Re: Drive D is suddenly "not formatted"

Tech-Archive recommends: Fix windows errors by optimizing your registry

I double-clicked on several red icons. Each one showed that Drive D has a
bad block. When I clicked on the location for more information, I found
this explanation: "The device has a bad block of memory, which Windows
attempted to read. The data might be missing or corrupted." Under User
Action, it says: "If this event is logged regularly, replace the hard disk
drive." I hope that won't be necessary, but I'll reformat first. I know I
will eventually need a new computer and was looking at some this week. A
tech at Staples said it might be a mistake to get Vista at this time because
I have a number of peripherals that I could not afford to replace (two
printers, slide scanner, router, cable modem, etc.), and he said Vista is
not compatible with some devices. I haven't looked any farther than that as
yet because I would rather not spend the money for a new computer if I can
put if off for awhile.

MaryL

"R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OVb1%23rySIHA.2268@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
You Double-Click each Red icon and the details box for the event will
be shown. Included will be an Event ID# and a brief description of the
error. It's likely you'll see mention of IDE/ATAPI or disk drive was not
able to write data.

"MaryL" <stancole1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OpyrlpySIHA.3864@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you very much. Now, I hope you can decipher what I found. There
were a whole series of errors with red icons, most from today. The
messages appear in "clusters" within a short time span. Each showed:
Error/Today's Date/Time/Disk/None (under Category)/7 (under Event)/N/A
(under User/ and the computer ID number. One "cluster" or grouping will
be followed by a series of Information listings -- also for today -- but
no errors with them. Then will come another group of errors, then another
group of Information, etc. There is a very long list of these messages.
When I scrolled to the bottom, I could see that the error messages
actually started two days ago (12/28/2007). What type of information can
I extract from this?

Incidentally, my earlier reference to Maxtor was actually to my internal
Drive D (the one with the problem) and not to the I/O Magic extrnal
drive.

MaryL


"R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OU0a5LySIHA.5208@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
First off, you describe your issue very well. It's very hard to know
why
a drive suddenly reports itself as unformatted. Doubtful it was some
kind
of lettering collision. You might want to take a look at the System
event
log and see if any IDE controller or drive errors have happened
recently.
If I had to speculate, I'd say the Partition table has been corrupted.
There
are recovery tools but your plan to just reformat is probably best. If
you
can afford the time, I'd do a full format, not quick just to verify the
integrity
of the drive itself.
Event Log:
Click Start, Run (type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]
Expand System and scan Right Pane for red icons that denote errors.

"MaryL" <stancole1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eY7cRDySIHA.3916@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am using a Compaq T8000 (purchased in Nov. 2002), running XP-Home
Edition. Drive C has a capacity120GB with file system NTFS. Drive D (an
internal "slave" drive) should have a capacity of 80GB. I also have
several external USB hard drives that I use for backups and storage.
Everything worked well until today. I was using an I/O Magic portable
hard disk (Maxtor 7200RPM -- 40GB), and I did not notice any problems.
However, after I unplugged the I/O Magic disk, I suddenly could not
access my internal Drive D. It says that Drive D is not formatted. I
checked the I/O Magic disk, and I can't see any problems there -- all my
data is still intact. I rebooted, but still have the same problem --
Drive D is not formatted (and yet I was able to use it yesterday). I
did a search for this problem and found numerous references to the
external disk suddenly not being formatted, but that is not my problem.
The only relationship in my case is that an external disk was plugged
into the USB port immediately before I saw this problem. None of the
sites I read had a solution except to take the computer to a tech shop
to try to retrieve data.

One other point I should mention is that I did have another I/O Magic
disk that suddenly "went bad" some time ago. By that, I mean that it
could not even be formatted. That time, too, I did not know what
caused the problem -- but the problem was related only to that disk and
not to my internal hard drives.

Now, the good news is that I could go ahead and format Drive D myself
because I will not lose any data. I have multiple backups of
*everything* and even alternate disks from home to the office every few
weeks to make sure that I will have a copy even if everything at home
were destroyed or stolen. However, can anyone explain what might have
happened to cause this problem so I can avoid it in the future? And,
most important, I would hope to avoid a similar problem with Drive C.

Thanks,
MaryL









.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: conflict of software Nero Recordnow Drivers - or ??
    ... disk package anywhere. ... If Not when Would I format a disk? ... For most normal disc burning projects, music CDs, playable DVDs, Photo CDs, ... I know I did have DLA, On both drives and I was using when asked if I ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: OT - Dabs USB hard drive - advice please
    ... > USB "hard drives" are flash memory devices ... They use ordinary 3.5 inch or 2.5 inch hard disk drives ... > Microsoftian file format of VFAT. ...
    (uk.legal)
  • Re: Drive D is suddenly "not formatted"
    ... Disk Management format and check the clusters. ... and not to my internal hard drives. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Adding memory
    ... Formatting needs a partition to format first. ... Disk manager will do ... Now you must partition and format your new drive. ... where secondary drives are involved ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: 2nd hard drive install
    ... operating system by accessing the Disk Management utility - Start> ... Now you must partition and format your new drive. ... where secondary drives are involved ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)