[RESOLVED] How To Format A Hard Drive
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Thread: [RESOLVED] How To Format A Hard Drive

  1. #1
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    Resolved [RESOLVED] How To Format A Hard Drive

    I have a hard drive that I had with linux 18.04 on it. I wanted to format it so I could put Windows 7 on it. I put the hard drive in a computer that has linux 19.10 on it. I used the linux computer to format the hard drive selecting the NTFS option. After doing this it said the hard drive had no files on it. I have the Windows 7 64 bit C.D. So I put the hard drive in a computer that has Windows 10 on it. When booting up I get this message. "error: unknown file system. Entering rescue mode... grub rescue>" When I first booted up it said "press F1 for automatic saving" and it listed both drives. I don't know if not having a DVD player hooked up, since I had to use the plugs for the second hard drive, makes any difference. If you need more info let me know.

    Thanks

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  3. #3
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    So does that mean I should disconnect the hard drive with Windows 10. Connect the hard drive I wish to put Windows 7 on and connect my DVD player back up then put the Windows 7 C.D. in?

  4. #4
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    What do you want to end up with? Dual booting Win7 and Win10?

    I would disconnect the Win10 drive, so that you don't accidentally format the wrong drive.

    You can format the drive during the Win7 install, so there's no need to pre-format it.

  5. #5
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    I just want to be able to put Win 7 on the drive I hope I formatted. I was assuming since I wanted to format a hard drive with a computer that I had to have the hard drive with an operating system on it and the hard drive I wanted to format. Then I could put that hard drive which was formatted into another computer and install Win 7 from the install C D if that makes any sense.

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    The install disc can format the drive. You normally want to only have the hard drive that you want to format and install Windows on connected when you do this, to prevent unintended wiping of other drives or placing the boot record on the wrong drive, or getting the wrong drive letters assigned to drives. All other hard drives should be disconnected.

  7. #7
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    Thank you. I was probably over complicating things. I will put just the formatted hard drive in the computer I want to use with Win 7 and see if that works. I will let you know!

  8. #8
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    I have just the hard drive and a DVD player installed. I get the same message. When I go into the BIOS should it not only list the hard drive but the DVD player? It only lists the hard drive. The DVD player initially lighted up but nothing happens with the Win 7 CD. I put a different DVD player in with the same results. The BIOS doesn't recognize it

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    You didn't say what motherboard you have. Make sure the SATA port is enabled in the BIOS.

  10. #10
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    Also, make sure the BIOS is set to boot from CD/DVD.

  11. #11
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    The motherboard is a Gigabyte ultra durable 3 GA-EX58-UD3R

    I don't know where to make sure the SATA port is turned on. I went into the BIOS and in the "standard CMOS features" it lists "IDE Channel 0 Master" the hard drive and none for the rest of the IDE channels. If I go to the "Integrated Peripherals" I get "ICH SATA Control Mode" set to "IDE"and "SATA Port0-3 Native Mode" set to "disabled". Are either of these the "SATA" port on?

    I also took the hard drive I want to put Win 7 on and put it in another computer that had a Windows program on it. I only had the hard drive installed that I wanted Win 7 on. Not another hard drive in this computer. I loaded the Win 7 CD and it laded Win 7. I took the hard drive out and put it in the computer I want to useand it would not load. It gives me a choice of repair or start normally. I tried repair and that didn't work. I tried start normally and got the same message.

  12. #12
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    You didn't say which MB revision. I downloaded the r1.7 manual. You should verify which rev you have.
    https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard...UD3R-rev-17#ov
    I went into the BIOS and in the "standard CMOS features" it lists "IDE Channel 0 Master" the hard drive and none for the rest of the IDE channels.
    If they are set to "None", the SATA ports will be skipped. You'd need to change them to "Auto". Look at pg48 of the manual.

    You should load Windows on the system you are doing to use it in. The HAL will probably be different on a different motherboard, so you'd get a BSOD. Installing Windows again probably affected the boot record in the other hard drive. You can try doing a startup repair.
    https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...up-repair.html

  13. #13
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    Rev1.6

    I went to "standard CMOS Features". Then "IDE channel 0 master list". Hard drive set to auto. IDE Channel 0 slave lists DVD set to auto. The rest are set to none. SATA port 0-3 native mode enabled.

    I put the Win 7 disk in and it loaded!!! Thank you very much!

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