Took a 60 GB HD out of an older HP and am trying to make it work as an external Hard Drive. Windows is recognizing it....I go to my computer and I see "G" drive.....but whenever I try to format it it goes almost through the whole process then a window pops up that says "Windows cannot complete the format". I have tried this format on three different computers.....no luck. The jumper on the back is set on CS....ANY HELP PUUUHHH LLLLLLLEEEAAAASSSEEEE !!!!!

If the drive is in an external enclosure, set the jumper to Master. I've heard of enclosures not working properly unless this is so.

Maybe your HD is not being read correctly. My External HD I am uisng with the USB flash driver that is located in the 98 sections does this when I change the HD or whatever IDE drive. Maybe it is a USB Disc driver problem.

However by external being the swap drives I can't help there.

Took a 60 GB HD out of an older HP and am trying to make it work as an external Hard Drive. Windows is recognizing it....I go to my computer and I see "G" drive.....but whenever I try to format it it goes almost through the whole process then a window pops up that says "Windows cannot complete the format". I have tried this format on three different computers.....no luck. The jumper on the back is set on CS....ANY HELP PUUUHHH LLLLLLLEEEAAAASSSEEEE !!!!!

If you are trying to format on NTFS and it doesn´t work, then try FAT32 or even FAT.

Jeeesh forgot one other thing ( my bad) When I originally connected it it did work. I connected it and could see and open all the folders on the hard drive......but when I went to format it I got the "Windows cannot complete format" error.

Tried the Fat/Fat32....would not work either...

Have you tried setting the jumper to master? It can have strange effects to use CS in some enclosures.

I have set it to every possible jump.....still no format

What brand of enclosure is it?

Have you tried removing the drive and reinstalling it in the enclosure (i.e. unplugging and re-plugging the connectors)?

have you tried formatting it as an internal hard drive, then putting it in the external enclosure? you may try partitioning software because windows isn't always the most reliable.

What brand of enclosure is it?

Also, what brand is the drive? If it's a Western Digital, take the Master/Slave/CS jumper OFF completely.

Bought another external case.....connected it all up and it formatted just fine.......should of paid heed to my deer departed dad's words of wisdom....when working on ANYTHING electrical in nature always check the easiest, simplest fix first. Thanks for all your replies !!