jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I can't successfully format a couple of hard drives. I've formatted a dozen or more hard drives over the years, but I've hit a brick wall with this. I've spent so much time doing so many things, that the details are hazy, but this is basically it.

I removed a 3TB drive (WD 3.5") from its external enclosure and put it into my computer. It worked fine in the enclosure, but the computer said it had to be formatted. That took most of the day. Although Disk Management could see it, it didn't show up in This PC. When the formatting was finished, Disk Management said it had to be formatted.

I tried the same thing with a new, unused WD 4TB drive. The computer said it had to be formatted, and I followed the standard, default procedures. Same result - computer does not recognize it. Using Disk Management with the drive in an external enclosure, it shows 16TB (rather than 4) Healthy (GPT Protection Partition). Right-clicking offers only Help. Everything else is grayed out. I tried this with two different computers - same result.

So, I have the same problem with two drives - old and new - on two computers.

The CrystalDiskInfo utility shows the drive, and it's in good condition.

Any ideas.

abraham.losa Loc: Miami FL

Hello,you could try with the windows installation disk,disconnect all drives except the one you want to format,then run the installation process,when it comes to the formatting and selecting partition phase ,there you can change ,resize or remove any partition ,hope it works,if not ,google some partition manger software like paragon or something else

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Messing with the Windows disk is not something I want to do.

I thought I'd try a disk utility. I remember using a couple in the past to solve a problem. I'll take a look. Thanks!

abraham.losa Loc: Miami FL

It’s not hard or complicated at all,it’s prettysimple and it will solve your problem,in 4 minutes,👍🏻

WayneT Loc: Paris, TN

Check these out Jerry:
https://www.online-tech-tips.com/software-reviews/5-hard-drive-formatting-and-partitioning-utilities/

When I was working as a tech I use to run into this problem occasionally. I can't remember exactly which program I used (one I used was Partition Wizard) most often but one of the programs above should solve your problem.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'll keep that in mind.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Weird hard drive problem? Don't buy a weird hard drive!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

But it was cheap!

Doowopa Loc: Connecticut

I've been using the free version of this give it a try.

Easus partion master

Bill Gordon

Sounds like it might be an issue of an older operating system not handling all that large a drive.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Jerry,
Just a guess, but perhaps it must be partitioned before formatting. You might be successful using a command prompt and diskpart.
Here's how: https://www.hdd-tool.com/partition-magic/use-diskpart-command-to-resize-partitions.html
Hope this helps. I had to use diskpart last year on a drive I could not format in Disk Management.
Mark

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

Why did Microsoft ever get rid of FDisk?

JerryOSF Loc: Bristol, VA

From linux user: Why I hate Windows

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Jerry, go to Control Panel, administrative tools, disk management, find the HD, right click on it and delete partition, it should take care of your problem.