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    Hi

    I have a problem with one of my harddrives. It's an Hitachi drive, 500GB, IDE connected.

    When I run the add drive wizard from the console, it starts formatting, and then an error message says "Format failed. The harddrive is being used by another program or service. Restart the server and try again."

    I've restarted and tried a dozen times, same thing. I've tried switching the disk's place internally, nothing changes.

    The disk has been used inside a D-Link DSM-G600 network media case, where it was automatically formatted as EXT2. The first time I put in the disk to whs the computer froze every time I tried adding it. So I put the disk in an XP-box and formatted it there to NTFS fine. After that I put it back in the whs box, hoped it would add nicely, but instead the above error message came.

    The drive shows up fine in "My Computer" and I can even browse it. I even tried adding the drive as a backup drive in the whs console, and that worked fine, and it could do a full server backup to the drive, so there doesn't seem to be anything wrong the drive itself.

    Is there something else I need for the add-drive-wizard to find the drive, or be able to format it?

    What  does the error message really mean? What program (or service) could be using my drive?

    All my other drives were older but they added directly without any problem. Is there something specific for Hitachi drives?

    Could it help if I put the drive in an external usb-casing and tried it that way?

    Any help is gladly appreciated,

    Carl


    Friday, October 3, 2008 5:58 PM

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    Hi Carl,
    maybe try the diskpart clean command first from within the running OS.
    This allows to select the disk with
    list disk
    select disk xx

    Diskpart is also in the recovery console.

    For the other commands I found some older information:
    Fixmbr

    Repairs the master boot record of the boot disk. The fixmbr command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console
    fixmbr [device_name]
    Parameter
    device_name
    The device (drive) on which you want to write a new master boot record. The name can be obtained from the output of the map command. An example of a device name is:
    \Device\HardDisk0.
    Example

    The following example writes a new master boot record to the device specified:
    fixmbr \Device\HardDisk0

    Fixboot

    Writes a new partition boot sector to the system partition. The fixboot command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console
    fixboot [drive]
    Parameter
    drive
    The drive to which a boot sector will be written. This replaces the default drive, which is the system partition you are logged on to. An example of a drive is:
    D:
    Example
    The following example writes a new partition boot sector to the system partition in drive D:
    fixboot d:

    For an overview you can also check
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us
    How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    • Proposed as answer by sirphuzz Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:08 PM
    • Marked as answer by Jonas Svensson -FST- Saturday, October 25, 2008 11:52 PM
    Friday, October 3, 2008 10:43 PM
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    Hi Carl,
    what happens, if you delete the partition from the disk (within your XP machine) and add it to the WHS after that?
    Could also be, that some Linux remains on the disk are causing the trouble you have with the disk.

    In this case a possible way could be to boot into the Windows XP Recovery console and use fixboot and fixmbr for that disk.
    You can also try, if diskpart (a command line tool in Windows XP/Vista) does the job:
    After selecting the proper disk use the command clean in the diskpart console. But be aware, that selecting the wrong disk will remove all data from it.
    More informations about the usage of diskpart you find here.

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Friday, October 3, 2008 7:11 PM
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    Hi!

    Thanks for your answer. I did try deleting the partition, and creating a new one before I moved it the whs box, but I haven't tried the fixmbr and co. commands (I didn't even know those commands existed)
    So, I will give them a try, and report back how things work out.

    One question, when you use the recovery console ('cause you have to run the fixmbr command within the recovery console, right?), how do you know the deviceID the drive has been given? Is there a command that will show all drives with their IDs?

    Carl
    Friday, October 3, 2008 8:22 PM
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    Hi Carl,
    maybe try the diskpart clean command first from within the running OS.
    This allows to select the disk with
    list disk
    select disk xx

    Diskpart is also in the recovery console.

    For the other commands I found some older information:
    Fixmbr

    Repairs the master boot record of the boot disk. The fixmbr command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console
    fixmbr [device_name]
    Parameter
    device_name
    The device (drive) on which you want to write a new master boot record. The name can be obtained from the output of the map command. An example of a device name is:
    \Device\HardDisk0.
    Example

    The following example writes a new master boot record to the device specified:
    fixmbr \Device\HardDisk0

    Fixboot

    Writes a new partition boot sector to the system partition. The fixboot command is only available when you are using the Recovery Console
    fixboot [drive]
    Parameter
    drive
    The drive to which a boot sector will be written. This replaces the default drive, which is the system partition you are logged on to. An example of a drive is:
    D:
    Example
    The following example writes a new partition boot sector to the system partition in drive D:
    fixboot d:

    For an overview you can also check
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307654/en-us
    How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    • Proposed as answer by sirphuzz Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:08 PM
    • Marked as answer by Jonas Svensson -FST- Saturday, October 25, 2008 11:52 PM
    Friday, October 3, 2008 10:43 PM
    Moderator
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    Thanks a lot again for your extensive answers.

