i have a 4gig maxtor hard drive. was working fine. i blew it, to do a clean install and when i go to format the drive, it stops formatting and it says it is trying to recover the allocation table, or files. anyway, can anyone tell me how to speed this very very slow process up? thanks for the help guys. DALE

Use Maxtor's installation/diagnostic software to reformat the drive. If that doesn't work and you don't need any of the information on the drive, then repartition the drive first, then reformat.

Maxtor's software is called Powermax. Download it at the following site and follow the directions carefully.

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

hey guys,
thanks for all the help. i ran the powermax, and it is the hard drive. have a good night. DALE