Trying to format an old Toshiba notebook drive. Regular formatting via a 98 boot disk fails at 78% (?)-

Anyone know where to locate a Toshiba or other working drive utility?

Thanks!

Tracy

I'm thinking the drive might be faulty. Format programs don't usually screw up unless there's something wrong with the drive.
Either use a linux box to blank the drive (command is "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hd#, where # is the linux letter of the drive (does not necessarily match windows' letter)) or use some utility that does the same thing (the Ultimate Boot CD would probably do it).
Then try reformatting it.
If it succeeds, the problem was probably hidden deep in the filesystem structure and the blanking fixed it.
If it does not, you've got yourself a couple of magnets.

Edit: if you don't have a linux equipped computer handy, DamnSmallLinux starts from the cd, is only a 50mb download and would do the job just fine without even requiring the removal of the disk from the laptop.

Hey there-

Thanks for the ideas. I had considered Linux & UBCD but I like to have a thumb drive of all the maker's overlays just for my own useage.

What I ended up doing was fdisking & installing this odd, proprietory "hidden" partition first (CTX EZBook 700e), then made the partition for Win98. I booted to my Acronis CD & had it restore to that partition. Apparently, it didn't seem to mind that it wasn't formatted? Went right on & the lappy is off & running well...

Thanks again!

Tracy

I'm allergic to proprietary hidden partitions and so on. I bought my laptop making expressly sure it required no such crap.
Still, if it worked for you, well, I'm happy for you.

Well, it wasn't really a choice- it's something you must install or the BIOS waits for you to hit "enter" to proceed to the desktop...which is why I was doing this in the first place-

T

Meant to add a thanks for that magnet article- I have a lot of dead hard drives that I saved after replacing them for folks- that's a neat idea- my kids love magnets!

T

A word of caution about those magnets: they are powerful. It may not be too good an idea to let small kids play with them.
The first drive I dismantled was one of the infamous IBM Deskstars (also known as Deathstars, which may tip you off to the fact that it wasn't exactly a problem-free series). It had two magnets. The lower one was screwed to the drive, while the upper one was held in place by magnetic force alone. I didn't know this the first time I looked at them, and tried prying them apart by hand. The moment I removed the head assembly the magnets clicked together HARD - and pinched my finger inbetween them. It hurt and blood was spilled.
If you do give them to your children, also be careful that they don't get thrown together. They could crash one into the other with enough force to break apart in a small shower of sharp debris. This usually happens to larger magnets, but you better be careful anyway.

Also, if a magnet sticks to a ferrous surface it'll be rather hard to remove, but you can do it by hand. If two magnets stick to one another, you'll need tools to get them apart.