Format hard drive

Hello! I just installed an older Hard drive in my Pentium 1 ,586. I fdisked the drive and rebooted, however I can't format the drive. at the a: prompt I type "format c: /s" and all I get is the following. "Invalid drive specification' what am I doing wrong?

 

At the a:\ prompt, type dir /w . Is format.exe there? If not it may be in a directory such as Command.com. type command and then format c: /s .

It's according to which boot disk you are using.

 

cah1935

. "Invalid drive specification' is saying the drive does not exist.

BTW. When you do get to format leave the /S off of the command. Let the OS itself handle that.

If you use the /S and then boot from the HD to install an OS there is a possiblity of getting DOS boot files crossed up.

If you use the /S and then boot from a floppy then the OS will overwrite the boot files anyway.

BillyBob

 

OOPS !!!

I forgot to ask. What version of DOS are you using to try Format.

If you are using anything previous to DOS from Win95b and you have the HD partitioned larger then 2gig. DOS will not see it.

BillyBob

 

I checked my boot disk for the format command and it showed format.com, not format.exe.Where can I find the format .exe command? It also showed a parse error,whatever that is TY....

 

Format.com is just fine. That is at least what the 98 Startup Disk has on it.

No idea what the parse error is.

 

I'm using an old hard drive, which had ms-dos 6.22 on it. My boot disk is from a windows 98 computer and I assume it has ms-dos 7.1. My hard drive is 360mbs. I'm not sure what version of Dos windows 98 uses. I'm just a retired pipe fitter trying to learn about computers. There's alot to learn and in to short of time. ty

 

formating hhd.

I tried to format again and I still get invalid drive specification. I even made another boot disk,but got the same results.ty

 

Never mind.

I just saw your other reply. That says you are using a Win98 SUD.

But for some reason you are being told that the drive does not exist.

Just to confirm my idea I just booted to my 98 SUD, typed I: and got the same message because on my machine I: does not exist.

This may be just a wild idea but did the HD in question ever have any compression one it ?

My hard drive is 360mbs

HD age * MAY * have something to do with this.

BillyBob

 

format hdd

First what is 98 SUD? Yes this is the only harddrive in the computer. The original one crashed. I can't afford a new one and beside a new hard drive would cost more than what the computer is worth. I want to fix this one up for the grand kids. They like to play store and bank and etc. btw this computer is a pentium 1,586. I got to go to the grandkids house now to baby sit. I'll be back on line at 9 p.m. dst.

 

First what is 98 SUD?

The same as this; My boot disk is from a windows 98 computer

Made from 98 during install or by going to Control Panel/Add/remove software and selecting Startup Disk.

 

My hard drive was use for a 486 computer with windows 3.1 before I switched,and I'm sure it had some sort of compression file. I thought that FDISK would have cleared this out.

 

I'm sure it had some sort of compression file. I thought that FDISK would have cleared this out.

That may be the answer to the problem.

Any disk compression usually must be removed by the same software that installed it.

FDISK will not remove it.

Although I believe there are programs available that will remove it. But I have no idea as to what they are.

 

Try this:

If fdisk was able to see the drive, and the drive is listed in your BIOS - then there may be some stray/leftover remains of that diskcompression.

Try an fdisk /mbr - then reboot and see if it will accept it. - If, while booting to the win98 boot floppy, MSCDEX assigns c: to the CDrom - then the HDD is not being seen.

Lastly - if you want to nuke the drive, as in write zeros to it, you can use this program - GWSCAN. It will also test the drive and be sure its still functional. (this will remove EVERYTHING!)

After writing zeros you will need to fdisk again. (large disk = no, opt 1, opt 1, y, escape, then reboot)

 

How about just typing in format c:............NO slash.
I know here.....that if I add the slash.......It's a no go. Using Win 98se.

Dale

 

can't format harddrive

Hi all: I used gwscan and checked my hard drive. the harddrive tested ok. I set everything to 0, zeroes. I fdisked again. I rebooted and tried to format and I still get the following message. "invalid drive specification" Help.

 

Twilight Zone!

This is bizarre.

Gwscan was able to write zeros... FDisk allowed him to partition, and yet he still is getting an invalid drive specification.
I am assuming that you rebooted after the fdisk, and that is when you got the error "invalid drive specification ".

In BIOS is the drive listed as primary master - I almost wonder if it is trying to boot from that harddrive or some other piece of IDE hardware. - Also there is a question of jumper settings.

I have a complete archive of older mbds & HDD's - if you can provide the MFG. (ie: Conner, Seagate, Quantum etc.) model numbers and such I can look it up and forward the info.

 

The hard drive is Maxtor LXT340A,it is recognized in my BIOS as Primary hard drive master. It has 5 set of jumper pins and they are all open. I FDISKED and rebooted,then I tried to format drive and I got " invalid drive specifications"

 

Something is reall skrewey here.

Just for a little test.

Before you boot put a CD in the CDROM drive.

After booting to the floppy and at tha A:. prompt just type C: [enter] and then type DIR [enter]

What are the results.

If the HD is not being seen you should get the contents of the RAMDRIVE.

Then type D: [enter] DIR [enter} If the HD is not being seen then D: should be the CD contents.

If you are actually using a properly setup 98 startup disk.

BillyBob

 

Darn. MY morning coffee has not kicked in yet. I left this out.

If all is working correctly with the SUD then C: should be the HD. D: should be the RamDrive and E: should be the CRDOM.

BTW. That HD * MAY * need a jumper. I believe Maxtor does.

BillyBob