Unable to format external hard Drive

I have just tried to install a new Western Digital external hard drive (My
Book Essential 500GB, Model No WD5000CO32-002) without success. It came
formatted in FAT 32.

I am running Windows XP Home edition SP2, fully updated.

I have followed the instructions in the Western Digital Knowledge Base
Answer ID 1021 in an attempt to re -partition it and change the format to
NTSF.

However, when I attempt to Format the disk I get the Error Message "Logical
Disk Manager: The format did not complete successfully".

I have tried using smaller partitions (as low as 100GB), but still cannot
format the disk in NTSF. Nor will it format in FAT 32 using partitions
below 32 GB. It just sits there saying it is "healthy" and unformatted!

I have downloaded the appropriate WD diagnostic tools and run them all with
the tests showing the nothing appears to be wrong with the new external Hard
Drive.

Has anyone else had this problem and/or can anyone suggest a possible fix
for it, please

--
nil illegitum carborundum

"Wombat 17" <Wombat17@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FF1DBB44-2DCD-4ABA-BC97-333209617022@microsoft.com...
>I have just tried to install a new Western Digital external hard drive (My
> Book Essential 500GB, Model No WD5000CO32-002) without success. It came
> formatted in FAT 32.
>
> I am running Windows XP Home edition SP2, fully updated.
>
> I have followed the instructions in the Western Digital Knowledge Base
> Answer ID 1021 in an attempt to re -partition it and change the format to
> NTSF.
>
> However, when I attempt to Format the disk I get the Error Message
> "Logical
> Disk Manager: The format did not complete successfully".
>
> I have tried using smaller partitions (as low as 100GB), but still cannot
> format the disk in NTSF. Nor will it format in FAT 32 using partitions
> below 32 GB. It just sits there saying it is "healthy" and unformatted!
>
> I have downloaded the appropriate WD diagnostic tools and run them all
> with
> the tests showing the nothing appears to be wrong with the new external
> Hard
> Drive.
>
> Has anyone else had this problem and/or can anyone suggest a possible fix
> for it, please
>
> --
> nil illegitum carborundum

Maybe you already tried it but you should try formatting it in NTSF using
disk management. If that works, then install the software on the disk that
came with it. That is if you want to use their software.

"Wombat 17" <Wombat17@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FF1DBB44-2DCD-4ABA-BC97-333209617022@microsoft.com...
>I have just tried to install a new Western Digital external hard drive (My
> Book Essential 500GB, Model No WD5000CO32-002) without success. It came
> formatted in FAT 32.
>
> I am running Windows XP Home edition SP2, fully updated.
>
> I have followed the instructions in the Western Digital Knowledge Base
> Answer ID 1021 in an attempt to re -partition it and change the format to
> NTSF.
>
> However, when I attempt to Format the disk I get the Error Message
> "Logical
> Disk Manager: The format did not complete successfully".
>
> I have tried using smaller partitions (as low as 100GB), but still cannot
> format the disk in NTSF. Nor will it format in FAT 32 using partitions
> below 32 GB. It just sits there saying it is "healthy" and unformatted!
>
> I have downloaded the appropriate WD diagnostic tools and run them all
> with
> the tests showing the nothing appears to be wrong with the new external
> Hard
> Drive.
>
> Has anyone else had this problem and/or can anyone suggest a possible fix
> for it, please
>
> --
> nil illegitum carborundum


Wombat17:
It is best to undertake the partitioning & formatting process of your USB
external HDD using the XP Disk Management utility. I assume you have not
tried that process. Whether you want to create multiple partitions or a
single partition on the external drive and format same in NTFS should work
just fine using the DM utility.

