Well I've done a low-level reformat of the second HD with the appropriate tools from Western Digital but I can't get Windows to format the drive still!
I'm running an NTFS system with XP Pro, any ideas how to get around this mess anyone? Just I need to get this drive up to play FS properly

Hmm nope, I'll go and try that in a minute Kevin. I'll just make some coffee to kick-start the brain again

Mark, rather than formatting, can you delete the paritions using Disc Manager (again, in Safe Mode)?  That seems to work...

Can you do a boot from CD in windows setup, then act like you are going to install windows on the drive in question.

delete partitions, format, then partition as neccessary?

Maybe this will help? I don't know mate....good luck..

The Windows XP install disk will run the tools if requested near the beginning of the Windows setup routine. Just keep a careful eye out for the options as they appear.

The hard disk should be wired master/primary positition in this procedure.

The PC must be set in bios to allow "Boot from CDROM" as the first boot device, and then follow any screen prompts at bootup to select CDROM boot. Windows setup should now begin and the options should appear within a minute or so as you begin the setup routine.

I think it's possible for some HDD's to be configured using non-standard formats that windows can't handle, so in that case I would attempt to re-partition the drive, which should re-configure it - ready to be formatted. Again, WinXP setup disc is useful, as are other dedicated disk tools.

Some disc tools seem mandatory for certain hard disks that aren't normally recognised by default. These tools are usually provided by the manufacturer of the drive and can be downloaded as required. I found that some Seagate drives needed "kickstarting" in this way, but they seem fine after that, in subsequent disk operations.

Buggar the HD. Take out everything in the PC that is Hungarian, move back to Britain and buy some real hardware.