Windows 7: Low level HDD pre-format taking too long

My neighbor's laptop hdd seemed not to be working right, he had left the laptop in the closet for 2 years anyway, so it seemed not a loss to run a utility that might bring the hdd back [might not], so I started the low level hdd pre-format from a disc I had been given.

That was about a month ago, and the 250 gb hdd is still not done. Should it really take this long, or is the hdd totalled?

What kind of utility are you using to format a drive? One month is way too long. Full format on 250GB drive should take a couple of hours at most.

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I'm using Micro-Scope Diagnostic Utility, Version12.001. It runs some tests and offers to format the hdd, but doesn't mention right away that the format is not the usual wipe, but I was told is the hardcore "demagnetize-remagnetize" deal that would of course be a lot slower than just format. I'm not sure that this Darik's Boot and Nuke will do the same job that I have started going, and I am reluctant to stop what has been going because I would then have to start again from the beginning....

Thanks for the replies, and for confirming that this is taking way too long. Do you think that this hdd is too toasted to bother with, or is it something else?