Trying to format secondary hard drive, no luck

[mldmld]

I have tried to format a slave hard drive that is being recognized as E:/ Every time I try to format it fails. I went into a command prompt from Run, and typed:

C:\>formate:
The type of file system is RAW.
Please use the /FS switch to specify the file system
you wisht to use on this volume.

C:\format e: /FS:FAT32
The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is FAT32

Verifying 42931M
The volume is too big for FAT32

C:\format e: /FS:NTFS
The typ of the file system is RAW
The new file system is NTFS
...
Verifying 42931M
Volume label (ENTER for none)?
Creating fily system structures.
The second NTFS boot sector is unwriteable.
The first NTFS boot sector is unwriteable.
All NTFS boot sectors are unwriteable. Cannotot Continue
Format failed



Do I have any other dos commands I should try. Are there any programs (freeware) that will format the drive and make it readable.

Thanks for the help

 

[rvnguy]

mldmld,

Can you provide some detail:

Drive make, model, size
mobo make mdl
BIOS type and ver
OS installed & patches

In the mean time you can run chkdsk from the prompt and if there are problems found then run chkdsk /f to fix them.

If I have read your post correctly, the reference to size as 42931M this should not be outside of the range of FAT32 if LBA is initiated.

"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[htmlman]

Since it is a slave you should be able to use the administrative tools in control panel. Under settings> control panel>administrator tools>computer management>disk management