Format Sata Drive Windows 7
- 2.5 Sata Drive
- Format Sata Drive Windows 7 Free
- Format Sata Drive Windows 7 File
- Format Sata Drive Windows 10
However, windows wants to format the drive, says there is no. Hardware & Devices: Windows 7 installation fails/sata 2 drive Need some help from anyone. I'm trying to install Windows 7 on a WD 500gb freshly formatted to NTFS. Windows 7 first copies the files and then says its starting up and then hangs up. If it is a SATA drive and Windows 7 does not have a driver for the motherboard integrated SATA controller, Windows 7 will not see the drive. As I said, Windows 7 will not see a SATA drive attached to an Intel ICH5 controller if the BIOS has it set for SATA. Windows 7 will, however, see the drive if the controller is set in BIOS in IDE mode. How to Format an external SATA HDD is a 720p hi-def video showing you how to format a SATA hard disk drive, plus give the drive a useful letter and name.
Support for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) ended on July 12, 2011. To continue receiving security updates for Windows Vista, make sure that you're running Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2). For more information, refer to this Microsoft webpage: Support is ending for some versions of Windows.
Symptoms
Consider the following scenario:
You have a computer that's running one of the following operating systems:
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008
Windows 8
Windows 7
Windows Vista
You add two Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) or RAID hard disks to the computer.
The SATA or RAID hard disks are attached to channels 0 and 1.
In this scenario, Disk 0 may not be assigned to the hard disk on channel 0, and Disk 1 may not be assigned to the hard disk on channel 1. You expect the disk assignment numbers to match the corresponding SATA or RAID channel numbers.
Note You may experience this problem if you configure the operating system during installation or if you perform a recovery process that was provided by the computer manufacturer. This problem may also occur during regular computer startup. Therefore, hard disks may have different disk numbers across multiple system startups. Also, drives may enumerate in different orders if the operating mode of the hard disk controller is changed in the BIOS (for example, RAID mode versus non-RAID mode).
Cause
The disk-assignment numbers may not necessarily match the corresponding SATA or RAID channel numbers.
The BIOS may or may not enumerate disks in a specific order. There is no direct relationship between the BIOS order, and the order in which Windows numbers the disks. During startup, Windows switches from using the BIOS INT13 support to native Windows drivers to access disks. Windows waits for several seconds for the system disk to enumerate through Plug and Play. When there is a match within the time-out period, normal startup will proceed. Otherwise, the system will trigger a bug check with Stop error code of 0x7B. Windows uses other mechanisms to differentiate disks, as Windows has no control over the disk-numbering process before startup. Windows has no information about any changes to hardware when the computer is turned off. Therefore, Windows initiates its own query for device enumeration.
The disk numbers that are assigned by Windows after it switches to native Windows storage controller drivers during startup are dependent solely on the order in which the disks are enumerated and processed by Plug and Play. Windows will enumerate available fixed disks, followed by removable disks, assuming that the correct native Windows drivers are already present and installed on the system. Various uncontrollable timing factors may affect the enumeration order. For example, most IDE controllers are designed to specifically enumerate the Master channel, wait two seconds, and then enumerate the Slave channel. This has the effect of providing an apparently consistent enumeration order, but it is actually a side effect of the hardware implementation. SATA controllers have a different behavior and do not experience this same side effect.
Devices are presented in the order in which they are enumerated. Therefore, the disk assignment numbers may change between startups. For example, assume that you run Windows or Windows Server Setup on a computer that has two unformatted SATA or RAID hard disks. In this situation, Windows may present the second hard disk as Disk 0 when you are prompted for the disk on which to install the operating system. The enumeration order may change over time between system boots, depending on timing factors such as aging hard disks taking slightly longer to spin up.
Resolution
When you set up any of the operating systems that are listed in the 'Symptoms' section on a computer that has multiple SATA or RAID hard disks, check the disk information to verify the drive on which you will set up the system. For example, on the screen that lets you select the drive for the setup destination, verify the volume name and the available space.
To see the assigned disk numbers, use any of the following methods:
Run the Disk Management console. To do this, click Start, type diskmgmt.msc in the Start Search box, and then click diskmgmt.msc in the Programs list.
Use the Diskpart.exe command-line utility to run the list disk command.
During Windows or Windows Server Setup, the assigned disk numbers are listed when you are prompted to select a drive and a partition for the installation.
Note Under certain circumstances, it may be difficult to notice that the disk numbering does not match the corresponding SATA or RAID channel numbers. For example, if both the SATA or RAID hard disk sizes are identical, it may be difficult to determine the identity of the disks by using these methods.
