Can't format WD Caviar Black HD

[runethechamp]

Looked around on the net for an answer to my problem and I've found some related threads here, among others this one: http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/228790-original-hard-drive-not-seen-cant-format.html

This all started when I was trying to get my HP Storageworks X310 to work again, and bought a new hard drive to rule out my old drive being faulty. I ran into some installation problems of WHS V1 on this disk (not sure why), and eventually got the old disk up working again. Now I'd like to use this one for something else, but I can't format it or do anything. When I run diskpart as described in the thread above I get the following info for the details of my disk:

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 465 GB 0 B
Disk 1 Online 111 GB 0 B
Disk 2 Online 189 GB 5120 KB
Disk 3 Online 931 GB 8 MB

DISKPART> select disk 3

Disk 3 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> detail disk

WDC WD10 02FAEX-00Y9A0 USB Device
Disk ID: 2423EA7E
Type : USB
Status : Online
Path : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : UNAVAILABLE
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : No
Pagefile Disk : No
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : No
Clustered Disk : No

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 4 RAW Partition 20 GB Healthy
Volume 5 RAW Partition 911 GB Healthy

I currently have the disk hooped up to my laptop with a usb cable.

Listing volume 4 and 5 I get:

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 D DVD-ROM 0 B No Media
Volume 1 C NTFS Partition 465 GB Healthy System
Volume 2 E Rune's File NTFS Partition 111 GB Healthy
Volume 3 F MUSIC BACKU NTFS Partition 189 GB Healthy
Volume 4 RAW Partition 20 GB Healthy
Volume 5 RAW Partition 911 GB Healthy

DISKPART> select volume 4

Volume 4 is the selected volume.

DISKPART> detail volume

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
* Disk 3 Online 931 GB 8 MB

Read-only : No
Hidden : No
No Default Drive Letter: No
Shadow Copy : No
Offline : No
BitLocker Encrypted : No
Installable : Yes

Volume Capacity : 20 GB
Volume Free Space : 20 GB


DISKPART> select volume 5

Volume 5 is the selected volume.

DISKPART> detail volume

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
* Disk 3 Online 931 GB 8 MB

Read-only : No
Hidden : No
No Default Drive Letter: No
Shadow Copy : No
Offline : No
BitLocker Encrypted : No
Installable : Yes

Volume Capacity : 911 GB
Volume Free Space : 911 GB


If I try to do the clean all command, I get the following message:

DISKPART> clean all

DiskPart has encountered an error: The system cannot find the file specified.
See the System Event Log for more information.

So now I'm stuck. Any suggestions out there?

 

[RandallFlagg]

Clean is designed to remove all config data off a disk, not volume. After selecting disk 3 run a clean and then see if you can make a partition and format it.

Also, anything in the event log?

 

[runethechamp]

I get the same message if I select the drive before I run clean. How do I find the event log?

 

[RandallFlagg]

The event log is in computer management.
Right click my computer and select manage. You will see the event log - select windows logs and then system logs.

Also you may be able to use WD tools to wipe the drive and format.

 

[runethechamp]

Seems like there are a lot of warning messages like this (which I think relate to my earlier formatting attempts):

An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk3\DR7 during a paging operation.

 

[RandallFlagg]

Ok, download WDdiag from western digital and run some tests on it.

 

[runethechamp]

Well, something more happened now. If I try to get the details of the disk in diskpart now, diskpart crashes. WDiag doesn't see the drive at all.

 

[RandallFlagg]

Do you have another system to hook that drive to? It sounds like there may be an controller error on the drive. I see this when a drive is going south. Can you hook up the drive in another way to rule out whatever you are using to connect the drive isn't the cause?