new hard disk shoes only as unallocated

ethan · 10 Nov 2008 at 20:55

new hard disk shows only as unallocated

Just installed a third sata disk and i assumed it would just be a simple matter for vista to detect and then me to format. It only shows up as unallocated in admin tools etc and I do not ge the option to format. The new disk does not show in computer (vista 64) but the other two do along with my dvd drives. I haven't a clue about this and so any help regarding its recognition and formatting would be appreciated. Thank you.

Dolph · 10 Nov 2008 at 20:57

You need to partition the drive before you can format it, you can do this in admin tools under disk management.

ethan · 10 Nov 2008 at 21:02

Hello Dolph. The only option I have in admin tools is one for new simple volume when I right click on it. A wizard pops ups asking me to either accept the default size or manually insert it. Is this the one I need to use ?

Dolph · 10 Nov 2008 at 21:03

Yep, that's the one. Select the default size and it should create a partition that fills the whole drive, then you can format it.

ethan · 10 Nov 2008 at 21:07

Thankyou

ethan · 10 Nov 2008 at 22:00

Uh oh! just noticed the new drive is formatting as a raw drive as no other option was given or available. On 48% at the moment. Other two drives are ntfs, but the new drive seems to show 44 gig as missing from its total size?

Dolph · 10 Nov 2008 at 22:15

depending on how big the drive is, that sort of loss can well be due to the way HD manufacturers count a gigabyte versus the way windows (correctly) counts it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte#Consumer_confusion

Once the drive is partitioned raw, you should then be able to format it to NTFS.

ethan · 10 Nov 2008 at 22:24

Oh right! Thank you once again.
Edit :Must be the way vista sees it because if you boot into xp with the same drive it immediately provides the option ntfs.

Nanobot · 11 Nov 2008 at 17:11

And there was I wondering from the title whether hard drive shoes were a new form of technology for the heads or the platters.

Ascendancy · 11 Nov 2008 at 17:37

Nanobot said:
And there was I wondering from the title whether hard drive shoes were a new form of technology for the heads or the platters.

I thought exactly the same thing, like brake shoes haha.

ethan · 11 Nov 2008 at 18:32

Hehe: apologies for the spelling. Flustered because the entire process took so long. Hopefully some faster way of formatting might be on the horizon for when we get even larger hard drives?

Ascendancy · 11 Nov 2008 at 19:14

I bought a 700gb HD a few weeks ago. I just partitioned it and quick formatted it. Took all of 30 seconds maybe.

ethan · 11 Nov 2008 at 19:28

Saw the option though opted for a full format which is why it took so long. Had no idea that a quick format would have sufficed

What really is the point of having a full option if its more convenient to use the quick option?

Ascendancy · 11 Nov 2008 at 19:29

ethan said:
Saw the option though opted for a full format which is why it took so long. Had no idea that a quick format would have sufficed
What really is the point of having a full option if its more convenient to use the quick option?

AFAIK a full format scans the disc for errors while it does it.

ethan · 11 Nov 2008 at 19:31

So on a new drive-which it was, I'd have been better chosing the quick format tab-sigh.

Nanobot · 11 Nov 2008 at 19:36

Ascendancy said:
AFAIK a full format scans the disc for errors while it does it.

+1. Very true. Got a call from a mate few years back. Windows setup kept crashing. A quick format wasnt detecting a bad sector until he did a full format. I never use quick format unless I'm doing a virtual machine install.

Aod · 11 Nov 2008 at 20:08

never quick format a new drive. the formatting process is the easiest way of seeing whether the drive has bad sectors. if it does, send it back as faulty.

i'd only ever quick-format a drive i knew to have no bad sectors.

ethan · 11 Nov 2008 at 20:15

Aod said:
never quick format a new drive. the formatting process is the easiest way of seeing whether the drive has bad sectors. if it does, send it back as faulty.

i'd only ever quick-format a drive i knew to have no bad sectors.

catch 22 then

New drive not been checked before therefore you do not know if it has any bad sectors (for certain). Formatting on an extremely large drive takes ages.