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[Barney1963]

I have removed a Western Digital Red WD20EFRX (2TB) from my DNS-320.
I want to re-use it in an external USB enclosure, I can't see it in Windows XP My Computer. When I "Manage" My Computer and go int storage it shows it up there as Disk 1 approx 1.8TB but it says it is protected or something and won't allow me to format it (greyed out).
I have downloaded "External USB/FireWire Fat32 Formatting Utility" from the WD website, but when I run that it identifies the disk correctly but when I proceed to format it gives an error message indicating the disk is too small.
How do I go about reformatting this drive, I presume it is because of the format used by the DNS-320.

Barney

[cable2]

Hi,
I don't have XP anymore, but if possible, can you delete any and all volumes and partitions, not reformat.  If not, see if you can find a friend with W7 or W8 and do the delete all volumes and partitions on that.  I have done this several times and never had a problem with W7.  If you get that far, just create a Simple Volume and reformat in whatever you want Fat32 or NTFS.  Do you need Fat 32? Anyway, good luck.

[JavaLawyer]

Sounds like you are trying to format the disk from an external enclosure. Can you try attaching the HDD to an internal SATA port?

[Barney1963]

Hi,
I don't have XP anymore, but if possible, can you delete any and all volumes and partitions, not reformat.  If not, see if you can find a friend with W7 or W8 and do the delete all volumes and partitions on that.  I have done this several times and never had a problem with W7.  If you get that far, just create a Simple Volume and reformat in whatever you want Fat32 or NTFS.  Do you need Fat 32? Anyway, good luck.

FAT32 or NTFS either will do.
I only have laptops now, a Win XP one and a MacBook Pro. I do run W7 in a virtual machine on the MBP so I can try that.

Sounds like you are trying to format the disk from an external enclosure. Can you try attaching the HDD to an internal SATA port?

Unfortunately I only have laptops now.

Barney

[JavaLawyer]

This may not be the best approach, but how about starting the HDD format procedure in the DNS-320 and aborting formatting mid-stream (if that's a DNS-320 web UI option). That should render the DNS-320 Linux formatting incomplete.

[ivan]

Barney, first get the WD disk management tools and check that there are no physical problems with the disk.

If the disk checks out as physically OK then check how you have connected it to your laptop - I am assuming you are using a SATA/USB enclosure, if you are then it need to be be one with a separate power supply as there is no way a laptop USB port can power up that disk.

In the case of a USB powered enclosure you will get the little information the disk firmware provides but you will be unable to do anything with the disk usually because it will not spin up - this is what it sounds like from your first post.  There is nothing in the formatting procedure that the DNS-320 uses that will stop you reformatting the drive, in fact this is a standard procedure to use if there is a problem with the DNS-320 formatting and the drive needs to be reset.

[Barney1963]

It is a mains/psu powered enclosure.
I ended up trying it with W7 in a VM on my macbook and that sorted it out.
The XP laptop now sees it OK, although it takes about a minute to show up, presumably because it has USB 1 ports and it is a large drive.
Problem solved though.
Thanks for the input everyone

Barney