I have exhausted all possibilities.

I am having a problem with a Seagate 120gig 8mb cache (Barracuda) model.

I ran Seagate tools on it, all tests passed.

The problem is I can't do a full format (NTFS), at 99% it stops and says Windows could not format this drive. Please check that the drive is not physically damaged, master/slave is correctly set, if it is a SCSI then it has to be correctly terminated.

I placed the Drive as a Single Primary Master. One optical on Secondary IDE as master. I tried on 3 diff machines, with 3 different boards. This always happens. I can get away with doing a quick format, but the drive always exhibits problems and Windows always crashes at some point down the line to the point where it needs a complete reinstall.

I even partitioned it into a 20gig and 100gig, and still sam ething on each partition. I tried a win2k install cd to format, same exact problem.

What gives???? What can possibly be the problem?

I reckon that there IS physical damage to the drive if it doesn't work in 3 other computers. If it has a warranty send it back to wheres you got it and try and get it replaced or fixed? I could be wrong and I hope I am for your sake

This drive was very recently bought, 1mo ago. The drive works fine and can be accessed perfectly. Just XP/2k wouldn't do a full ntfs format on it.

...BUT...

I think I solved it. I used the tool cd that the Seagate HDD came with. It did a format and set-up the drive for XP (whatever that means).
Anyhoot, XP was then able to fully format the drive in regular mode (not quick format).

Although, this gives Seagate definite minus points from me. Something simple like formatting should not be proprietary to software bundled with a unit. It should be native to any O/S existing on the market. Their production and marketing completely sucks.

I will never again buy one nor recommend one to anyone I know or hate. From now on my streak of Western Digital continues.

I think this error has nothing to do with Seagate, but with the former partitions etc on the disk. I've head similar problems with several disks.

How I solved it? Using a low level formatting utility to format the disc. With this kind of format, every part of the disc (not just the user/data parts) is set to 0, so no information is left on...

One thing: lowlevelling can destroy your harddisk!

Not all BIOS support low level formatting though. But this disk bundled with Seagate, it did the trick, at least so far.

One thing gets me Dee-ehn, if the HDD was brand spanking new, how can it have anything on it to begin with?

Also, the Seagate software prepared the drive in less than a minute, so I --KNOW-- it didn't do a Full Format, it did something else but I have no clue what.

It probably got rid of the first few sectors on the disk (master boot record , intialization , boot sector , etc). This is usually sufficient to get rid of all partitions and information on the harddisk.

Well, regardless of what it was, I am still astounded that XP couldnt, 2k couldnt, I dunno why, but somehow, for some reason, I am mad at that.

I don't know want was wrong with yours but I bought the same HD and had no problems with it. This is the second one I have had with no probelms.

I'm having similar problems with a seagate drive I purchased. Windows can't format it into NTFS, but OSX can format it to any other format. The hdd didn't come with a CD.

try right clicking My Computer>Manage, on the left hand side highlight Disk management then right click the drive you want to format, click format.


welcome to the forums.


oops, sorry about the size

Use command line and you'll se why...

First remove the partition
Create a new one (primary of course)
Choose quick format
Start --> Run --> cmd --> format D: (or whatever drive letter it is)
Read ^_^

You should also try another PATA/SATA cable if you havent and run Seatools.
//Danne