At this stage it probably would be best when you first use the DM utility to
delete any or all partitions that may exist on the external HDD and start
the process fresh.
Anna

Thanks, but I already tried that and lots of other things, with no luck. I
have finally heard back from WD Tech Support and they have indicated the
drive probably needs repairs

--
nil illegitum carborundum


"bud" wrote:

>
> "Wombat 17" <Wombat17@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:FF1DBB44-2DCD-4ABA-BC97-333209617022@microsoft.com...
> >I have just tried to install a new Western Digital external hard drive (My
> > Book Essential 500GB, Model No WD5000CO32-002) without success. It came
> > formatted in FAT 32.
> >
> > I am running Windows XP Home edition SP2, fully updated.
> >
> > I have followed the instructions in the Western Digital Knowledge Base
> > Answer ID 1021 in an attempt to re -partition it and change the format to
> > NTSF.
> >
> > However, when I attempt to Format the disk I get the Error Message
> > "Logical
> > Disk Manager: The format did not complete successfully".
> >
> > I have tried using smaller partitions (as low as 100GB), but still cannot
> > format the disk in NTSF. Nor will it format in FAT 32 using partitions
> > below 32 GB. It just sits there saying it is "healthy" and unformatted!
> >
> > I have downloaded the appropriate WD diagnostic tools and run them all
> > with
> > the tests showing the nothing appears to be wrong with the new external
> > Hard
> > Drive.
> >
> > Has anyone else had this problem and/or can anyone suggest a possible fix
> > for it, please
> >
> > --
> > nil illegitum carborundum
>
> Maybe you already tried it but you should try formatting it in NTSF using
> disk management. If that works, then install the software on the disk that
> came with it. That is if you want to use their software.
>
>
>

Thanks for responding Anna. I did try that, including trying to set up new
partitions of various sizes, but still kept getting the error message every
time I tried to format the new partition. WD Tech Support have finally got
back to me and indicated that the drive probably needs repair. So I will
exchange it for another new one under warranty and see how it goes.

Regards
--
nil illegitum carborundum


"Anna" wrote:

>
> "Wombat 17" <Wombat17@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:FF1DBB44-2DCD-4ABA-BC97-333209617022@microsoft.com...
> >I have just tried to install a new Western Digital external hard drive (My
> > Book Essential 500GB, Model No WD5000CO32-002) without success. It came
> > formatted in FAT 32.
> >
> > I am running Windows XP Home edition SP2, fully updated.
> >
> > I have followed the instructions in the Western Digital Knowledge Base
> > Answer ID 1021 in an attempt to re -partition it and change the format to
> > NTSF.
> >
> > However, when I attempt to Format the disk I get the Error Message
> > "Logical
> > Disk Manager: The format did not complete successfully".
> >
> > I have tried using smaller partitions (as low as 100GB), but still cannot
> > format the disk in NTSF. Nor will it format in FAT 32 using partitions
> > below 32 GB. It just sits there saying it is "healthy" and unformatted!
> >
> > I have downloaded the appropriate WD diagnostic tools and run them all
> > with
> > the tests showing the nothing appears to be wrong with the new external
> > Hard
> > Drive.
> >
> > Has anyone else had this problem and/or can anyone suggest a possible fix
> > for it, please
> >
> > --
> > nil illegitum carborundum
>
>
> Wombat17:
> It is best to undertake the partitioning & formatting process of your USB
> external HDD using the XP Disk Management utility. I assume you have not
> tried that process. Whether you want to create multiple partitions or a
> single partition on the external drive and format same in NTFS should work
> just fine using the DM utility.
>
> At this stage it probably would be best when you first use the DM utility to
> delete any or all partitions that may exist on the external HDD and start
> the process fresh.
> Anna
>
>
>

Welcome to the club! (Or should I say vice versa...). Sorry to hear
about your troubles.

I just bought 2 x WD My Book Pro II (1TB RAID) and I've been
struggling with exactly same problems (and worse) some week after
installing them (actually those worked for a whole week!). Interesting
enough, BOTH behave the same way, so I seriously doubt it that it's
just another WD drive failure. In my opinion it has something to do
with the WD drive engineering and how it works with Windows (or not).

Windows OS formatting (DM) wouldn't work anymore. WD's own software
The RAID Manager dies instantly when used to format the drives
(without any message about what happened), but otherwise it reports
that they are both "Healthy" !!! WD Customer Service sucks.
Now, I have a couple of decades with PC experience (including building
a few of those), but I've never experienced anything like this.

Indeed, if anyone has a clue, it will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Willy