More Information
When you set up one of the operating systems that are listed in the 'Symptoms' section on a computer that has multiple hard disks, you expect the disk assignment numbers to match the corresponding SATA or RAID channel numbers. If you experience mismatched channel assignments, you may set up the operating system on the wrong drive, or you may try to format the incorrect drive partition. Therefore, you may lose important data.
Additionally, when you install Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8, or Windows 7, the installation creates a system partition alongside the Windows partition by default. The system partition is created to accommodate a BitLocker requirement. BitLocker requires that the boot files and Windows files are located on separate partitions. If the preselected default hard disk is not changed, the system partition is created on the disk that is detected as Disk 0.
Microsoft has confirmed that this problem occurs because of design limitations in the Microsoft products that are listed in the 'Applies to' section. This problem occurs because drives are enumerated in the order in which they are presented to the operating system through Plug and Play. Any apparent consistency in disk numbering is coincidental and/or a side effect of the equipment and drivers used.
References
For more information about a related issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
937252 Volume numbers in the 'Volume ###' column may change every time that you run the 'List Volume' command in the Diskpart.exe utility in Windows
For more information about PnP enumeration and hard disk drive letter assignments in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
825668Overview of PNP enumeration and hard disk drive letter assignments in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP
Last updated on 10/11/2020
These best free formatters work for all brands and types of usb flash, hard drive, sd memory card. You may use them to force format usb/disk/sd for free.
Format usb flash or memory card on MAC? Be free to visit: Top 3 free formatters for MAC; Flash drive corrupted? Try these usb repair utilities: 8 usb repair tools for Windows
Table of contents
- A). HP USB Format Tool Download - needs admin privilege
- B). IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free - can also repair bad blocks for disk/usb before formatting
- C). Rufus - format disk/usb/sd that won't format
Hard Disk Formatting Software to Format Hard Disk?
'Windows was not able to complete the format when I received drive not formatted error message and performed a formatting there. Really want to format hard disk smoothly and also restore its common use. Thanks!'
'I am searching for best free drive formatting software to wipe everything stored inside before selling this drive online. Do you have any suggestion? Hope the suggested formatting software would help delete data permanently and any erased file will never be restored again. Thanks'
Hello, friends, you are also looking for the related hard drive reformatting utility to fix hard drive problems or remove hard drive viruses, bad sectors and sensitive data, etc? OK! No worry! Here are several tested best hard drive formatting programs for you.
Note: Before any formatting, we would recommend you backup data from your media. If the device is no longer accessible, you may try this tool: how to recover data from not formatted drive/card
Free Disk Drive/Memory Card Data Recovery Tool (386)
Free Download Tool to Recover Data from Damaged Media, inaccessible drive, not formatted disk/usb/memory card.
Tested 5 Best Free Hard Drive/USB/SD Formatting Tool
Here are several common and useful free hard disk formatting utilities for you:
1). HP USB Disk Storage Format tool
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool is really a free disk formatting tool which allows people to easily and quickly format a USB flash drive to FAT32, exFAT or NTFS file system. And it can work flawlessly even when Windows was unable to complete the format when your usb pen drive turned raw format.
MUST READ: * It needs you to run it under 'Administator'
With this software, if necessary, you can also make a bootable USB drive by choosing its 'Create a DOS startup disk' option.
Pros:
*It is completely free and easy to grasp and use.
*It works well in formatting USB drive into FAT32, FAT or NTFS.
*It is portable and could be installed on a flash drive to be used on different PCs.
*It allows people to 'Create a DOS startup disk' to help boot up a computer from USB flash drive.
*It supports common Windows operating systems.
Cons:
* It works well on USB flash drive and does not recognize internal hard drives and partitions.
* It needs you to run it under 'Administator'
Also read: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Review and Error Fixing
2). IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free
As a disk formatting tool, Partition Resizer Free Edition also allows people to format the selected hard drive or partition into FAT32/ntfs for free. As a partition managing program, this software also help format, create, wipe, delete, resize, hide and manage partitions effectively for you.
Free USB/Disk Formatter (1386)
Download IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free Edition to format disk/usb/memory card totally free of charge.
Format, repair bad blocks totally free of charge.
Must have: it has 'Check Partition' function to check and repair possible errors for your digital devices.
Pros:
*The home edition is free and easy.
*It helps format hard drive or partition into FAT32 as you wish.
*It also help format, wipe, delete, resize, hide and manage computer internal hard drive partitions well.
*A tutorial video will also be automatically popped out and lead you to this software step by step.
*It supports the latest Windows 10/8/7 Vista and XP.
Cons:
*This home edition is free for personal use.
Note: this freeware also provides bootable iso version that you may format disk/usb under WinPE.
