Hard drive problem

[topct]

Here's one for the tech's out there. I have a 1 gig hard drive that I'm trying to install DOS on. The first time I turned it on I got a message that said win95 was missing a bunch of files. Not a problem, I don't want 95 on it, so I thought I'd format it and just install DOS. Not so. It goes up to about 38% and starts trying to restore allocation units. This went on forever (even let it run overnight) and appeared to get nowhere. DOS also gives me a message that the drive has been compressed and to exit and fix the problem? Is there a way to fix this.

[Jared]

SOunds to me a lot like my friends hard drive.  She was having trouble with it so I was called to fix it...

eventually we ended up doing a format, but the thing came up and found many errors and corrupt file allocation units and such... after contacting the manufacturer we found that it was defective...

Maybe it's time to move on to bigger better drives?

[topct]

Jared, thanks for the reply. After asking everyone I know around here, we have all drawn the same conclusion. Bad drive. I picked it up at a yard sale for a $1 so I didn't ask any questions. Thanks again

[Delta_]

You can get respectable size hdd for around $30 now

[GeForce]

OK, here's another option. Get a Win98 startup disk and use FDISK to delete partitions, re-create them BEFORE formatting them. Then insert the OS CD at startup and re-install. If you have already bought another drive, then ignore this reply, but anyone who tries to format their HD in future, believe me, this is the absolute best way to do it.

Jonathan

[topct]

GeForce, tried both the DOS and Windows disks, in both cases the format proccess got to 38% and then sort of stalled or tried to restore alocation units. Since I only paid a dollar for it, it is now in a bag of stuff that I take out in the country and shoot holes into. Your advice is correct however. Thanks

[GeForce]

Righto, glad you got something sorted