20GB hard-drive only shows 7.82GB

[Rostig]

I just built my first computer, and it is running good. The problem that I have is that the hard-drive only shows up as 7.82GB capacity when I check it's properties in Windows ME. It is a 20GB Maxtor hard-drive. I know that it loses some space when I format it, but not that much space. Did I format the hard-drive wrong? It was my first time building a machine. Is there a simple way to fix this? Thanks for any advice.

 

[psykohog]

Try going into DOS and running fdisk.If you dont know what to do at that
point ask for more help.

 

[Rostig]

Sorry, I am kind of ignorant. When I go into FDISK and "Display Partition Information" it says:


Display Partition Information

Current fixed disk drive: 1


Partition=C: 1 | Status=A | Type=PRI DOS| Volume Label | Mbytes=8032 |System=FAT32|Usage=41%



Total disk space is 19469 Mbytes <1 Mbyte = 1048578 bytes>



Is this what a 20GB H-D should look like? If something is wrong, how do I fix it? Dank.

 

[Passions]

Yes that is correct size. here is some help

Text

 

[Rostig]

Why doesn't Windows show somewhere close to 20GB on the HD? I am still confused. I have an Alienware, and it shows 71.5GB on it's 75GB HD. Why does the computer I built show only 7.82GB on it's 20GB HD? Did I screw up partitioning? I do not get it. Helfen Sie bitte mir.

 

[IcemanJer]

There's a chance the you're still using FAT, which max out at 8GB. You might want to convert the FAT partition to FAT32, and then resize the 7.82GB to the full 19.5GB. Safest way is to do this through Partition Magic 3.0 or higher.

 

[IcemanJer]

Btw, when you create a partition using FDISK, it automatically create it as a FAT partition, not FAT32.

 

[Passions]

19469 MBYTES ist sehr nah an Istma&szlig;. Erinnern Sie sich, da&szlig; 1000 Bytes nicht 1 Megabyte, aber 1024 Bytes entspricht. Weg aufrunden verursacht einen kleinen Unterschied.

 

[knutp]

It isn't a abit k7t? I had a problem with the k7t-r when putting a 30 gb ibm disk in the onboard controller, didn't see more than 8 gb... but then I put it at the highpoint controller and fdisk found the whole disk... kind of strange since the via controller did find the correct size and the disk is running at the via controller with all speed now.

Fdisk stated that you are using 41% of your total capacity, and that seems right when it just found 8 gb. So the easiest way are to use partition magic or similar tools, and rezise the partition till the full size. Or you could fdisk all over again, and make sure it uses the whole disk. and then reinstall windows.

 

[RussianSoldier]

These are some solutions:

1. You formatted the drive using FAT16 and not FAT32. Format the drive using FAT32.

2. Your BIOS was made prior to January 1998, and will not support drives larger than 8.4 GB. Contact your motherboard manufacturer and ask for a BIOS upgrade.

3. You didn't format the whole drive. Reformat the whole drive.

4. Your BIOS or CMOS is wrongly configured. Check the harddrive's instruction manual for reconfigurations.

 

[MustangSVT]

if it does not show other partitions and if u dont know why its set like that, u can try deleting the partion and making one that's 100%. but before u that u might want to try Anti-virus program and back up ur data.

ur fdisk info shows Fat32 and fat is how large each segment is and WONT change the total size of the hard drive. so dont worry about fat. u have to look at the usuage and its at only 41%.

try anti -virus first but if u dont want to , back up ur data and delete any partition that might be used in ur pc. (starting with Non-dos, work ur way up to primary dos).

good luck.

 

[knutp]

He said it was fat32, and fat16 doesn't support more than 2 gb, so there are no chance that it's fat16 and 8 gb!

 

[BrotherRaven]

It does not involve FAT, FAT32, NTFS, MotherBoard, etc. It is a Windows 2k Problem. The installer does not like some of the Maxtor drivers. I used to have a 27gig Maxtor drive that windows would detect as a 8 gig. You guys seem to forget that you can delete partitions; thus it is not a partion problem but rather a windows 2k installer problem. You have two choices:

1) Install on say a 6 gig partition using NTFS or FAT32 (from within the Win2k installer) and partition the rest once windows correctly identifies it.

2) Switch the Harddrive from 16heads to 15 heads. Use google to find the help page about the maxtor problem.

 

[knutp]

He isn't using win2k... He's using winme (or so he says in the top post)

 

[Rostig]

Thanks for all the advice. I am using Win ME. I have a KT7A MoBo. Now I am really confused. I guess that I will try starting over, and format the HD again. I was hoping that there was an easy way to get Win ME to recognize the complete 20GBs. Has anyone had this same problem? Anyone else have a KT7A with a Maxtor 20GB HD? Scheisse

 

[Shuja]

Hi
I understand the situation you are facing. If you have decided to start all over again, I suggest you to Partition you HDD using Disk Manager of the HDD manufacturer, which is easily available in market or can be downloaded easily from www.download.com or the manufacturer site. This problem is due to the WIN Me limitations of recognizing not more than 8 GB partition. If you can avail Partition Magic of Power Quest than there is no need of reformatting all over again.