New HD hangs both DiscWizard & Windows Format

[w_hp-pc]

New Seagate ST315005N1A1AS-RK Barracuda SATA 1.5TB (32MB cache, 7200rpm)
[Vista Home Premium SP1, all updates current, 4GB RAM;
this is add-on HD, primary HD is (Samsung) 400GB w/ no probs;
No other problems on this machine, nothing else 'hangs-up' like this.]
Brand-New, 1st-time install, seemingly initialized fine.
Seagate DiscWizard software hung near end of initial attempt at setting partitions & Formatting, even Task Manager wouldn't 'End Process', had to reboot to make it go away.
Being thus wary of DiscWizard, & because  instructions said Windows Disk Management could be used, set up the 1st 3 of 4 volumes/partitions w/ Formatting, all good.
However, @ 27% through Formatting 4th volume Windows Format hangs-up & won't cancel, has to be killed with Task Manager.
Rebooted, next, again in Windows Disk Management, wiped out all volumes/partitions, set as 1 big volume, again Formating hung at same place (~85%?), again wouldn't cancel, had to be ended with Task Manager.
Rebooted, tried DiscWizard again; before getting anywhere near disk utilities, while "Analyzing Partition", got hung so hard again even Task Manager wouldn't 'End Process', had to reboot to make it go away.
Tried again to set multiple partitions w/ WinDM & tried to start DiscWizard... every time hangs up Format & software at same place on HD-disk every time.
Strange as it would seem, apparently something at a certain place in this brand-new drive is hanging both software apps, BOTH Seagate's DiscWizard & Windows Format.
If y'all can't think of anything, suppose I'll have to go back into the computer in the morning, take it back out, drive back to Fry's, return it... if so I'm gonna have to think long & hard about should I replace it with the same Seagate...
thanks,
w_hp-pc
tech_1@sbcglobal.net

[Mister_Do]

hi w_hp-pc,

I've been seeing a lot of threads in here about Seagate hard drive issues. I would contact Seagate or check their web site to see if they list your drive as one of their affected models. They may have a firmware fix. I'm not positive though.

[w_hp-pc]

Yeah Mister_Do, had been at the Seagate forum, then went on an arduous, hours-long journey through HP & Asus & NVIDIA/nForce/GeForce & many more websites, only to find out I already HAD the most updated SATA controller drivers.  Finally decided I'd done more than required, & took 1.5TB Seagate back to Fry's.  They didn't have any other 1.5TB (or 2TB) internal HDs. 
Got Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA 32MB-cache dual-processor. 
It installed with no problem whatsoever. 
Didn't care for the included partitioning/formatting software (it worked, just didn't give good control),
but Windows Disk Manager did fine. 
Tested the new HD & it works just fine. 
Some might say it's not a fair comparison, being 1.5TB vs. 1TB... & they may be right.
All I know is that it installed easily with no hassle at all, no need for other SATA drivers,
& that it partitioned & formatted with zero problems,
& most importantly, it works very well...
So, no Seagate (or Maxtor) for me, thanks anyway...
w_hp-pc
<text removed>

Message Edited by WendyM on 02-28-2009 03:11 PM

[AbbeyFN]

I had the same problem with a 2TB WD Caviar Green hard drive.  I posted this response in another thread but since you ask the same question I am posting it here.  It is very frustruating getting this to work but the fix below will have it working in a few minutes.

The problem is with the NVida SATA drivers.  You need to get the updated drivers directly from NVida.  Once you go to the NVida site click on "Motherboard Drivers" and it will scan your system and give you exactly what you need.

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk

The fix is easy but it took a ton of searching on the internet.  I have posted a form below where I found the solution.

http://www.thenextbench.com/hpg/board/message?board.id=Desktops&thread.id=7453&view=by_date_ascending&page=2

Once you install the drivers, use Vista to initiate the hard drive, then a simple quick format will get you up and running.

[w_hp-pc]

Thanks AbbeyFN for sharing, good to know that fix worked.  Way back in Feb, 7-months-ago, among the many things I attempted to get a 1.5TB Seagate drive to format/run, was that exact same fix at the NVidia site, & I also tried 2-or-3 NVidia SATA drivers in addition to the one their site's utility-tool 'found' to be correct, none to any avail.  After very thorough due-dilligence, the problem--at that time--turned out to have nothing to do with NVidia-drivers, any other MB hardware-drivers, other system-drivers, nor (apparently) with the OS (Vista32HomePremium)... it was definitely a problem with Seagate--a well-known & infamous problem--which they've supposedly fixed since then.  (Your posted link to an issue at thenextbench deals mostly with 2TB drives, regardless of manufacturer.)

If someone is attempting to format a 1.5TB-or-less Seagate drive & even AbbeyFN's excellent-&-logical fix doesn't work, check the date-of-manufacture/model-serial#.  The Seagate forum (at least used to) have a big post on this matter, along with links to figure out if you have one of the bad drives.  That marked-down Seagate may not turn out to be such a good deal after all! :-(

Personally, I'm gonna stick with Western Digital Caviar Black exclusively for internal hard-drives (& I'd warn anyone against buying a Seagate manufactured before at least ~June '09).  I love my WD Caviar Black 1TB drives (got 2 of 'em now); & am gonna wait 'till WD issues a Caviar Black version before obtaining a 2TB internal-drive.  I also have an external SimpleTech/Fabrik DuoPro 2TB drive (USB, eSATA or Firewire) which works fine (though I've not needed to format it).  Also, in my soon-to-be new system, I'm switching from Vista32HP to Vista/Win7-64Pro which I'm hoping--if there are OS issues--will better handle 1.5TB-or-greater drives... &--thanks AbbeyFN!--I'm gonna be very careful to research & install the correct, updated SATA-drivers for my new (Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P X58) motherboard!

w