Issue formatting HDD with under Win2k

S

superjohnny

2[H]4U
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Jan 1, 2001
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So recently my wife's PC has been acting up. It's just been so many years since a format that the C: is bloated with temp files, spam and all the stuff that gathers after 2 years of continuous use. Today I backed up the drive to another HDD and tried to install a fresh Win2k. Previously, I had 2 partitions (1 10GB drive C: & 1 30GB drive D:). C was full of installed programs so I had started installing stuff to D and pretty soon things got ugly. This is one of the reasons I'm starting with a fresh install so I can re-partition the drive as one large C partition. I boot Win2k from CD, delete the C & D partitions and create a new C as 39,253MB, but during the process of formatting it with the NTFS file system it gets hung at 60%. For about an hour now it's been sitting at 60% formatted with no signs of continuing.

Before I formatted I could disk check & defrag without issues (though it's been about a month since defragging). Anyone have any idea what's going on?
 
damndest thing... I just left it for about 1.5 hours and all of the sudden it went to 81%, then installed normally. Weird, but it works.

4 restarts to install the Windows updates...
 
I'd probably download the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic software and give the drive a once-over and make sure that it's not failing before I spend much time using the machin.
 
also a program that I've recently tried after someone mentinoed it is HDtune, its great and free. Look for it, it will let you also see smart data (its a Error system for Hard drives, as long as you have it turned on you should see the data if the drive supports it)
 
see if you can get a manufacturers disk checkup.

That might save you headaches in the future, although, I have seen windows do this with some 100+ gig drives from time to time, but better to be safe than sorry eh?
 
2 words....


IBM Deskstar!

It's been running for a couple of years now basically 24/7 though so I guess I should count my blessings. I'll go find some HDD software and post back my results.

Thanks so much guys :)
 
I was redirected from the IBM site to Hitichi who now owns (and supports) the ex-IBM drives. They have a "Hard drive fitness utility" which you burn to CD and boot from & run. It found bad sectors on the drive and is attempting to "repair" the them. We'll see if those bad sectors are in the boot sector or will interfere with the OS install. It'll be interesting to see if this fixes the problem or how much longer the drive lasts.
 
Technical results said the failure code : 0x70 - Defective Device. Technical result Code: 7000b5c2. 5 months out of warranty. :rolleyes:

Time to go the the Hot Deals section and find a new drive.
 
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