How to reformat 508 HDD for Windows

[waltinvt]

I finally decided I'd never reuse my old 508 receiver, so I removed it's HDD. It's am 80GB Seagate.

I installed it in a Drive Master external interface and connected it to my computer's usb port with the intention of re-formatting it but my Windows XP computer won't recognize it.

What do I need to do to be able to use this drive in a computer or maybe as additional storage for one of my 622s?

Thanks

 

[navychop]

Why not sell that 508? There's still demand for it. I sure wouldn't trust an old 508 HDD with my data, or even for HD video storage.

 

[goaliebob99]

You need to delete the partition on it and recreate it.

The partition for the 508 HD is a linux partition that cant talk with windows. Once you delete the partition using dos and Fdisk or the drive managment snap in and create a new one using NTFS or FAT32. Do a quick format and the drive should be as good as new.

 

[waltinvt]

You need to delete the partition on it and recreate it.

The partition for the 508 HD is a linux partition that cant talk with windows. Once you delete the partition using dos and Fdisk or the drive managment snap in and create a new one using NTFS or FAT32. Do a quick format and the drive should be as good as new.

Thanks Bob but computer literate I'm not. I can open a dos window in XP but how do I get rid of the Linux partition if my computer doesn't "talk" to the drive?

 

[Pepper]

It will only show up in explorer if there's a valid partition Windows can work with. Regardless of that it should show up in Disk Management and you would be able to manage the partitions there.

By the way I've sent you PM.

 

[waltinvt]

Yes, I did figure out how to access it with DM. I couldn't get the option to delete any partitions but I could make a new primary partition which seems to use most of the drive (75gb)and that's what I'm doing now.

Hope you guys aren't laughing too loud - geek I ain't.

 

[waltinvt]

You need to delete the partition on it and recreate it.

The partition for the 508 HD is a linux partition that cant talk with windows. Once you delete the partition using dos and Fdisk or the drive managment snap in and create a new one using NTFS or FAT32. Do a quick format and the drive should be as good as new.

Thanks again Bob, disk management worked fine.

 

[Smith P.]

You need to delete the partition on it and recreate it.

The partition for the 508 HD is a linux partition that cant talk with windows. Once you delete the partition using dos and Fdisk or the drive managment snap in and create a new one using NTFS or FAT32. Do a quick format and the drive should be as good as new.

Wrong.

The 501 or 508 or 510 disk doesn't have Linux partiton, they're using Dish own proprietary file system. BTW, there are 5 partitions E*FS type.

 

[waltinvt]

Wrong.

The 501 or 508 or 510 disk doesn't have Linux partiton, they're using Dish own proprietary file system. BTW, there are 5 partitions E*FS type.

As usual you geeks are way over my head but I did what Bob & Pepper recommended and now the drive shows up in windows.

Like I said, I wasn't able to "delete" a partition like Bob said but I was able to use XP's disk management to make a NTFS partition. Properties shows it as 80,023,714,840 bytes capacity or 74.5 GB, so I don't know if I'm actually missing any space or not.

Now to alter the topic a wee bit. Will this drive work to store a few HD movies that would then be viewable from either of my 622s once I pay "E" the initial $40?

I just noticed that even though I haven't put anything on this drive, it's showing 66.7 MB being used. Is that just Windows format overhead?

 

[Pepper]

yes and yes.

if you connect it to the 622 it will offer to format it to the proprietary linux format that they use.

drive manufacturers define a gigabyte as one billion bytes. Operating systems define a gigabyte as 1024MB so it's actually 1024*1024*1024 or 1,073,741,824 bytes. So 80GB(mfg)=74.5GB(os) when they define it differently. 80023714840/1073741824=74.52789213....well you get the idea.

 

[Smith P.]

"Will this drive work to store a few HD movies that would then be viewable from either of my 622s once I pay "E" the initial $40?"
Yes, count 3-6 GB (worst case MPEG-2 Hi quality) per movie; 1080p24 will take 11-15 GB per movie.