External HD

[Shadeaces]

Hey,

I removed my laptop hard drive and put it into an external usb case.

When i plugged it in my computer detected it and i was able to explore and move files.

I then right clicked and tried to format it and it says windows could not complete format.

Now windows is detecting it at 0mb and i can not open the drive, because it says it can not be formated.

Any ideas? - Thanks

[pam123]

If you have to nuke it you can zero it out with this : http://dban.sourceforge.net/
but we really need some more information from you.

What make/model ?
Is the hard drive failing?
If you just wanted to start over why didn't you use the notebook's restore partition?
In short what was it you had in mind?

[Shadeaces]

the hard drive is not failing

my intentions were to remove all data on it, and i assumed formatting would do this.

how would i go about making the drive usable again?

[pam123]

the hard drive is not failing

my intentions were to remove all data on it, and i assumed formatting would do this.

how would i go about making the drive usable again?

OK now I understand what you want to do.
Since you've got all the data you need off the hard drive put it back in the notebook case.
Pull out the manual, or download it from the manufacturer's site ( tell us what make and model it is please ) and find the instructions for doing a full notebook restore.
Notebooks from the last few years come with a hidden partition that, when you follow the manual's instructions, will reformat the hard drive and re-install all the drivers and the necessary apps, like Office (It may also re-install all the stuff you didn't want in the first place.).
The question now is what, if any, damage was done to the restore partition on that notebook drive.
The only way to find out is to see if you can still get to it and use it.
If you can't you will have to order restore CDs from the manufacturer, unless you created them earlier for yourself, to get the notebook running again.