How to format GPT to NTFS

d3adpoetic · 11-02-2009, 02:28 PM

I took the 30GB harddrive out of my old zune planning on using it as a usb drive. I bought the appropriate enclosure, put it together, plugged it in and planned to format it and be done... little did i know it uses GPT partitioning. It doesnt necessarilly have to be formatted to NTFS, i believe most usb drives are FAT32?? Anyway, Windows sees the drive as a usb device, but nothing more. It will not allow me to format it or do anything with it. I have tried disk management (it says its not ready when i try to "initialize disk"), windows xp recovery console (tried "diskpart"), also tried diskpart while in windows, and gparted in ubuntu... nothing can do anything with it. This is very frustrating to me because i waited 3 weeks for the enclosure to finally arrive. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great. Thanks.

Also, the drive is plugged into the enclosure correctly. I made that mistake the first time and the LED didnt light up. I switched it, and now it lights up correctly and windows sees it.

tlarkin · 11-02-2009, 03:14 PM

In Windows, under Computer Management > Disk management you can remove the partitions and recreate a new one.

d3adpoetic · 11-02-2009, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlarkin

In Windows, under Computer Management > Disk management you can remove the partitions and recreate a new one.

I've tried going into Disk Management. It shows in the list, but it's greyed out. There's no option to remove the partitions or format it, the only thing i can seem to do with it is "initialize disk". When i try that a window comes up asking if i want to either stick with the GPT partition table, or choose MBR. Whichever i choose it gives me an error and says the disk is not ready.

I'll post a screenshot when i get home in a few hours... maybe that would help. Thanks for the comment though.

EDIT: I was looking around google again and i stumbled on this...

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

Anyone know if this has promise or not?

tlarkin · 11-02-2009, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3adpoetic

I've tried going into Disk Management. It shows in the list, but it's greyed out. There's no option to remove the partitions or format it, the only thing i can seem to do with it is "initialize disk". When i try that a window comes up asking if i want to either stick with the GPT partition table, or choose MBR. Whichever i choose it gives me an error and says the disk is not ready.

I'll post a screenshot when i get home in a few hours... maybe that would help. Thanks for the comment though.

EDIT: I was looking around google again and i stumbled on this...

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197

Anyone know if this has promise or not?

You need to format the boot sector of the HD. Grab any kind of DOS boot utility and boot from it.

Once at the command line do this

Code:

cd <drive letter of drive>

fdisk /mbr

That will wipe out the boot sector as the disk management in Windows cannot.

d3adpoetic · 11-02-2009, 06:04 PM

ok ill try that. i dont recall it ever having a drive letter, but ill look again.

tlarkin · 11-02-2009, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3adpoetic

ok ill try that. i dont recall it ever having a drive letter, but ill look again.

Windows will want to assign it one, that is how Windows operates, it is sort of a dumb OS.

You can just remove all hard disks from your computer except for that one, boot to the command prompt and run that command. I think you could run it form the recovery console too, but the recovery console may want an installation of Windows to already exist.

d3adpoetic · 11-02-2009, 06:19 PM

Ok, so i just find a DOS boot utility, put it on a floppy and boot from that? Im assuming once i remove the other drives it will be considered the C drive?

Thanks for the help.

tlarkin · 11-02-2009, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d3adpoetic

Ok, so i just find a DOS boot utility, put it on a floppy and boot from that? Im assuming once i remove the other drives it will be considered the C drive?

Thanks for the help.

I haven't done this is a while so memory is a bit rusty. For data loss reasons remove all internal HDs except the one you need formatted. Then boot off the disk and run that command. Then toss your windows disk back in and use it to create the partition in Windows.

d3adpoetic · 11-02-2009, 06:30 PM

Ok ill give that a try later today and post the results. Thanks again.

**Cromewell** · 11-02-2009, 07:45 PM

Just to be sure you are aware before you recreate the partitions, you will lose your data.

