New HDD cannot format/write zeros

[Exce]

I need some help in determining if I need to RMA my hard drive. I recently bought this drive. I have installed it and windows disk management can see and initialize the drive no problem, however I cannot do a complete format. Quick format just doesnt wanna happen and a full format fails at 73%.

I have used WD's diagnostic tools and it passes all tests except it fails to write zeros to the drive. Before I RMA the drive I wanted to see if anyone had any tricks to make sure it doesnt work properly. Or does this sound typical of a bad drive?

I am using vista.

 

[OldMX]

Download Parted Magic, it has an utility to erase the disk or partition / format

 

[Exce]

I'll give it a shot, thanks.

 

[engiNURD]

You can use something like HDTune to do a full error scan. If there are any errors, I'd definitely RMA it with the retailer.

 

[Exce]

Download Parted Magic, it has an utility to erase the disk or partition / format

Bro, you truly are [H]ard. I dont know why but this worked. My drive works now. Thanks, you have saved me a LOT of grief.

 

[OldMX]

Good to hear it worked

 

[drescherjm]

I would still make sure that the drive is properly functioning. Did you just create a filesystem on it with parted magic or did you spend hours for a full format?

 

[Exce]

I would still make sure that the drive is properly functioning. Did you just create a filesystem on it with parted magic or did you spend hours for a full format?

I used parted magic to create a new partition and then a NTFS file system. I have not run any diagnostics but files transfer and play just fine, I should probably run a test.

edit: prior to that i ran a format with parted magic for about 40 minutes.

 

[engiNURD]

Yah, writing zeros to the drive helps for some drives, but I'd still definitely run a full error scan and check out the smart info -- just in case. If it all checks out ok, you're good to go.

 

[Uppercut]

Interesting. I experienced the same exact issue as the OP yesterday using the same exact procedure. Only i didn't do a full format yet since yesterday was the last day to do an RMA and i was in a rush to test 3 other drives that were under similiar circumstances.

Any theories as to why something like this would occur, besides the obvious?

 

[Woofer00]

MBR may have gotten borked - that's the technical term for it. Not so much the data in it, but the ability of the drive to read it and properly mount in a filesystem. PartedMagic/GParted don't address drives quite like Windows, and can perform magic that Windows won't.