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Hi guys,

I usually hang out in the AFV News section, but I'm hoping y'all might be able to help me with a little hardware problem.

I'm trying to figure a way to reformat the drive after it crashed, so I can use it again.

I have a Firelite USBFL40 40-gig external drive. Recently it went completely on the fritz, computer locked up when it tried to read it, etc. I think that was because one of my sons set a roll of adhesive magnet tape on my desk and the drive slid on top of the tape.

After an arduous three-day recovery scrub, I think I've recovered everything I'm going to off of the crashed drive. Now, I'd like to find a way to re-format (if that's the right word) the disk so I can use it again. Like I said, Windows is useless with it, and usually locks up when it tries to read the disk.

Any suggestions? (Shareware or freeware is preferred, since the drive isn't expensive enough to warrant much outlay just to get it running again.)

Thanks!
Chuck

That's a tough question. If the drive itself crashed, there's not much hope for it, but I've had some success with this...

I've installed a Linux OS on the drive. Once Linux formats the drive to accommodate it's file system, and I see the drive works, I try putting Windows back on the drive. As I stated above, if the drive is too badly damaged, this probably won't help, but if it's a format issue, it could work for you.

As far as what Linux OS to use. Well, the majority of them are free and one that I like is SimplyMephis. You can find this free OS HERE! It downloads as an ISO file, so you'll have to burn it to a CD or DVD to use it.

Good luck...

Hi,

Shad, thanks. I probably wasn't clear, though. This drive is just used as a storage drive, no OS needed.

I don't think the drive itself crashed mechanically or electronically. I'm pretty sure that the magnet it was sitting on just corrupted the data and FAT to the point that Windows couldn't sort it out.

I'm looking for a way to wipe and reformat the disk/FAT so that Windows can read it and use it again. I have no expectation of recovering any more data from the disk. I'd like to end up with a blank but usable storage drive.

Thanks!
C

Hi Chuck,

If you have recovered all the data that was salvagable, you right click the icon for the drive, go to properties and select format.

It will then reformat the drive........ all data will be really gone then

dependable on the OS you use you can even set the cluster size


Good Luck

fled

Right..but as I read this, that's where it locks up, no?

Did the drive come with any utilities?

- JG300-Stoopy

Right..but as I read this, that's where it locks up, no?

Did the drive come with any utilities?

Hi Stoop, everyone,

Correct on the lockup. Anytime I do anything that accesses the drive, the OS locks up...some sort of terminal loop I guess. I think it may be because the drive data isn't readable, but the OS doesn't know what to do (like it would with a garbled floppy disk). I'm hoping that someone knows of a program that can "kick the door in" on the drive and get enough access to start the reformat.

The only utilities it came with was a really slow backup program, which died with the rest of my unrecovered data.

C

did you run checkdisk ?

Chuck,

if you right click the drive when it's connected there should also be the option to run a checkdisk, this has multiple choice options, make shure you tick both the repair faults and bad sectors.

as far as I know that should work, mostly this goes with a new startup of the system, alltough it can also run the checkdisk without shutting down

hope it helps


fled

Hi all,

Solved!

Uhu, apparently Windows queries the drive when you try to access it in the normal ways, like from the link in "My Computer". It hangs up when it doesn't get an answer it understands, so you never get to the "CheckDisk" option.

However, your suggestion led me to dig around for a different way, and I found it. In the Control Panel, there is an option for Administrative Tools. There I found Computer Management:Storage:Disk Management, which could see the disk. It allowed me to right click on the drive letter and choose format. It even let me choose the allocation unit size! 20 mins and Bob's-your-uncle!

Now Windows sees the drive the normal ways, and it works like it used to. Now, if I keep the children and magnets away from it...

Thanks for the help, all who offered it!

C

glad to hear you got it cleared



fled

:D, glad you got it sorted...:chug: