Trying to install backup drive

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timbo59

Member
Trying to install a backup drive in my PC but not having any luck. First drive I ordered in from Newegg didn't work and kept locking up my PC, second one is running but my PC won't recognize it. Am I missing something in the equation? All I thought I had to do was simply plug in the power cable, the SATA cable, and away it would go. Or do I have to change some settings in BIOS? Perhaps there's another sata plugin on the board I'm supposed to be connecting to?

The unit I'm trying to install is a Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200

Thanks

Motherboard – ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
Sound - Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS
RAM - Corsair XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB)
DVD - Lite-on DVDRW LH-20A1L SCSI
HD - Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB
Power - Cooler Master Real Power Pro RS-750-ACAA-A1 750W
OS – Windows 7 Ultimate (64)
 
voyagerfan99

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
Is it detected by the BIOS? If so, boot into Windows, open Disk Management, initialize the disk, and format it. You won't see it in Explorer until you initialize and format it.
 
T

timbo59

Member
Okay, things are a little confusing. I got Disk management to initialize it, but when it comes to formatting I keep getting an error message telling me that windows can't complete the task. A box then pops up that says 'Check to see that the disk and drive are connected properly, make sure that the disk is not read only, and then try again.'

The system sees it, it's marked in the system window as local Disk E, but again, if I click on it there another message pops up telling me it needs formatting, plus another box pops up saying the 'volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
The drive may be bad. Try running Western Digital drive diagnostic on it and see if it passes, run the extended test.
 
T

timbo59

Member
Okay, it passed the quick test. The extended test looks like it will take nearly two hours. I'll post back then
 
T

timbo59

Member
Just got the result from the extended test - it says the drive is fine. So what next? This is a refurbished unit from WD - could the point about the disk possible being 'read only' have some relevancy? Are there some setting/pins on the drive I should check?
 
voyagerfan99

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
Try this before spending time doing John's way. I don't normally format things in disk management myself. It's the system administrator in me.

Let's try formatting the drive a different way.

Click Start, type CMD in the search bar, and right click the CMD when you see it appear and choose Run as Administrator.

The command prompt will open. Type diskpart and press enter. Allow diskpart to start. When it loads, you will see DISKPART>. Here, type "list disk" (without quotes). It will list your disks off starting at disk 0. Determine which one is the new disk based on the size. Once you have determined which one it is, type "select disk *" (without quotes, where *= the disk number).

The next few commands will be quick and easy. Once you select the disk it will read back the disk you selected. If you run the "list disk" command again, it will place a * next to the selected disk. Do that to make sure its correct.

Finally, just do these commands (without quotes), followed by enter.

"clean" (this will wipe any existing partition tables on the disk)
"create partition primary" (this creates the primary partition for the drive)
"format quick fs=ntfs" (this formats the partition)

If it errors out trying to format, then the disk is most likely bad.
 
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timbo59

Member
okay, I got as far as 'clean' and encountered the following message - 'Diskpart has encountered an error: The semaphore timeout period has expired. See the system event log for more detail'. I hit clean again, thinking there was some timing issue, and the message I got was 'Virtual Disk Service error: The object is not found.

?
 
T

timbo59

Member
Update. I went John's route, hit 'kill' and have encountered the same error message. I keep getting error message after error message saying 'cannot write to sectors XXXX to XXXX. (Error: The semaphore time period has expired)' The program just keeps generating the same error as it tries workin gthrough all of the other sectors - still going as I speak.

Why would the WD program say it's okay, while all this stuff then goes on? Is there some way this disk has been set to write protection or read only by a previous user who then returned it to WD?
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Either your windows files are borked or there is a problem with the drive. I would suggest either trying the programs I listed or trying the drive in another system to see if it formats correctly.
 
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