joessportster Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I try to format the new western digital red, 2tb drive It is in an external case, windows keeps saying cannot format, then get a pop up that says check cable connections, and make sure it is not a read only drive The enclosure is a plugable dock model usb3 sata uasp1 when i hooked it up windows found and installed the drivers, i had to label the drive with a letter then it said i had to format it I can feel the drive spin, and windows shows the storage size Any suggestions ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max2 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Windows 7? Type Fdisk in your search window and see if the puter is recognizing the disk Then try a right click on the drive out of my computer and format Edited February 28, 2014 by Max2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Ok if i use quick format i get the "windows could not complete format" If i deselect it looks like it is trying to format, but i dont want to be 5 hours in and find it will not format, it shows as healthy ?????????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 You bios may not let you do that large a partition. Is this a newer PC? Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 (edited) I had the same problem. I don't remember exactly how it got fixed but it was comething about right clicking on something on that drive in the same screen you use to reassigned a drive a new drive letter......I know, this isn't much. But I had to do a Google search to find the one forum that got it right. Something about initializing the drive before it could be formatted. But look up Disk Management and I think you right click on the new drive in the lower part of that screen and choose "initialize". That should only take a few seconds, after that it should allow you to format it. Edited March 1, 2014 by Mighty Favog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 (edited) dp Edited March 1, 2014 by Mighty Favog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 I have gone thru, the initial procedure of setting partition / volume size (i set it as 1 volume quick format would not work i tried standard let it run from 9pm to 7 am still no format now im trying to set smaller partitions Bruce how the heck can i check BIOS i saw several posts concerning BIOS but nothing on how to pull it up Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max2 Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I have gone thru, the initial procedure of setting partition / volume size (i set it as 1 volume quick format would not work i tried standard let it run from 9pm to 7 am still no format now im trying to set smaller partitions Bruce how the heck can i check BIOS i saw several posts concerning BIOS but nothing on how to pull it up Joe This is the first link that popped up. The issue is looking pretty common, but there is a work around out there http://community.wd.com/t5/Desktop-Mobile-Drives/Unable-to-format-amp-partition-new-bare-WG-2TB-Red-drives/td-p/560626 More http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-hardware/formating-issues-with-a-wd-2tb-drive-cant-format/17f887ee-7689-4dc3-9237-ee7f3af2dfbd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 tried the 2nd link last night , am trying the first one now thanks this damn thing is a PITA, i can get it to format up to 300 gigs if i set the partition at that, but then i cannot transfer files to that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajoker2c Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Try a program call Swissknife to partition big drives http://download.cnet.com/CompuApps-SwissKnife-V3/3000-2248_4-10070864.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Try a program call Swissknife to partition big drives http://download.cnet.com/CompuApps-SwissKnife-V3/3000-2248_4-10070864.html Partition is not thee problem, I can set partitions and it comes up shows healthy, It will not format after that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Bruce how the heck can i check BIOS When your computer is booting up (depending on the brand...), you hit enter, you hit F2, it depends. When it is booting you can usually see what version of the BIOS you have. It may need to be upgraded (by download from vendor's website). Depending on the age of your PC/motherboard, you may need a newer version of the BIOS to work reliably with larger drives. Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Thanks bruce, bios age says 2011 I went to BB and picked up another hard drive and ran smart tests on it and the 2 tb iv'e been working with they both failed my laptop hard drive passes, Im going to take the know working hard drive out of my other laptop and see if it will format Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max2 Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 pick your drive from this page and download the software. This should work. I think its unlikely you have two bad drives http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Hey max, been to that site a few times, looking under the red it has downloads for firmware, which would be great if i had a formatted disk, i also followed there instructions forr windows 7 for formatting, no luck. At least I'm learning some stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I believe I would check to see if your motherboard has updated drivers for the USB/sata ports. My Guru buddy had a problem with Win 7 USB flash plugin drive because it was fat 32 instead of ntfs. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted March 1, 2014 Author Share Posted March 1, 2014 Emailed wd with a run down of the issue, they said drive was not designed for external (I'm trying to figure out how that matters) I should install it in a desktop and try to format it, and if i go thru the 20 + hours of bs then its the drive and i should return it for warranty exchange I will look into the usb updates, i went thru system management and literally clicked on every item and checked for driver updates and none were shown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Full Range Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 On a similar note I purchased an SD card - one of those fast SDXC -128 gb Computer would not read the card no matter what I did or tried I eventually found a fix on the Windows site - all that was needed ? A driver or a recognition patch From then on all worked fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max2 Posted March 2, 2014 Share Posted March 2, 2014 Take them both back and get an external plug and play drive, your time is worth more than this crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted March 2, 2014 Author Share Posted March 2, 2014 (edited) I SURRENDER LET ME UP IV'e HAD ENOUGH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boxing this crap back up !!!!!!!!!!! lesson learned Guess I will pray my portable passport holds up although I don't have much faith, its already twitchy When $$$$$$$ presents itself looks like I'm in for a computer upgrade, I may have one built with 2Tb of storage and make sure they partition c drive so the only thing on the main partition is the OS, which according to my last 24 hours of reading and experimenting adds a layer of protection to the files in other partitions What Pisses me off most is I lost an evening of music, trying to let this crap format over night Edited March 2, 2014 by joessportster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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