From: kayhyphenarcher-mail.com@antispam.com   
      
   "steve marchant"  wrote in message   
   news:bobgus$1ij$1@sparta.btinternet.com...   
   > I've done this a few times now on my standby pc, and each time it takes   
   > nearly an hour. The drive is 1 gig.  It coasts merrily along displaying   
   the   
   > percentage   
   >  progress, until it stops and announces something like, "searching for   
   > allocation unit..", and a number, eg. 31250. It sticks there for ages   
   before   
   > moving on, and then stopping again as above for ages, etc., until it   
   finally   
   > completes the format. My other pc formats much quicker, without the   
   searches   
   > for "allocation unit number...". Anybody know the reason for these long   
   > pauses, and if anything can be done to speed up the format?   
   > steve   
   >   
   There are a few bad "allocation units" on your hard drive.  You could try   
   the manufacturor's software to either 'repair' or do a low-level format   
   (write 0's to drive) and see if it repairs the bad areas.  It may be   
   physical damage and while format trys to fix it, it cannot be fixed.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)