It is going on 4 hours since I started formatting a second hard drive I am installing on my system. I would like to shut down the computer and add a USB port but I don't want to have to start the formatting process all over again. I am using Windows XP SP2 on a Compaq Deskpro EN 733 P3 SFF with a processor speed of 733Megahertz and 256MB of RAM. If anyone knows approximately how long it will take to format a 160GB hard drive (NTFS) with this computer please be obliged to provide that information as well. Thanks
2007-07-14 10:39:02 · 3 answers · asked by DAISY 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Add-ons
It is going on 4 hours since I started formatting a second hard drive I am installing on my system. I would like to shut down the computer and add a USB port but I don't want to have to start the formatting process all over again. I am using Windows XP SP2 on a Compaq Deskpro EN 733 P3 SFF with a processor speed of 733Megahertz and 256MB of RAM. If anyone knows approximately how long it will take to format a 160GB hard drive (NTFS) with this computer please be obliged to provide that information as well. Thanks
I did not choose the quick format option because I wanted the volume to be scanned for bad sectors. That doesn't occur with the quick format option.
2007-07-14 16:44:32 · update #1
I have canceled the format and will do a quick format. I have already ran tests on the drive and it is a healthy system as far as I know (Seagate tools). Does anyone have an approximation of how long a quick format takes?
2007-07-14 16:52:13 · update #2
not only can you not start from where you left off, you may render the drive unusable - never switch off PC while its busy
why did you not choose "quick format?"
2007-07-14 10:50:54 · answer #1 · answered by andy t 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't do formatting piecemeal. Try doing it with all startups disabled (through msconfig). If after an hour it is not yet done, something is wrong w/ the drive. You can try to use the SMART function under storage in Everest.
OR perhaps your motherboard BIOS only supports up to 32Gb hard drives. BIOS detected it as 32Mb that is why XP can not format it right. If you have a USB port, that drive will work as external drive.
2007-07-14 11:59:21 · answer #2 · answered by Karz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
andy is absolutely correct, you stand a chance of ruining your new harddrive if you just shutdown while it's formatting.
yeah, why didn't you quick format it?
good luck!
2007-07-14 10:57:35 · answer #3 · answered by jsmith 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