format harddisk problem

[andihp]

Hi All,
Initially, I successfully installed RH 9 on my second harddisk
(Seagate 20 GB), the first harddisk is Win XP (also 20 GB).
Then, a few days back, I don't understand why the RH 9 often run
slowly and the harddisk's busy doing something.
Then I tried to re-format/re-installed RH 9.
At the partition stage (I was using diskdruid) I created swap and /
mount point, using ext3 filesystem, the / mount point couldnot be
formatted successfully and the message window only gave me OK button
to restart.
I even tried using partition magic 8 from WinXP to format the harddisk
using ext3 filesystems, but also couldnot finish successfully, got
error.
At last I formatted the second harddisk from Win XP disk manager using
fat32 filesystem WITHOUT any error, then did chkdsk also, NO bad
sector at all, No error at all.
Please help how to enable formatting the harddisk using ext3
filesystem.
TIA,
Andi

[homey]

Do you have the jumper on the drive set to cable select and using the end connector of the IDE cable?

[mdwatts]

Did you try removing all the partitions on the second HD entirely, rebooting, recreate the Linux partitions again and then formatting?

Have a search in the JL forums for 'mandrake slow' or 'redhat slow' as you will find many threads that have suggestions on what to do about slow running systems.