Formatting an external Hard drive

[Tedster]

I have two Western Digital WD400 hard drives that I pulled from an older computer in my house. I know both work. I have used them when plugged into my USB adapter on my new computer.

I have recently tried to format both in XP to delete all the old stuff on them and XP cannot seem to format them. It quits.

However, when I do a raw format under the western digital program, it works.
This however does not make it XP ready.

The drives are 40gb, plugged into my USB to IDE adapter. They are WD400 caviars drives, not smart capable.

So now that I have attempted to format them, I can no longer use the drives at all.... They were working fine before but were formatted in my old computer when installed as internal drives.

I don't get it.

 

[Tedster]

ok update....

for some reason it will format under disk management but not under a right click under my computer..... weird.

 

[iss]

When I added a WD 160gb Drive in an external UB 2.0 enclosure as a back up drive it didnt even show up in my computer until I formatted it in disk management.

 

[Tedster]

yeah- that's a weird quirk in XP I guess.... I knew both drives I had worked. I have a USB to IDE adapter. I pulled these two 40gb hard drives to sell on ebay out of my old computer.... I knew both drives worked, but I wanted to erase any personal info on them.