Windows 10: Format of USB HDDs failing

I am experiencing a PC problem that I need help to solve.I bought a new external USB HDD, and found that when I tried to format it the disk light just came on, stayed on and didn't complete the format. No error messages and I have to force a reboot. One trial was a long full reformat which after 14 hours finished normally but when I looked at the HDD, it still wasn't formatted.Attempts to format via a cmd (admin) window failed the same way. I have also tried Diskpart, List Disk, Select Disk, Clean, List Volume, Select volume 5. All these returned the expected DOS/Diskpart message. Then I tried "Format fs=ntfs label="LACIE 6TB" Quick", and the usual drive light came on, and again stayed on until I forced a reboot. I returned the HDD to the retailer who seemingly had no troubles with format!I have now taken a different, empty, but formatted ntfs USB HDD, and format fails in the same way. However when I take this disk to a different PC it formats as expected. For both laptops I use a USB3 port in both PCs to rule out any potential external hub issue. USB HDDs, once formatted, work normally eg for copying files etc. Both PCs are Win 10 V 1903The problem comes back to the original I7 laptop. What can you recommend to try next?

Regards,
Doug

:)

 

Formatting USB stick/usb hdd issues


Drive has probably failed. Try this.

Run admin command prompt and type

diskpart

list disk

select disk n (n is number of usb drive)

clean (wipes drive - do not select wrong drive!)

create partition primary

select partition 1

format fs=ntfs quick

assign

exit

exit

If any step fails, drive has almost certainly failed.

 

formating a failing HDD

It may run for years ( or Fail in Days )
I would only recommend you use it for non vital storage

 

formating a failing HDD

Yeah, hardware failure is terminal. Doesn't matter which way you format it, it's gonna fail.