External USB HDD

I'd appreciate some guidance on this problem,running Vista Home Basic and
I've had no problem with this 149Gb external HDD drive except when I tried
to format it.
It did delete everything but then says "Cannot format this drive" when I try
other methods like defragmenting it or checking for error it keeps saying
Windows does not recognise this something about wrong parameters.
I tried Restore but no go,also nothing in the Device manager all is well
with it.
After 3 days I tried to format it again and it worked,loaded some files on
to it but then wanted them deleted so I formatted it and this has started
all over again.
It's just a spare HDD drive but I'd like to know why.
Not very good with computers if you can guide me I'd appreciate it.thanks

On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:02:41 -0000, Old Mariner wrote:

> I'd appreciate some guidance on this problem,running Vista Home Basic and
> I've had no problem with this 149Gb external HDD drive except when I tried
> to format it.
> It did delete everything but then says "Cannot format this drive" when I try
> other methods like defragmenting it or checking for error it keeps saying
> Windows does not recognise this something about wrong parameters.
> I tried Restore but no go,also nothing in the Device manager all is well
> with it.
> After 3 days I tried to format it again and it worked,loaded some files on
> to it but then wanted them deleted so I formatted it and this has started
> all over again.
> It's just a spare HDD drive but I'd like to know why.
> Not very good with computers if you can guide me I'd appreciate it.thanks

Consider spending the few dollars for a new drive. I'm guessing that the
drive is failing, but even if not you can always use a new drive.

Others might know of a potential software or system problem; I can't help
there (lack of knowledge).

OTOH - this just occured to me. How are you formatting it? NTFS? FAT12?
FAT16? FAT32? Full? Quick? Maybe you should try NTFS full.

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom

"Gene E. Bloch" <not-> wrote in message
news:1xzgyajk14v3u$.aqolg18rci0x$... .
> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:02:41 -0000, Old Mariner wrote:
>
>> I'd appreciate some guidance on this problem,running Vista Home Basic and
>> I've had no problem with this 149Gb external HDD drive except when I
>> tried
>> to format it.
>> It did delete everything but then says "Cannot format this drive" when I
>> try
>> other methods like defragmenting it or checking for error it keeps saying
>> Windows does not recognise this something about wrong parameters.
>> I tried Restore but no go,also nothing in the Device manager all is well
>> with it.
>> After 3 days I tried to format it again and it worked,loaded some files
>> on
>> to it but then wanted them deleted so I formatted it and this has started
>> all over again.
>> It's just a spare HDD drive but I'd like to know why.
>> Not very good with computers if you can guide me I'd appreciate it.thanks
>
> Consider spending the few dollars for a new drive. I'm guessing that the
> drive is failing, but even if not you can always use a new drive.
>
> Others might know of a potential software or system problem; I can't help
> there (lack of knowledge).
>
> OTOH - this just occured to me. How are you formatting it? NTFS? FAT12?
> FAT16? FAT32? Full? Quick? Maybe you should try NTFS full.
>
> --
> Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom
thanks for the reply,I am on NTFS and it is a new drive,I can see the HDD
light flashing as it formats.
Now to crown it all, it just fired up and formatted again after 3 days no
go!
Guess I'll just keep it for storage and not attempt to format it again.
Thanks again for the help.

On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:28:54 -0000, Old Mariner wrote:

> "Gene E. Bloch" <not-> wrote in message
> news:1xzgyajk14v3u$.aqolg18rci0x$... .
>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:02:41 -0000, Old Mariner wrote:
>>
>>> I'd appreciate some guidance on this problem,running Vista Home Basic and
>>> I've had no problem with this 149Gb external HDD drive except when I
>>> tried
>>> to format it.
>>> It did delete everything but then says "Cannot format this drive" when I
>>> try
>>> other methods like defragmenting it or checking for error it keeps saying
>>> Windows does not recognise this something about wrong parameters.
>>> I tried Restore but no go,also nothing in the Device manager all is well
>>> with it.
>>> After 3 days I tried to format it again and it worked,loaded some files
>>> on
>>> to it but then wanted them deleted so I formatted it and this has started
>>> all over again.
>>> It's just a spare HDD drive but I'd like to know why.
>>> Not very good with computers if you can guide me I'd appreciate it.thanks
>>
>> Consider spending the few dollars for a new drive. I'm guessing that the
>> drive is failing, but even if not you can always use a new drive.
>>
>> Others might know of a potential software or system problem; I can't help
>> there (lack of knowledge).
>>
>> OTOH - this just occured to me. How are you formatting it? NTFS? FAT12?
>> FAT16? FAT32? Full? Quick? Maybe you should try NTFS full.
>>
>> --
>> Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom
> thanks for the reply,I am on NTFS and it is a new drive,I can see the HDD
> light flashing as it formats.
> Now to crown it all, it just fired up and formatted again after 3 days no
> go!
> Guess I'll just keep it for storage and not attempt to format it again.
> Thanks again for the help.

Seems pretty mysterious to me. I wish I could do better...

--
Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom

Is by chance, the drive powered from the USB port(s)?

"Old Mariner" <> wrote in message
news:%...
>
> "Gene E. Bloch" <not-> wrote in message
> news:1xzgyajk14v3u$.aqolg18rci0x$... .
>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:02:41 -0000, Old Mariner wrote:
>>
>>> I'd appreciate some guidance on this problem,running Vista Home Basic
>>> and
>>> I've had no problem with this 149Gb external HDD drive except when I
>>> tried
>>> to format it.
>>> It did delete everything but then says "Cannot format this drive" when I
>>> try
>>> other methods like defragmenting it or checking for error it keeps
>>> saying
>>> Windows does not recognise this something about wrong parameters.
>>> I tried Restore but no go,also nothing in the Device manager all is
>>> well
>>> with it.
>>> After 3 days I tried to format it again and it worked,loaded some files
>>> on
>>> to it but then wanted them deleted so I formatted it and this has
>>> started
>>> all over again.
>>> It's just a spare HDD drive but I'd like to know why.
>>> Not very good with computers if you can guide me I'd appreciate
>>> it.thanks
>>
>> Consider spending the few dollars for a new drive. I'm guessing that the
>> drive is failing, but even if not you can always use a new drive.
>>
>> Others might know of a potential software or system problem; I can't help
>> there (lack of knowledge).
>>
>> OTOH - this just occured to me. How are you formatting it? NTFS? FAT12?
>> FAT16? FAT32? Full? Quick? Maybe you should try NTFS full.
>>
>> --
>> Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom
> thanks for the reply,I am on NTFS and it is a new drive,I can see the HDD
> light flashing as it formats.
> Now to crown it all, it just fired up and formatted again after 3 days no
> go!
> Guess I'll just keep it for storage and not attempt to format it again.
> Thanks again for the help.