    I'm not at home at the moment to try it, but as soon as I get home I know what to do.

    Hopefully, one of these tools will make it work.

    Carl
    Saturday, October 4, 2008 1:14 PM
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    Hello Carl,
    I just got back the info in a thread on a German WHS page, that diskpart clean worked for him in a similar situation.
    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    • Proposed as answer by sirphuzz Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:08 PM
    Sunday, October 5, 2008 12:52 PM
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    Hi again. Sorry about the name change. I didn't realize I was logged in to my wife's msn account when I created this thread...

    So I was home earlier today, and ran the diskpart clean command, and it seems it did the trick! Now, the add drive wizard found the drive, formatted it, and successfully added it to the storage pool.

    So far so good.

    However, there's still an issue that's nagging me. When I looke in the Server Storage menu in the console, I see two instances of the above mentioned drive. One is in the Storage pool and healthy, and one identical is still in the "Not added" pool. I tried to click remove on it but it just said there aren't enough space to remove the drive. I did this even after just adding the drive, so not many files could have been copied over to that drive.

    I will try to post a screenshot for you to see what I'm talking about. It's not that it really makes a big deal, it's just that the Network Status is always Red now, and says something about that drive. It's just a bit annoying to have it red all the time.

    Thanks again for all your help!

    Carl
    Monday, October 6, 2008 7:40 PM
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    Hi Carl,
    name change is not a problem - only if you want to vote one of the posts as answer to your question, you need to login with the originating account.

    Thanks for the feedback regarding diskpart working as I did hope for you.

    Regarding the error message, maybe disabling duplication for the shared folders temporary will help.
    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Monday, October 6, 2008 7:48 PM
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    The problem is that I've already removed one of the other drives, because I had only borrowed it for a while, so now there has been data moved to the Hitachi drive, and it can't be removed.

    I will post a screenshot so you can see what the error message is.

    link to the pic: Screenshot

    Maybe I'll just have to keep it this way, until I can put in a another bigger drive, in exchange of the smaller drives. Maybe then I can remove the Hitachi, and add it again. We'll see.

    Anyway, you've been a very helpful german, Olaf, and I appreciate it.



    //A very happy Swede


    Tuesday, October 7, 2008 9:49 AM
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    Hi Carl,
    maybe you check this thread:
    http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/whssoftware/thread/9e3c5131-9945-44f9-b94e-562138060d70/
    Could be the method described there allows you to remove the missing drive.

    Besides that I wonder, why system has accquired such a large part of the storage.
    Since that share of the storage graph does not contain client backups and content of WHS shared folders - what else takes that space up?

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    • Proposed as answer by sirphuzz Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:09 PM
    Tuesday, October 7, 2008 11:13 AM
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    Hi!

    That's probably my uTorrent DL's. I read somewhere that it sould cause read-write errors in the files unless you put them directly on the D: (DATA) drive. Could this be it?

    Carl
    Tuesday, October 7, 2008 2:59 PM
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    Hi,
    It isn't really the best way to store the torrents as it is now eating directly into your D: drive which is used when calculating the space available for file transfers.
    The optimum method would be to have another drive which isn't part of your storage pool and therefore isn't considered by your server in it's calculations.

    Colin



     
    If anyone answers your query successfully, please mark it as 'Helpful', to guide other users.
    Tuesday, October 7, 2008 4:41 PM
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    Oh I didn't know that. I'll see if I can dig up some old external, or other internal drive to use for the torrents.

    Thanks for the tip!

    Carl
    Tuesday, October 7, 2008 6:08 PM
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    Hi Carl,
    thats the purpose of the forums: to learn stuff, you don't know already and to find solutions, which help you and others.

    External disk may not make much sense in this context, if there are used any shared folders, since sharing USB drives after a reboot often fails due to timing issues. (Of course I have no clue, how the torrent software works in detail.)

    Btw.: If you think an answer is properly, you can mark it directly as answer and not as proposal. You as the originator of a question can decide alone, what is a valid answer to your question(s).

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Tuesday, October 7, 2008 8:02 PM
    Moderator