Formatting a HD that was in a RAID before

E

eyedol

Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2002
Messages
872
I had 2 120GB WD1200 SE drives in an array and now im trying to format one of them and it shows up as roughly a 220 gig hard drive when its only a single 120GB drive. Is there a way to totally clean this hard drive and restore it like it came from the factory?

Hopefully what I said is understandable...im tired :eek:

Thanks,
 
Make sure you've taken it off the RAID controller and delete the RAID array.

After that, you should be able to format normally. Make sure you use the Full Format, not the Quick one.


If you want to completely obliterate everything on the drive and restore it to factory conditions, you might look into a low level or 0 level format.
 
Fake Low Level Format
Real Low Level Format

the manufacturer probably offers a diagnostic utility that will do a fake low level format (zero fill), real low level formatting is only done at the factory these days (see servo bursts )

if not try
Autoclave or DBAN

the array writes information near the boot sector describing the stripe, and that is what is being read improperly ;)

PS > Autoclave just happens to be included on the Ultimate Boot CD (Freeware) ISO :D

if neither of those work out, create an array with the RAID BIOS
(overwritting the previous instructions, and then delete the array)
as Stanley Pain & EnderW pointed out ;)
 
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