright I chose the quick format option. It worked. I can now access the drive but now it has less memory than it should have. It only has a capacity of 867 GB now. Why is that?

 

[fantastik250]

Sorry was watching the NBA playoffs. Now when you go to the create and disk and partition windows. Is there separate partitions? Or is it just one big volume?

 

[fantastik250]

I am wondering if there is a hidden partition.

 

[TheBeliskner]

It looks like there are separate ones. Oh who's playing/winning?

 

[fantastik250]

it was heat vs celtics, super close game, the series tied at 2-2

 

[fantastik250]

Does it have a name? Unallocated space? You can extend the volume to reclaim the space.

 

[TheBeliskner]

Wish I could've seen it.

Yeah there are...2 unallocated spaces. How do I reclaim them?

 

[fantastik250]

Extend the volume or stretch it out to reclaim the space. Go back to Create and disk and partition windows, right click on the drive and extend the volume.

 

[TheBeliskner]

The option to extend the volume isn't accessible to me. It's faded. I can make new simple volumes out of those unallocated spaces though. Will that do anything?

 

[fantastik250]

okay tell me what information it says on the Disk. On the left it should say: Disk #, Basic, #GB, Online, On the right the is a dark blue bar, tell me whats under it, such as Drive name:, #GB, NTFS, if it says Healthy (Primary Partition)

 

[TheBeliskner]

Ok nevermind. I tried to do it but it says the operation isn't supported by the disk

 

[TheBeliskner]

Disk# 1, Basic, 1609.41 GB, Online, Tempest (G, 867.16 GB NTFS, healthy (logical drive)

 

[fantastik250]

Okay, you need a partition editor. Windows 7 can't do it.

Download this program, it's a free partition editor by EaseUS

http://www.partition-tool.com/easeus-partition-manager/comparison.html

Get the Home Edition. Install it and let me know when you run it.

Also, I noticed it's a Logical drive. It needs to be Primary Partition. Anyways just let me know when you are running easeus

 

[TheBeliskner]

Ok I'm at the screen where it gives me two places to go. A user guide and the main screen

 

[fantastik250]

Go to main screen.