Windows doesnt read full hard drive

[falen55]

hi, i posted before about some problems setting up my hard drive. i finally got it going. thank you to everyone who helped.

now i have a slight problem. i have a 160gig sata western digital hd. im running windows xp pro with sp2. wondows only seems to show that my drive only has 137 gigs.

heres a pic:
www.freewebs.com/falen55/hd.JPG

any suggestions on what to do?

thank you

 

[Stealth1024]

I had the same problem with a 200GB drive, XP SP2 does not recognize the full size, but not only does the BIOS see the full size on bootup, but when I boot into Linux it is able to use the full drive.

Must be something with windows. So far I haven't been able to find drivers that will correct the problem either.

 

[Matthias99]

Search for "48-bit LBA" (this is a VERY COMMON QUESTION). You need WinXP SP1 (or higher) to be able to access the full capacity of the drive.

If you installed SP1/2 after installing Windows, you can create a new partition with the remaining space in Disk Management, but you will need software like Partition Magic to merge them if you want one big partition of >137GB.

 

[Stealth1024]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Search for "48-bit LBA" (this is a VERY COMMON QUESTION). You need WinXP SP1 (or higher) to be able to access the full capacity of the drive.

If you installed SP1/2 after installing Windows, you can create a new partition with the remaining space in Disk Management, but you will need software like Partition Magic to merge them if you want one big partition of >137GB.

I actually tried a fresh install with an XP SP2 slipstreamed CD, no luck. Windows local disk management plugin under computer management doesn't even recognize the full size of the disk. Mandrake 10, on the other hand, has no problem. (I have an Asus A7V btw)

 

[Trente]

Originally posted by: Stealth1024
I had the same problem with a 200GB drive, XP SP2 does not recognize the full size, but not only does the BIOS see the full size on bootup, but when I boot into Linux it is able to use the full drive.

Must be something with windows. So far I haven't been able to find drivers that will correct the problem either.

Splitstream SP2 to form an XP SP2 installation CD. I had the exact same issue, and it worked out just fine for me.

 

[falen55]

bleh, i guess ill just fix it next time i reformat

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Stealth1024

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Search for "48-bit LBA" (this is a VERY COMMON QUESTION). You need WinXP SP1 (or higher) to be able to access the full capacity of the drive.

If you installed SP1/2 after installing Windows, you can create a new partition with the remaining space in Disk Management, but you will need software like Partition Magic to merge them if you want one big partition of >137GB.

I actually tried a fresh install with an XP SP2 slipstreamed CD, no luck. Windows local disk management plugin under computer management doesn't even recognize the full size of the disk. Mandrake 10, on the other hand, has no problem. (I have an Asus A7V btw)

Then... you might want to try in the Operating Systems forum, since this sounds like a configuration problem somewhere.

 

[Lonyo]

Or the Microsoft Knowledge Database.

 

[MrControversial]

I think even SP1 fixes this problem, that's why I had no problems with my 200GB+ array after installing WinXP.

 

[Deadtrees]

Isn't it because HDD companies use 1M=1000byte instead of 1M=1024Byte?
This hasn't really been a concern for a long time, however as the HDD spaces gets bigger, that 24 byte seems to make quite a bit of difference.

 

[Trente]

Originally posted by: Deadtrees
Isn't it because HDD companies use 1M=1000byte instead of 1M=1024Byte?
This hasn't really been a concern for a long time, however as the HDD spaces gets bigger, that 24 byte seems to make quite a bit of difference.

No, as in the case of a 160GB, you're supposed to get it recognized as 149GB, not 137GB.

 

[Trippytiger]

Western Digital's knowledgebase has some possible solutions to this problem:

What issues should I be concerned with when using a drive larger than 137GB (128GB binary)?

Summary of drive capacity issues in Windows - 137GB, 64GB, 32GB, 8.4GB.

There's more information on this in their knowledgebase; I'd suggest checking the rest of it out. Data Lifeguard Tools 11 might be able to make Windows see your drive properly.

 

[BigEdMuustaffa]

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Search for "48-bit LBA" (this is a VERY COMMON QUESTION). You need WinXP SP1 (or higher) to be able to access the full capacity of the drive.

If you installed SP1/2 after installing Windows, you can create a new partition with the remaining space in Disk Management, but you will need software like Partition Magic to merge them if you want one big partition of >137GB.

How do you, or Can you, install a full version of xp pro that is pre sp 1, then install sp2 and have a hd partitioned larger than 137 w/o doing the partition magic merge thing?