My Book Studio II will not format for windows 7

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for macOS
1

Hello,

I have downloaded the windows version of the WD Drive Manager and reset the My Book Studio II ( 6 TB ) to RAID 1.  that said it completed successfully and asked if I wanted to format the drive.  I said yes.

the format failed.

I tried restarting the computer and power cycling the My Book.

Windows Drive Manager can see the My Book.  I set the My Book to a Simple Volume and was prompted to format the drive, I selected the default options for Quick Format, NTFS, Default and the full 2794 Terabytes.  The format started but then failed.  received error “Windows was unable to complete the format”

I restarted again, selected Disk Manager and format, this time I UN-selected quick format, left NTFS, Default and the full 2794 Terabytes.  received error “Windows was unable to complete the format”

I then downloaded the Windows version of the Firmware update for the drive, installed the firmware update and restarted when the updater said to restart.

I tried the quick format again, with the same problem.  received error “Windows was unable to complete the format”

I tried the NON-quick format again, with the same problem.  received error “Windows was unable to complete the format”

I then tried the Quick Format as exFAT and that worked.

But, I want to format this as NTFS.

1 Like
2

Hello,

Try following the instructions from the link below

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3307/session/L2F2LzMvc25vLzEvdGltZS8xMzU1NTE4Njc3L3NpZC8qWG1TakxkbA%3D%3D

The user manual is not up to date.

3

Hello,

I did use the Western Digital Drive Manager ICON ( v2.116 ) for my Book Studio II [windows software version].

I previously selected RAID 1 and it says RAID 1 Mode with a Healthy status.

I can not format it as NTFS, but I was able to format it as exFAT.

I am trying to change it to RAID 0 so I can see if I can format it as NTFS now.

  1. used WD Drive Manager

  2. selected RAID 0

  3. UN-checked Quick NTFS format

  4. select NEXT

  5. enter the verification code and click OK

  6. confirm my choice to change 

  7. get an error

“Cannot safely remove the device.  Close open files or format a volume and try again later.”

  1. if I say YES to ignore, it just comes back to the WD RAID Manager where I choose if I want to change the RAID configuration.

If I say NO, it also just comes back to the WD RAID Manager

so, I then close the WD RAID Manager

I goto Windows Disk Management

  1. select the drive  [ on my system it is Disk 3.  Says Basic disk  Online]

  2. it will error out when I try to format it from the Windows Disk Management console.

[ I’ve been using the included USB cable the entire time I have been trying to work on this external drive] 

1 Like
4

I just purchased a 6Tb model and have exactly the same problem using DriveManager v.2.116 (I did not use the CD).  The raid manager let me change from RAID 0 to 1, but then quick format failed. Raid manager indicates the drive is working OK in RAID 1, but I cannot format the drive or change to RAID 0. I can format the drive successfully using the esata connection, which produces a usuable volume in Windows, which is also recognized with the USB connection. However the RAID manager still wont change RAID level even after formatting with esata. If I try to use the Windows drive manager to format, it first takes a very long time to poll the drive for information, and then if I try to format, it says cannot find requested sector. I think the USB driver for Windows is probably buggy. Any hope for a work around?

EDIT - I just tried the WD raid manager on a Windows XP (32) machine and the raid manager was able to set the RAID mode fine between 1 and 0 and back.  Of course I cant format the drive in XP because of the disk size limitations, but at least I know the drive is working OK (all diagnostics also fine).  Formatted to 3Gb using esata in Windows 7 64. 

This is a major hassle.  I would have never purchased this drive if I knew the Windows 64 support was so buggy.  I’m kind of suspicious that the latest version of Drive Manager (2.116) wasn’t tested properly.  The deployment certainly looks sloppy considering there’s a DEBUG build in the release.

5

I think I have an old computer with windows xp ,  I will have to see if that works.

I agree that the software in general is just awful, I think it is rediculous that  a high end drive has this **bleep** software.  I’'m on my 3rd drive right now from Western Digital support.  someone there should have told me to try a 32-bit OS.

I have 3 computers, but all 3 are 64-bit ( 2 desktops and 1 laptop )  I think my old desktop in the basement is still working, so I’ll try that this weekend.

6

Did you try a third party format tool? Windows format isn’t the greatest. I think EaseUs has a free one .

Joe

7

Hello,

I pulled my windows xp professional (x32 ) desktop out of the basement.

that did not work with WD RAID manager 2.116, but I did get a different error message than from my windows 7 computers.

on windows xp professional (x32) i get the error

when setting to RAID 0 

cannot format the device successfully now. you may use windows disk management tool and try again later.

when setting to RAID 1

cannot format the device successfully now. you may use windows disk management tool and try again later.

on windows 7 professional (x64) i get the error:

cannot safely remove the device. close open files or format a volume and try again later.

click yes if you want to ignore the warning and continue to change the RAID setting.

same error when I try RAID 0 or when I try RAID 1

8

Joe:

per the manual,  you have to use the WD raid manager to change the raid and change the format