Caviar Black 500MB slow format

WD Internal Drives Desktop & Mobile Drives
1

Using computer management on XP Professional, I partitioned a brand new 500 mb WD5001AALS into two partitions and began formatting it. That was six hours ago, and the two partitions are currently at 54% and 59%, respectively. I’m accustomed to being able to format the three partitions in my three-year-old WD500ABS in two hours, so this is a performance red flag that something is wrong with this new drive. However, I would appreciate being pointed the right direction to know what diagnostics I should run in order to have appropriate proof to get a RMA, or if I’m just missing something that will get my performance up to the level it should be.