This is NOT the same ol' BIOS/OS limit issue

[jwarren68]

I'm going to give the forum a shot, although I have a feeling my HD is shot.

It's a Maxtor Model 6Y160P0, 160gb, 7200 rpm/8mb cache - and out of warranty. Now before I start, let me explain that I know about/tried: the various BIOS/XP limitations, capacity limiting jumper settings, drive overlay software, eliminating possible non-functioning parts, trying different cables, trying different jumper settings, low-level formatting, using a PCI adapter card. Yes, I've been researching & working on this for a week. No matter what I try, my BIOS (Phoenix 6.00, updated to ver. 1.3 for my K8N NEO2 mb)
reads my drive as 33.8GB. Even with the PCI adapter card. The drive is about 16 months old. My other 2 high capacity drives read fine (200 + 250 gb).

I pretty much ruled out the OS/BIOS question through several formats/ OS installs/FDIS/Partition Magic/DDO...Does anyone know what may limit a drive ON THE DRIVE itself?

BESIDES a CLJ (I don't have the jumpers incorrect).

Whoever answers this will have the eternal gratitude of my wife, who I've been keeping up all night this past week fiddling with this.

 

[redbeard1]

I've no answer, but a question. Have you ran maxtor's drive diagnostics on it? If it tests ok, their write zero's/low level program may clear it.

 

[jwarren68]

Thanks Redbeard - I've tried the low-level format, to no avail. I also ran every diagnostic Powermax has and every test is successful. The SMART status, reported by Speedfan (and a couple of other disk-monitoring progs) all say 100% integrity & 100% performance....It's as if the CLJ was on the disk (but I assure you it's not).

Is it possible there's something INSIDE the disk itself?? At this point, I'm not adverse to opening it up - I've got nothing to lose.

Thanks.

 

[LeetestUnleet]

Try putting it into a different computer and see if it gives you the same issue.

 

[jwarren68]

That was one of the things I did, Lee - I got the same issue. The BIOS only saw 33.8gb.

 

[jwarren68]

BTW it was a diiferent mb & BIOS, not sure which. But it also had an 80gb hd, fully recognized.

Could a boot sector virus do this kind of thing? Or is it just trashed?

 

[LeetestUnleet]

It *IS* possible for a boot sector to cause it, but not likely... My guess is that your drive is hosed. My only other suggestion would be to throw it into a Linux machine to see if it's a Windows issue, but if your BIOS is only recognizing it as 33.8 GB as well, then I doubt that would do anything.

 

[jwarren68]

Yeah; I figured as much....don't have a Linux box handy, but I think it's pretty much hosed.

Thanks anyway, guys.

 

[jwarren68]

OK I know this is an old thread, but I solved my problem & think I should put what I did here just in case it might help someone.

I found a program here: http://www.freewebs.com/hdat2/ and it worked! I reset my 160 gb hd back to 160 from 33gb. I'm not sure what I did to it, but something at the hardware level got corrupted, and this easy-to-use program worked.

Thanks for those of you who offered help.

 

[extension]

Hi JWarren,

Just Like to say I have the same Problem you had...this time with my Seagate 120gb drive suddenly my BIOS says i have a 33.8gb drive and my OS (XP) agrees..!!

Just as you Im getting quite frustrated.. so you can imagine my hopes were raised when I found your thread.!

Yet I am unfamiliar with the program that worked for you HDAT2, can you tell me the command and parameters that helped reset your drive to the correct size.

Thanks in advance..