ris
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write protected hard drive!?
I have a hard drive here which I cannot partition with Fdisk. Currently it has no partitions on it at all. I was able to delete the previous partition (FAT 32) but when I try to create a new one, Fdisk gives me this error: "Write protect error writing fixed disk,"
I did successfully remove the old partition, leaving the hard drive empty of partitions now, but I am unable to create a new partition on it. The error mentioned above occurs when I select "create primary DOS partition" It tries to verify the drive integrity and it goes from:
"verifying drive integrity: 0%"
to
"Do you wish to use all available space for this partition? (Y/N) Y
Write protect error writing fixed disk"
both messages appear simultaneously so I deduced that it is unable to verify the drive's integity due to a write-protect error on the drive. If I continue from there, it tries to make the partition anyway, has another write-protect error, but thinks that it was successful in creating the partition and says to reboot before formatting. When I reboot (from a win95 boot disk), DOS is unable to find the hard drive. I run fdisk again and it tells me that there are no partitions, but when I try to create one I still get the write-protect error.
I entered CMOS looking for a way to disable the write protection but there is no option for that in the CMOS on this machine.
This is a 515MB hard drive using LBA mode in a pentium 90
My real goal here is to format the hard drive and install windows 95. I don't care if I lose 3 MB by not using large disk support, I just want to create a partition so I can format the drive. Anybody know how to either unprotect the drive or get around it?
I did successfully remove the old partition, leaving the hard drive empty of partitions now, but I am unable to create a new partition on it. The error mentioned above occurs when I select "create primary DOS partition" It tries to verify the drive integrity and it goes from:
"verifying drive integrity: 0%"
to
"Do you wish to use all available space for this partition? (Y/N) Y
Write protect error writing fixed disk"
both messages appear simultaneously so I deduced that it is unable to verify the drive's integity due to a write-protect error on the drive. If I continue from there, it tries to make the partition anyway, has another write-protect error, but thinks that it was successful in creating the partition and says to reboot before formatting. When I reboot (from a win95 boot disk), DOS is unable to find the hard drive. I run fdisk again and it tells me that there are no partitions, but when I try to create one I still get the write-protect error.
I entered CMOS looking for a way to disable the write protection but there is no option for that in the CMOS on this machine.
This is a 515MB hard drive using LBA mode in a pentium 90
My real goal here is to format the hard drive and install windows 95. I don't care if I lose 3 MB by not using large disk support, I just want to create a partition so I can format the drive. Anybody know how to either unprotect the drive or get around it?
mkdjo
Do you use 16Bit FAT or 32 Bit FAT? Do you have fdisk on you bootdisk? If yes, try this one.
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I was afraid the hard drive was bad, but I was hoping there would be a way of salvaging it. Thank you for explaining the problem so well!
Thanks, unlike a floppy, there is no write protect function on an HDD. If the controller is not receiving an "OK to write" signal from the drive, then this indicates some type of error. It is possible to write protect an HDD by physically cutting this pin in the cable and so this is why you should check your cable for breaks. It is possible that your drive is OK and the cable is bad.
Try the following -
fdisk /mbr
this will erase the master boot record. Fdisk and format do not re-do the master boot record. Many viruses will infect the master boot record, and this how to rmove them.
after doing this run fdisk. You will know it works if you type in fdisk /mbr and it goes back to the dos prompt without saying anything at all.
fdisk /mbr
this will erase the master boot record. Fdisk and format do not re-do the master boot record. Many viruses will infect the master boot record, and this how to rmove them.
after doing this run fdisk. You will know it works if you type in fdisk /mbr and it goes back to the dos prompt without saying anything at all.
Some Bios have a Write protect option in the System Bios Settings Which Can have the Same Effect.