HDD was seen by my PC, but after 3rd party format it is not visible

Ok everyone.
This is where I am at now.
I booted to my Windows Pro 7 disk to repair my External HDD. I went into advanced but, unless I am doing something wrong (which is possible), I found nothing that would make it any of my drives visible.
I made a UBCD (usb) and my computer did not see it as a bootable media. Should I not be using Rufus to put the ISO on the usb?
Right now I am using the Rufus option of "Check device for bad blocks" before creating the ISO image.
Oh, PeperMint3 didn't show up as a bootable media either.
Would PartedMagic be an option?

Pooky1959 said:

Ok everyone.
This is where I am at now.
I booted to my Windows Pro 7 disk to repair my External HDD. I went into advanced but, unless I am doing something wrong (which is possible), I found nothing that would make it any of my drives visible.
I made a UBCD (usb) and my computer did not see it as a bootable media. Should I not be using Rufus to put the ISO on the usb?
Right now I am using the Rufus option of "Check device for bad blocks" before creating the ISO image.
Oh, PeperMint3 didn't show up as a bootable media either.
Would PartedMagic be an option?

Okay, here is a stupid question, and please don't be offended. Have you ever burned an ISO image and had it actually boot? I'm asking because you seem to be having problems creating bootable media. If you haven't, then I can walk you through that process no problem, Bro.

And yes, PartedMagic can delete all the partitions on a drive.

Actually I have.
I have a older version of Ubuntu on a USB that I loaded from a Torrent.
And I at one time I made a other bootable items on CDs and DVDs. But something other than Rufus when I made those. And to be honest it has probably been well over a year and I no longer have that app/tool.

Pooky1959 said:

Actually I have.
I have a older version of Ubuntu on a USB that I loaded from a Torrent.
And I at one time I made a other bootable items on CDs and DVDs. But something other than Rufus when I made those. And to be honest it has probably been well over a year and I no longer have that app/tool.

Don't use Rufus then. Windows 7 actually has the capability to burn bootable ISO images, where previous versions of Windows did not. Download the Ultimate Boot Disc here: Ultimate Boot CD - Download the UBCD

Follow these very simple instructions, and you will be successful: How to Make an Ultimate Bootable DVD for Windows 7 | eHow

Save that DVD somewhere safe, because it is the only diagnostic bootable media you will ever need.

I am happy to report that after using Parted Magic to Nuke (wipe) my drive; I was able to use HP USB Disk... to format my drive and and just finished copying some documents, PDFs and eBooks onto it to check it and I can open them.

Thank you everyone for your help, you were great.

Pooky1959 said:

I am happy to report that after using Parted Magic to Nuke (wipe) my drive; I was able to use HP USB Disk... to format my drive and and just finished copying some documents, PDFs and eBooks onto it to check it and I can open them.

Thank you everyone for your help, you were great.

AWESOME!!! I knew the drive wasn't bad. Like I said, mechanical failure is actually pretty rare. It's almost always corrupt software [firmware, partition, file system...etc] or a bad connection/cable. Happy to help, Bro.