250gb HDD, formats as only 127gb? wtf??

[virus5877]

Ok, I just switched out my old IDE dinosaur for a fancy, new SATAII 250gb HDD. now, when I start up the windows install, it only recongnizes 127gb of HDD (it says 131068 mb). Anyway, the install worked fine and everything works quick and smooth, but I'm still a litle concerned that nearly half of my HDD is 'missing'. Any ideas?

My system:
Asus A8N SLI Premium mobo
Athlon 64 3200+ cpu
1gb pc3200 RAM
Wester Digital SE16 250gb HDD <--the new one
eVGA 7600gt


ps: I called asus about an hour ago and they said something about having to slave the hard drive to another machine, formatting it, and setting up one partition to 127gb and leaving the rest unregistered...then when i try to install windows on the new hard drive it should recognize the full 250gb...i haven't tried this, but does it sound familiar to any of you??

 

[Hawkeye22]

You need SP1 or SP2 installed for windows to recognize drives larger than 127 gig. You can do as Asus said, or you can create a slip stream install CD that includes SP2. Just google "slipstream" and "nlite" and you'll be on your way.

 

[virus5877]

ahh, that's my problem...my xp disc is the original (yes, it's a dinosaur, but I only paid 5 bucks for it threw my college )

I'll see if I can get ahold of an SP2 disc and do a fresh install.

thx

 

[The_Prophecy]

It probably already is, but I should point out that LBA must also be enabled in the BIOS for the system to find anything over 127GB.

 

[Dahak]

windows only sees a max of 130 gigs initialy.once service pack 2 is installed it should see the whole drive.just partition it out to the max that windows sees.then after you install everything,right click "my computer" select "manage",click it.then select "disk management".once you do this the machine will show the unpartitioned portion in black.just right click on the black part and select "create partition".make it a primary partition and then format as required.then you will have the entire drive at your disposal.goodluck.

Dahak

EVGA NF4 SLI MB
X2 4400+@2.4 S-939
2 7800GT'S IN SLI MODE
2X1GIG DDR400 MEMORY IN DC MODE
WD300GIG HD
520WATT PSU
EXTREME 19IN.MONITOR

 

[MCGTech]

windows only sees a max of 130 gigs initialy.once service pack 2 is installed it should see the whole drive.just partition it out to the max that windows sees.then after you install everything,right click "my computer" select "manage",click it.then select "disk management".once you do this the machine will show the unpartitioned portion in black.just right click on the black part and select "create partition".make it a primary partition and then format as required.then you will have the entire drive at your disposal.goodluck.

Dahak

EVGA NF4 SLI MB
X2 4400+@2.4 S-939
2 7800GT'S IN SLI MODE
2X1GIG DDR400 MEMORY IN DC MODE
WD300GIG HD
520WATT PSU
EXTREME 19IN.MONITOR

I've never seen this problem myself, last fresh install being from an original XP Pro disc (no SP anything). Make your original format NTFS not FAT32. FAT32 volumes can only format out to 127.53 GB due to the maximum number of clusters available.

See HERE

However, since you're already up and running, do what Dahark suggests, maybe even convert to NTFS first then defrag, then add the remaining space.

 

[Codesmith]

Easiest solution is to upgrade to SP2 then use partition magic to resize your partitions.

You probably want to upgrade your copy of Windows XP to SP2 for future use.

Easiest method is using a program called nlite which will also let you add storage drivers that would otherwise require you to press "F6" and insert a floppy.

Might as well write an unattended install script so you don't have to baby sit the install process while you are at it.

 

[jehale]

I cloned a 137GB partition to a new 320GB sata drive (HDCLONE). When I attempted to create partition in the empty space with Partition Magic 8, I got an error. Now Windows xp will only see 137GB on this drive. Format doesn't help, Chkdsk sees unrecoverable errors, Partition magic sees the full space and appears to partition it, but windows xp won't see anything but 137GB. Even a "low level" format using Western Digital's software (which sees all 320GB) will not get windowsxp to see anything but 137GB. THis sounds like the problem above... How to get windows to see the whole drive again?

 

[SomeJoe7777]

You need two things to make Windows XP see large drives (>137 GB / 127 GiB)

1. Windows XP must be running at least SP1. If you're installing Windows fresh on the drive, the Windows XP CD must contain at least SP1.

2. The computer's BIOS and hard disk controller must support 48-bit LBA, and it must be enabled.

If it seems that only Windows won't see space past 137 GB, but DOS utilities like Partition Magic and manufacturer utilities will, upgrade the Windows installation to SP1 or higher, and partition and format the remaining space using Disk Management. Or, for a fresh Windows install, slipstream SP1 or higher into a Windows XP CD and use that to install.

If DOS utilities won't see past 137 GB either, check your motherboard manufacturer's web site (or hard disk controller manufacturer's web site) for a BIOS update, and/or make sure LBA is enabled in the system BIOS.

For more than you ever wanted to know about large drives, see http://www.48bitlba.com/