Yes it is,one of the USB ports from the back of the computer.Had it 9 months
no problem then it died,sent it back new one came and worked fine for a good
while .When tried to format it said the message I wrote.
It's now working but I wanted to know about wht Windows did not recognise it
and what "parameters not correct" means.thanks
"Chuck" <> wrote in message
news:OnLd$...
> Is by chance, the drive powered from the USB port(s)?
>
> "Old Mariner" <> wrote in message
> news:%...
>>
>> "Gene E. Bloch" <not-> wrote in message
>> news:1xzgyajk14v3u$.aqolg18rci0x$... .
>>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:02:41 -0000, Old Mariner wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'd appreciate some guidance on this problem,running Vista Home Basic
>>>> and
>>>> I've had no problem with this 149Gb external HDD drive except when I
>>>> tried
>>>> to format it.
>>>> It did delete everything but then says "Cannot format this drive" when
>>>> I try
>>>> other methods like defragmenting it or checking for error it keeps
>>>> saying
>>>> Windows does not recognise this something about wrong parameters.
>>>> I tried Restore but no go,also nothing in the Device manager all is
>>>> well
>>>> with it.
>>>> After 3 days I tried to format it again and it worked,loaded some files
>>>> on
>>>> to it but then wanted them deleted so I formatted it and this has
>>>> started
>>>> all over again.
>>>> It's just a spare HDD drive but I'd like to know why.
>>>> Not very good with computers if you can guide me I'd appreciate
>>>> it.thanks
>>>
>>> Consider spending the few dollars for a new drive. I'm guessing that the
>>> drive is failing, but even if not you can always use a new drive.
>>>
>>> Others might know of a potential software or system problem; I can't
>>> help
>>> there (lack of knowledge).
>>>
>>> OTOH - this just occured to me. How are you formatting it? NTFS? FAT12?
>>> FAT16? FAT32? Full? Quick? Maybe you should try NTFS full.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom
>> thanks for the reply,I am on NTFS and it is a new drive,I can see the
>> HDD light flashing as it formats.
>> Now to crown it all, it just fired up and formatted again after 3 days no
>> go!
>> Guess I'll just keep it for storage and not attempt to format it again.
>> Thanks again for the help.
>
>

"Old Mariner" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Yes it is,one of the USB ports from the back of the computer.Had it 9
> months no problem then it died,sent it back new one came and worked fine
> for a good while .When tried to format it said the message I wrote.
> It's now working but I wanted to know about wht Windows did not recognise
> it and what "parameters not correct" means.thanks
> "Chuck" <> wrote in message
> news:OnLd$...
>> Is by chance, the drive powered from the USB port(s)?
>>
>> "Old Mariner" <> wrote in message
>> news:%...
>>>
>>> "Gene E. Bloch" <not-> wrote in message
>>> news:1xzgyajk14v3u$.aqolg18rci0x$... .
>>>> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:02:41 -0000, Old Mariner wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'd appreciate some guidance on this problem,running Vista Home Basic
>>>>> and
>>>>> I've had no problem with this 149Gb external HDD drive except when I
>>>>> tried
>>>>> to format it.
>>>>> It did delete everything but then says "Cannot format this drive" when
>>>>> I try
>>>>> other methods like defragmenting it or checking for error it keeps
>>>>> saying
>>>>> Windows does not recognise this something about wrong parameters.
>>>>> I tried Restore but no go,also nothing in the Device manager all is
>>>>> well
>>>>> with it.
>>>>> After 3 days I tried to format it again and it worked,loaded some
>>>>> files on
>>>>> to it but then wanted them deleted so I formatted it and this has
>>>>> started
>>>>> all over again.
>>>>> It's just a spare HDD drive but I'd like to know why.
>>>>> Not very good with computers if you can guide me I'd appreciate
>>>>> it.thanks
>>>>
>>>> Consider spending the few dollars for a new drive. I'm guessing that
>>>> the
>>>> drive is failing, but even if not you can always use a new drive.
>>>>
>>>> Others might know of a potential software or system problem; I can't
>>>> help
>>>> there (lack of knowledge).
>>>>
>>>> OTOH - this just occured to me. How are you formatting it? NTFS? FAT12?
>>>> FAT16? FAT32? Full? Quick? Maybe you should try NTFS full.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Gene E. Bloch letters0x40blochg0x2Ecom
>>> thanks for the reply,I am on NTFS and it is a new drive,I can see the
>>> HDD light flashing as it formats.
>>> Now to crown it all, it just fired up and formatted again after 3 days
>>> no go!
>>> Guess I'll just keep it for storage and not attempt to format it again.
>>> Thanks again for the help.
>>
>>
>
Why are you repeatedly formatting? There is no benefit to do this that I am
aware of. If you don't want the files that you have placed there, simply
delete them.