Brand new 1.5TB Extension not recognised - cannot "initialise"

[Britton30]

okay so when i right click --> 'wipe partition', it asks me to choose a 'wiping method':

Fill sectors with Zero (Quick)
Fill sectors with One (Quick)
Fill sectors with Zero & One (Quick)
DoD 5220.22-M (3 passes) (Very Slow)
DoD 5220.28-STD (7 passes) (Very Slow)

can anyone shed some light as to what option i should choose to wipe each partition?

Either of the first Quick methods will work, but will still take a couple of hours I think. Is there no option to simple Delete Partition?

 

[severussnape11]

I would advise the OP to format the external drive on another PC using HP USB Disk storage format Utility assuming that it works on another PC as he had mentioned. Only the USB drive will be shown and that way he won't be confused and mess up with his PC even accidentally.(I am amused to know he has four partitions on a new hard drive.)

HP USB Format tool: http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

okay, this is definitely next step i will try if deleting the partitions on my laptop using the wizard doesnt work.

why is it so amusing i have 4 partitions on a new hard drive?!

i swear its new, i got it for christmas, wrapped in the box!!

 

[Britton30]

Wellll, being a new one we'd expect it to have one large partition formatted in NTFS. It is odd for one to have 4 and one is marked as active.
What is the model and brand of the drive?

 

[severussnape11]

its a seagate 1.5 tb expansion portable

im not sure what model (there are lots of numbers on the box), but it says STAX1500300 on the box so ill go that.

ok so the wizard is currently (slowly) wiping the partitions. what should i do when that process is complete?

 

[jumanji]

Not to bother about it @severussnape11. Someone could have used it before in some way.. Anyway it is not serious and can be undone. If you got it from a vendor, be sure to protest but if from a friend , don't tell him anything.

OK. if you decide to try the HP tool, download it from USB Disk Storage Format Tool - Freeware - EN - Download.CHIP.eu since the link I had given earlier seems busy always.

It should definitely be possible to delete the partitions with Partition Wizard. My only worry was that you may accidentally delete your PC partition if you are not careful and know which is/are your internal drive/partitions.

 

[severussnape11]

ah ok, yes i see what you mean haha. im definitely capable of that, but i guess i should thank Partition Wizard for being very clear between disks '1' and '2', to prevent that!

 

[Britton30]

STAX1500300 Seagate® Expansion™ Portable 1TB Hard Drive | Seagate

From the Seagate site.


Maybe the drive is defective and you can return it.

 

[severussnape11]

perhaps, but it works exactly as stated on my 6 year old lap top so i dont necessarily think so.

britton can you clarify what i need to do when this current process is finished? it looks like this wiping of the partitions is going to take all night, so ill leave it going and get back to it in the morning. at that point though, what am i looking to do?

 

[Britton30]

Try to then format it. No option to simply delete partitions?

Was the box factory sealed? As the site says it should be automatically be reconized by Windows. :huh:
The 6yr old lappie either is XP or Vista?

 

[severussnape11]

i think the 6 year old lappie is vista.

good point on being factory sealed or not. it was the very last one the store had now that i think about it, so i wouldnt be surprised if it were used as a store model.

yeah, there was no option to simply delete the partitions (at least in partition wizard). why do you ask - is 'filling the sectors with zeros' not actually do anything meaningful?

when you say i should format the drive after this, will that also be using Partition wizard, and do you know if it will take as long as wiping them did?

thanks a lot for your help!

 

[severussnape11]

is it possible that the pre-existing partitions are due to software that seagate has preloaded onto the driver?

 

[essenbe]

When you run partition wizzard do you see 1 hard drive or 2?

 

[severussnape11]

i see both disk 1 and disk 2. given my laptop has only 250gb of flash, disk 2 is clearly the external given it has a 1158gb partition in it. why do you ask essenbe?

 

[essenbe]

I only ask because there should not be 4 partitions on a new hard drive. I have 2 Seagate externals and they both had 1 partition, were formatted NTFS, and were plug and play. I wanted to make sure you didn't wipe the wrong drive.

 

[severussnape11]

hmm yeah, i could definitely see myself making that mistake. no idea why. guess ill see in the morning!

 

[Britton30]

When you got the drive was it in a box or not? you should know that. even a 'store model' would not have partitions. How did you acquire the drive?

 

[severussnape11]

i got it for christmas! and the person who bought it definitely got it new. it came in the box, and it was sealed. they said however they were lucky because the store had confirmed it was the last one in stock they had.

 

[severussnape11]

ok i dont know why, but partition wizard doesnt appear to have done anything. there are still 4 separate partitions in disk 2, all with the same details and information as stated above.

so confused.

guess ill try the formatting option on another computer!

 

[jumanji]

ok i dont know why, but partition wizard doesnt appear to have done anything. there are still 4 separate partitions in disk 2, all with the same details and information as stated above.

so confused.

guess ill try the formatting option on another computer!

Yep, try formatting it with HP USB Disk storage Format utility. Run it as an administrator.

 

[severussnape11]

hey jumanji - ive just tried reformatting the drive on another computer using NFTS, but it still comes up as 'Unallocated' in disk management, only now when i right click --> intialise, it says 'The system cannot find the file specified.'

BLARGH.