OK....i did a low level format on my hard drive using the correct Seagate utility. So i boot up with a DOS bootdisk and go into Fdisk.
Under partition information it says 1 current fixed disk drive with no partitions defined. Now if i go in and create a primary DOS partition and set it active, then go into the partition information screen, it says that it is created and set active. SO far so good.
Now when i quit from Fdisk, it tells me to insert a DOS system disk into drive a:........is this the same thing as a bootdisk??? When i put my bootdisk in it reboots into DOS no problem, but then there is no c: drive. If i type c: at the prompt it says invalid drive specification. When i go into Fdisk it says there are no partitions defined.
Do i need to use a different utility from Fdisk?? Or have i totally fu**ed something up??

Thanks in advance.

Run FDISK and create the partition. Then set it as active and reboot.

Boot into DOS with your boot disk and FORMAT c:

format c: /s

That will format c: then you will be able to use it.


Roger

meek_imp you did every thing right except you changed dir just format c:
as roger moore says

The format process can take a long time so if it is taking a while don't worry.

Just incase you didn't know the switch /s (not supported in ME and above) will copy system files to your hard drive.

You could just do format c: if you wanted to.


Roger

Okay i did exactly as told.....exited FDisk...the first thing i type at the DOS promt A:\> ......is the following.......

format c: /s

All it says is invalid drive specification.

It appears that when i exit Fdisk and boot back into DOS it is not retaining the settings created in Fdisk.

If thats the case it sounds like FDISK can't write to the HD.

Do you have boot sector virus protection enabled in the BIOS?


Roger

You need to restart your machine after creating partition.

Moore, Trends Chip Away protection will always prompt you for the action before blocking MBR activities.

I am restarting my machine. The message i get upon exiting Fdisk is as follows:

System will now restart
Insert DOS system diskette into drive A:
Press any key when ready........

So i do as i'm told, system restarts, starts MS-DOS 6.22, and sits at the A:\> prompt. Whenever i type anything to do with c:, be it format c: /s or dir c: or just c:....it says invalid drive specification.

If i run the Seagate format utility again, upon loading up it says: No physical drive 1 found!!

I have run a destructive pattern test on the drive using 9 pattern types, and it reports no errors.

Any help would be much appreciated, although i'm thinking i'll probably try and find an old Seagate drive lying around and stick that in instead.

Thanks.

I think I see your problem
you are using a dos setup disk, this my not recognise your hard drive because it may be to big
you need a boot disk ( poss win 98 boot disk )
and then follow the same advise as given above
let me know ho you get on

OK hiboy i'll give it a try, but the hard drive is only 811.3 Meg according to the label on the drive, although when i go into FDisk it says the max available for partitioning is 773 Meg. It's a really old Seagate ST9810AG model. 1572 cylinders, 16 heads and 63 sectors.

Thanks

if it works out you can then install dos if you need it
what operating system will you be using?

The machines will be running primarily DOS and Win 3.11 (don't laugh).
All i need is DOS and a C: drive. We have a batch file that extracts and installs all the necessary files from a Zip drive and floppy onto the C: drive, so when you boot you are given an option of Dos or 3.11 or Fortran i believe (yikes). they are machines for use offshore, not for home use.

well good luck and let us know how you get on

OK.......i redid a format after using destructive pattern testing, and went into FDisk and created a primary DOS partition. However this time , the maximum partition size has been reduced from 773 Meg to 504 Meg ???

Anyway, i created a partition of size 500 Meg, set it as active and restarted my system. At the A:\> prompt i typed c: and it recognised the c: drive !!!

However, when i tried to format (format c: /s)....it now says "Invalid media type reading drive C - Abort, Retry, Fail?"

Any command relating to the C: drive , be it dir, scandisk, label etc....all give this message.

Any ideas???

Thanks

did you try to do just a format and not just format c: /s
if not just type format c:
sorry for the late reply been at work

Meek, have you redetected your HDD is BIOS ? Possibly LBA mode is disabled in CMOS that is why it's showing 504 MB HDD in FDISK.

Give "FORMAT C: /S" command from A: only and not from C: