Question Unable to format HDD.

hkisthebest

Commendable
Jan 13, 2018
5
0
1,510
I have a hdd (exfat) for storing games, and today it failed to install a new game on steam for multiple times. The file explorer would crash when I click on the drive. So I thought maybe changing from exFat to NTFS would be better. But after I deleted the partition, it would fail when I want to format the drive with the message "Windows was unable to complete the format". People suggested error checking on the drive, but the drive needs to be formatted in order to do so. I have run chkdsk \r, but it said it is not available for RAW drives.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
 

EyyMunchian

Honorable
Dec 28, 2016
321
30
10,940
I have a hdd (exfat) for storing games, and today it failed to install a new game on steam for multiple times. The file explorer would crash when I click on the drive. So I thought maybe changing from exFat to NTFS would be better. But after I deleted the partition, it would fail when I want to format the drive with the message "Windows was unable to complete the format". People suggested error checking on the drive, but the drive needs to be formatted in order to do so. I have run chkdsk \r, but it said it is not available for RAW drives.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
Try using a tool to force it to format like easeUS partition Master (Free and premium version). If not then you could have actual corrupt drive cache and whatnot, at that point I would say its irreparable. Does windows see it as a drive when plugged and powered in disk management? Is the drive GPT or MBR?
A quick Guide:
https://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/
Modern drives use GPT but if its an older drive try converting it to MBR and give it a go.

Also my last thing, if you got the drive off a cheap site or a knock off seller truth is the drive may not actually be the size windows shows it. Happens with flash/thumb drives too. With the Hard drive physically full but software not reporting it and allowing additional storage to pile on, you could have corrupted something. You know how drives have some storage set apart by manufacturers and whatnot? That might have gotten corrupted.
 

hkisthebest

Commendable
Jan 13, 2018
5
0
1,510
Try using a tool to force it to format like easeUS partition Master (Free and premium version). If not then you could have actual corrupt drive cache and whatnot, at that point I would say its irreparable. Does windows see it as a drive when plugged and powered in disk management? Is the drive GPT or MBR?
A quick Guide:
https://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/
Modern drives use GPT but if its an older drive try converting it to MBR and give it a go.

Also my last thing, if you got the drive off a cheap site or a knock off seller truth is the drive may not actually be the size windows shows it. Happens with flash/thumb drives too. With the Hard drive physically full but software not reporting it and allowing additional storage to pile on, you could have corrupted something. You know how drives have some storage set apart by manufacturers and whatnot? That might have gotten corrupted.
I don't think it's a faulty hard drive because I had the same problem with the previous one, I thought it was broken so I bought the current one, every thing worked great until today I tried to install a new game. I am currently doing a section check but it's taking a long time.
I tried changing it to gpt partition with easeUS but didn't work.
 

EyyMunchian

Honorable
Dec 28, 2016
321
30
10,940
I don't think it's a faulty hard drive because I had the same problem with the previous one, I thought it was broken so I bought the current one, every thing worked great until today I tried to install a new game. I am currently doing a section check but it's taking a long time.
I tried changing it to gpt partition with easeUS but didn't work.
If the hard drive was newish I would recommend getting a manufacturer replacement. I feel strongly that it may have been corrupted somewhere and things are just unusable now. Thus far, what have you been able to do?