win xp not formating hdd

[samir_nayanajaad]

ok this is my prob.
I wipe my hdd to reload win xp pro I erase the partitions useing fdisk and when i reload xp it only formats 120 gb of my 141 gb hdd.

some things to note:
the hdd is a wd 160 gb hdd (its labeld as a 160 gb but ya know how they never are as big as they clame mine is only 141 gb)
it is a SATA 150 or SATA 1
this happend the first time i loaded xp on this hdd when it was new
I can use disk manager in xp to partition and format the leftover 21gb
in BIOS it is recognized as the full 141 gb and as a wd 1600 hdd
I recently got a new 300gb (acctualy 280gb) maxtor IDE hdd for a backup and just out of curiosity I tried to load xp on it as well, it also was only recognized as 120gb but in BIOS it was picked up as the correct hdd like the western digital

this isnt a huge problem for me but it is just annoying to have an extra partition that is only 20gb any help would be great if someone needs more info about my system ill gladly post what you ask for

 

[bombasschicken]

Install SP2. The origional XP didnt hvae support for drives over 120. Install SP2 and it will find the right ammount of space.

 

[cubber]

XP's installer can't see more than the first 120Gb or so of a hard drive. If you want one big C: drive you'll need a third-party util like Partition Magic to stretch the partition to fill the drive.

I never make one huge partition for the system, I make a small one, maybe 8-20 gig, then use the rest for data drive(s) so they're separate from the C: drive in case it tanks. That way I also can make partition image backups of the system drive in a reasonable amount of time. The data areas I back up separately.

I'm not sure if SP2 enabled the big HD registry key, you might need to install the HD manufacturer's utility to set that key so XP can address beyond 120gig.

 

[bombasschicken]

XP's installer can't see more than the first 120Gb or so of a hard drive. If you want one big C: drive you'll need a third-party util like Partition Magic to stretch the partition to fill the drive.

I never make one huge partition for the system, I make a small one, maybe 8-20 gig, then use the rest for data drive(s) so they're separate from the C: drive in case it tanks. That way I also can make partition image backups of the system drive in a reasonable amount of time. The data areas I back up separately.

I'm not sure if SP2 enabled the big HD registry key, you might need to install the HD manufacturer's utility to set that key so XP can address beyond 120gig.

If you have the XP install with SP2 it will detect it.. i reformat my 300 gig pirmary almost bi-weekly and always have access to the whole 300 gigs.. although i dont make that large of a partition..