Windows 7: Format doesn't work

I have a slot for removeable harddrives which I use for backups. Now I put one of my older harddrives into the frame that goes in that slot.
And there the weirdness starts.
First, this drive is extremely slow, much slower than the other removeable harddrive I usually use. But it was my system drive until I got a new bigger one, and it wasn't so slow when I used it as a permanently built-in drive.

And then there is some old data on it, for my backups I want a clean space.
So I opened the management tool (the one where you can assign letters to the harddrive, I don't know the English name), right-clicked the harddrive and chose "Format". It appeared to be working, and I went for lunch.
When I came back, the drive was gone! I mean it was still in the slot and running but not visible in Windows. A reboot brought it back but it hasn't been formatted, the old data is still there.

What's going on here?

Hello esha.



Use the information in this tutorial at the link below to completely wipe the Hard Disk Drive using the clean all command outlined in step #7, then you should be able to format the HDD and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.


Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command

The transfer speed depends on the capability of the interface you are using. Internal drives usually use faster interfaces than external drives.

If you can't format the drive simply by choosing "Format", then delete the partition first, then create a new one, and try again.

Regards....Mike Connor

When useing disk mgmt, right click the drive and select delete volumn, then it will become unallocated space, then you can create a simply volumn and assign a drive letter.

Just wanted to report back: The hard drive was defect. None of the suggestions helped, so I got a new one and everything is working fine now. Thank you

Good to see you found a solution.