Slow format

[Kodiak]

I have a older PC in the shop that needed a new drive installed in it so I placed a new 160gig segate drive in it and it is like taking forever to format. Any reason this might take so long. If it keeps going like this it will take 6 hrs. It has a 500mhz Slot 1 in it.

[3fingersalute]

I have a older PC in the shop that needed a new drive installed in it so I placed a new 160gig segate drive in it and it is like taking forever to format. Any reason this might take so long. If it keeps going like this it will take 6 hrs. It has a 500mhz Slot 1 in it.

If it is a full format, 160GB will take quite a long time to format. If you want to format it quicker, hook it up in another machine as a 2nd drive, and format through windows.

[WildTech]

Hi

3Fingers is right. A 160gig drive will take awhile. I've also had this happen if there is a mechanical or electrical issue with the hard drive or if the system bios is not capable of handling the drive.

Good luck

[Kodiak]

It is a older board but it is in a new case so the power supply is OK. As far as the bios handling the size of the disc may be an issue. It is up to 70% now. Been about 2hrs. I will let it finish and see how it goes. It does only have 64mb memory in it but I wouldn't think that would create a format problem. I will be putting another 128 in when it gets done installing the OS. Might just be me being impatient to.

[audigger53]

Check that the drive is connected with an 80 wire cable and that the bios sees it as Ultra DMA 2,3,4. You may have to set the drive for cable select, instead of master for the Ultra DMA to show up with the 80 wire cable.

[Kodiak]

Well it finally finished after sbout 3 1/2 hrs and installed Win 200 and once I put the other 128mb memory in it the system ran like a charm and the customer is very pleased and all is well. Thanks for the replies guys. Just me being impatient I guess.