Read more details: Partition software bootable iso download
3). Rufus - format device that cannot be formatted
Rufus is an easy to use freeware that is able to format media which cannot be formatted in regular ways.
Rufus download url: https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/releases/download/v3.11/rufus-3.11.exe
Also read: how to format sd card that cannot be formatted, or format usb drive that won't format
4). HDD Low Level Format Tool
HDD Low Level Format Tool is also another completely free disk formatting utility and allows people to easily format internal and external hard disk. With a Low-level format function, it often helps users format a hard drive completely and leave no original drive data there as well as removing some basic hard drive problems.
Pros:
*It is free and user-friendly.
*It support not only external hard drives, and also reads internal hard drives.
*It also offers a low-level format option to help users completely format hard drive and also ease everything inside drive.
*It also supports external memory cards, like SD, MMC, memory stick, CF card and more.
Cons:
*Pay $3.30 to upgrade this free tool to get faster speed and free lifetime updates.
*It recognizes the internal hard drive as one, not separated partitions.
*The speed of this free version is capped at 180GB per hour which is 50MB/s.
5). USB Disk Storage Format Tool
As the second disk formatting tool tested and listed here, USB disk storage format tool is also 100% freeware and allows people to completely format any USB flash drive or memory card with FAT, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file system formats.
Pros:
*It is free, fast and safe to format a flash drive or memory card.
*It supports all USB flash drives and memory card, like pen drive, thumb drive, CF, SD, Micro SD, TF, SDXC, SDHC memory card and more storage devices with different bands.
*It supports USB drive and memory card with FAT, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file system types.
*It helps formatting storage device and also removes all stored videos, music and files completely.
Cons:
*It also does not read any internal hard disk and partition.
*Upgrade software to pro version to get more features, like creating bootable USB disk, formatting USB disk not recognized by Windows, doing a low-level format or adjusting cluster size for USB disk for faster speed, etc.
*It supports FAT, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS file system types only.
6). Tokiwa FAT32 Formatter
Tokiwa FAT32 Formatter is also a free disk formatting program which also helps everyone format hard disk and partition into FAT32 for free. With an easy-to-use interface, this software is also able to help delete or initialize a drive or partition smoothly.
Pro:
*It is free and easy to grasp.
*It allows users to delete or initialize hard drive partitions with simple clicks.
*It also reads all computer internal hard drives as separated partitions.
*It also allows user to format drive or partition into FAT32
Cons:
*It is able to format only unallocated space into FAT32 file system type.
*It only allows people to format hard drive or partition into FAT32.
*It supports Windows XP/Vista /2000 /7 only.
Free usb/disk formatting without software
Here are also some free methods that are available for you to operate hard drive formatting or usb format without any software under Windows.
Tool #6: format by right click the disk drive, pen drive or sd card
Tool #7: Format under PC Disk Management
Tool #8: format with cmd, it works when Windows was unable to complete the format
Step 1: open cmd by typing 'cmd' or 'diskpart' in 'Search Programs and Files' under Windows start
2.5 Sata Drive
Step 2: type the letters inside of the quote 'format F: /fs:fat32' and enter. F must be replaced by the drive you want to format.
If you want to know more solution about why and what to do when Windows was unable to complete the format, you may read this article: Windows failed to format
Or you may see the following video to get a quick fix when it is unable to format your drive/card.
Note: when your flash drive or hard disk is damaged, be free to try these 8 free usb drive repair software for free repairing.
Remove Sensitive Data on Hard Disk/USB Flash by freeware Partition Resizer Free
Some users want to download disk formatting programs with the purpose of removing personal information on their storage media that they do not want to share any byte of the confidential data with another one.
Format Sata Drive Windows 7 Free
In case of removing sensitive data with the usb format tools, we would recommend this freeware - Partition Resizer Free to you since it is built with a function - 'Wipe Partition' that could wipe the whole disk or usb by writing 0 or 1 into the disk, which makes the old data to be completely overwritten and can not be restored by any data recovery programs.
Step 1: Download and install Partition Resizer Free and get the usb/card to your PC if you want to remove an external device.
Step 2: Launch Partition Resizer Free and then right click the media you want to remove its privacy.
Step 3: Choose a wiping method. Time consumption depends on how much data on your media. Usually 120GB data would take about 10 minutes.
Conclusion:
No matter why you have to format a hard drive or memory card, there are always five common ways for you to choose, like formatting it in My Computer, performing a formatting process in Disk Management, formatting a hard drive with common line, doing a formatting process with drive partition managing software or disk formatting software. And No matter which way you choose at last, hope you can extract and save important data backups well in advance to avoid any unexpected data loss troubles.
Format Sata Drive Windows 7 File
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