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nanoflower
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Can't format partition on HD

Tue Nov 21, 2017 1:22 am

I've got a drive that's behaving strangely. Started out with an issue where I was using a partition as a temp storage and trying to run a program off the partition wouldn't work. Tried to do a chkdsk on the partition and it got stuck. Then I tried formatting (long format) the partition and it's been stuck for over a couple of hours without making any progress. So you would think the drive has gone south, but I checked all of the SMART data and there are no errors. No bad blocks or anything to suggest there is a problem.

So I'm turning to the forum for a suggestion. This is a Win10 system. The only idea that I have from here is to maybe try Toshiba's utilities to do a low level format but I would rather not wipe the drive if I don't have to. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Thanks.
 
mcarson09
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Re: Can't format partition on HD

Tue Nov 21, 2017 2:37 am

nanoflower wrote:
I've got a drive that's behaving strangely. Started out with an issue where I was using a partition as a temp storage and trying to run a program off the partition wouldn't work. Tried to do a chkdsk on the partition and it got stuck. Then I tried formatting (long format) the partition and it's been stuck for over a couple of hours without making any progress. So you would think the drive has gone south, but I checked all of the SMART data and there are no errors. No bad blocks or anything to suggest there is a problem.

So I'm turning to the forum for a suggestion. This is a Win10 system. The only idea that I have from here is to maybe try Toshiba's utilities to do a low level format but I would rather not wipe the drive if I don't have to. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Thanks.


If there's data you want to keep on back it up NOW before you do anything to it. Toshiba hard drives are like OCZ SSDs not known for reliability. Most likely you need to do a low level format with Toshiba's utilities to correct anything that can be corrected. You could always punch you model number into google I.e "Toshiba [model number] problems" and see if anything pops.
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continuum
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Re: Can't format partition on HD

Tue Nov 21, 2017 4:10 am

Tried a long DST from the Toshiba utilities? That'll probably tell you it's got slow/failing blocks somewhere. But then the slow format is probably bad blocks.

Time to toss the drive. If it's under warranty, RMA it.
 
Chrispy_
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Re: Can't format partition on HD

Tue Nov 21, 2017 8:08 am

If all else fails, and you're prepared to wipe the drive before an RMA, use Diskpart with the clean command. It's the best tool I know for screwed up partitions and GPT data on a drive.

OCZ's bad rep was deserved from the fast-and-loose Sandforce firmware issues, but those days are nearing a decade ago and we've been using Toshiba drives heavily (in quantities of several hundred) for a long time now.

Unlike Sandisk, Samsung, Hynix and Kingston I can safely say that Toshiba is the only brand that I have a large sample size with zero failures and zero RMAs across 1200 drive years of usage. Crucial seem to be making their way there too, but I've only been buying Crucial since the MX300 and I don't think I have 100 drive years tracked on the system yet.
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just brew it!
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Re: Can't format partition on HD

Tue Nov 21, 2017 9:15 am

Could also be dodgy cables (power or data); I'd try a different power lead and new data cable. Or test the drive in a different system.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
nanoflower
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Re: Can't format partition on HD

Tue Nov 21, 2017 6:50 pm

Just Brew It wins the award. Tried doing a short SMART test and kept getting failures just a short time into the test. Shut down the computer and reset all of the cables (they appeared to be locked in) and redid the SMART test and the drive passed with flying colors. So it looks like the cable was just slightly not connected so the computer saw the drive and everything appeared fine, but I couldn't use the drive. First time for me.
 
just brew it!
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Re: Can't format partition on HD

Tue Nov 21, 2017 7:14 pm

You may still want to consider replacing the data cable.

Or at least connect/disconnect it several times, to scrape off any corrosion on the contacts (the "wiping" action as the connector is inserted and removed actually helps clean it).
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

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