11-02-2009, 02:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
d3adpoetic Silver Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Age: 23 Posts: 111	How to format GPT to NTFS I took the 30GB harddrive out of my old zune planning on using it as a usb drive. I bought the appropriate enclosure, put it together, plugged it in and planned to format it and be done... little did i know it uses GPT partitioning. It doesnt necessarilly have to be formatted to NTFS, i believe most usb drives are FAT32?? Anyway, Windows sees the drive as a usb device, but nothing more. It will not allow me to format it or do anything with it. I have tried disk management (it says its not ready when i try to "initialize disk"), windows xp recovery console (tried "diskpart"), also tried diskpart while in windows, and gparted in ubuntu... nothing can do anything with it. This is very frustrating to me because i waited 3 weeks for the enclosure to finally arrive. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great. Thanks. Also, the drive is plugged into the enclosure correctly. I made that mistake the first time and the LED didnt light up. I switched it, and now it lights up correctly and windows sees it. __________________ ANTEC Nine Hundred Case \| OCZ StealthXStream 600W PS \| EVGA 750i SLI FTW Mainboard \| Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66Ghz oc'ed 3.00Ghz \| 8GB (2GBx4) OCZ DDR2-1066 \| EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked Edition \| 2x640GB SATA WD Caviar HDD \| Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Last edited by d3adpoetic; 11-02-2009 at 02:31 PM.

11-02-2009, 03:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
tlarkin VIP Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 9,930	In Windows, under Computer Management > Disk management you can remove the partitions and recreate a new one. __________________ Typical Signature: <Computer Specs> -numbers I read off a box -parts I assembled in a case all by myself -benchmark score "Will the man with telekenesis please raise my hand?" - Vonnegut chown -R us /.base Get a grep!

11-02-2009, 06:04 PM	#5 (permalink)
d3adpoetic Silver Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Age: 23 Posts: 111	ok ill try that. i dont recall it ever having a drive letter, but ill look again. __________________ ANTEC Nine Hundred Case \| OCZ StealthXStream 600W PS \| EVGA 750i SLI FTW Mainboard \| Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66Ghz oc'ed 3.00Ghz \| 8GB (2GBx4) OCZ DDR2-1066 \| EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked Edition \| 2x640GB SATA WD Caviar HDD \| Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

11-02-2009, 06:19 PM	#7 (permalink)
d3adpoetic Silver Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Age: 23 Posts: 111	Ok, so i just find a DOS boot utility, put it on a floppy and boot from that? Im assuming once i remove the other drives it will be considered the C drive? Thanks for the help. __________________ ANTEC Nine Hundred Case \| OCZ StealthXStream 600W PS \| EVGA 750i SLI FTW Mainboard \| Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66Ghz oc'ed 3.00Ghz \| 8GB (2GBx4) OCZ DDR2-1066 \| EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked Edition \| 2x640GB SATA WD Caviar HDD \| Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

11-02-2009, 06:30 PM	#9 (permalink)
d3adpoetic Silver Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Minnesota, USA Age: 23 Posts: 111	Ok ill give that a try later today and post the results. Thanks again. __________________ ANTEC Nine Hundred Case \| OCZ StealthXStream 600W PS \| EVGA 750i SLI FTW Mainboard \| Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66Ghz oc'ed 3.00Ghz \| 8GB (2GBx4) OCZ DDR2-1066 \| EVGA GTX 260 Superclocked Edition \| 2x640GB SATA WD Caviar HDD \| Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

11-02-2009, 07:45 PM	#10 (permalink)
Cromewell Moderator Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Canada Age: 26 Posts: 11,802	Just to be sure you are aware before you recreate the partitions, you will lose your data. __________________ You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'til ya understand who's in command here. www.userfriendly.org

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
How format NTFS drive to FAT32?	quesuerte	Desktop Computers	3	10-01-2008 02:27 AM
Unable to format in NTFS file system, Please help!	Juven	Desktop Computers	5	06-02-2008 10:58 AM
Formatting Hard Drive	TacitCracker	Computer Memory and Hard Drives	17	11-29-2005 05:21 PM
NTFS format - WinXP can't see	MADKING153	Computer Memory and Hard Drives	1	02-02-2005 10:34 PM
Norton Ghost and my Hard drive	mikepoke	Computer Memory and Hard Drives	12	11-23-2004 08:21 PM