Formatting external drive/read only

castle96

successfully copied (I thought), Docs and Pics from C to external drive (which was showing as blank/empty - )
but then I get a message saying I must format the drive (was used in another computer before). I try but keep getting the message that it cannot do it, then "make sure the DISC is not read only"
I understand how to make a file/folder read only, but how do you do a whole disc/drive ?
thanks

diable

What was the external drive formatted as?

castle96

"formatted AS" ?
I just click the option - 'format' (NTFS)
thinking I would be better off trying a brand new/previously unused hard drive - assume the problem is I have used it before in another poota. Assume new ones are already formatted ? Cost of new one ?

cooldude255220

try right clicking on the drive, then click propaties, some ware in there you will be able to untick the read only box.

castle96

sometimes (rarely), I can 'see' the new external drive, in 'my computer', as J drive, but most of the time it does not show. When I highlight all of 'my docs', right click, send to... J drive is not shown as an option to send it to. Does this mean that the caddy I have bought is faulty, or the drive itself.
(Wish I had not started on this option of external drive !!)
Should I go to a local shop and buy a new/guaranteed/unused, caddy and hard drive, and start all over. At least the new h/drive will already be formatted

cooldude255220

It might be a better idea to contact the maker of the external drive, see if they can give you a replacement for free.

kippen_noedel

If it refuses to format use this process, but you will LOSE ALL DATA

1. Click START, then click on RUN, and in the open box enter diskmgmt.msc, then click OK
2. On the lower pane look for your device. It should be the device closest in size (IE if a 250GB drive then it will show as a 232.xx GB drive). Make a note of what disk number it is from the left side of that lower pane.

3. Keeping the disk management window open, open up a DOS prompt (IE start/run/CMD or Win key + R then click ok or hit enter) and type DISKPART and hit enter.

4. At the command prompt (it should resemble a blinking underline cursor) type in SELECT DISK X where X represents the drive number from step 3 (BE VERY SURE YOU PICK THE RIGHT ONE!) and hit enter.

5. 5. At the next prompt you will type CLEAN and hit enter. At this point you will want to give it a few seconds to do its thing. You will know it's done when you look in the disk management window and see a red dot with a white line through it. The drive is essentially "uninitialized"

6. You can now close out of the DOS window. Going back to the disk management window right click on the drive you just finished erasing (the square with the red dot with white line) and select initialize. Give it a few seconds and the red dot goes away and you have an initialized disk.

7. From there right click on the bar graph (it resembles a bar graph with a thick black line at the top of it) and select new partition (new simple volume if running Vista). Then follow through the wizard (making sure you select primary partition, select the drive letter, and we do recommend at the 2nd to last window put a check where it says perform a quick format) then select finish at the end. Otherwise, if you allow a full format it may take a while depending on the size of the drive. If successful you will then have a properly formatted drive.

castle96

wow - I just dare not do all of that !

Hi,
still messing with this bloody thing !
I plug the caddy/harddrive in, the system is "recognised/ready to use", but when I click on 'my computer', the extra drive is not there/showing. So where is it ??
I have 'seen' it previously on my poota page, it was shown as drive J. But it's not there now

kippen_noedel

castle96 wrote: »

wow - I just dare not do all of that !

Trust me, it's much easier than it looks, just copy it to notepad and keep it open as you follow the instructions.