[computer_idiot]

Hi,
I am new to doing my own repairs. Anyway, I installed a hard drive on my computer, it seemed like it was used so I reformatted it. Thought I did it right, but when I look at the hard drive in my computer it says 127 GB but my label on the Hard drive says 160 GB. It is a western Digital. Am I missing something here or did I reformat wrong?
Thanks,
Samantha

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Sounds to me that the partition is not using the whole drive

You could delete the partition and then recreate a new one using the whole drive or create a extended partition to use the rest of the drive

See http://www.compu-docs.com/Fdisk.htm how to use Fdisk

Fdisk does have limitations

Personally I use PQ Magic

Once partitioned and formatted it will come out as aprox 156gig due to the manufactures using a different calculation of megabytes. I think its 1024 = 1 megabyte

Or put it in a computer which has XP on and use the Disk management

Edited by peter99, 17 August 2007 - 07:01 AM.

[peter99]

Sounds to me that the partition is not using the whole drive

You could delete the partition and then recreate a new one using the whole drive or create a extended partition to use the rest of the drive

See http://www.compu-docs.com/Fdisk.htm how to use Fdisk

Fdisk does have limitations

Personally I use PQ Magic

Once partitioned and formatted it will come out as aprox 156gig due to the manufactures using a different calculation of megabytes. I think its 1024 = 1 megabyte

Or put it in a computer which has XP on and use the Disk management

Edited by peter99, 17 August 2007 - 07:01 AM.

[computer_idiot]

Hi,
Thank you for responding. You said put it on a computer that has xp, this computer does, do I do it on this one? I can't find what you are talking about.
Thanks,
Samantha

[silverbeard]

What OS are you running? FAT32 has a hard time with Large volumes and require extra drivers to recognize volumes larger than 128GB.

[computer_idiot]

Hi,
Thanks for responding.
I have XP home on this hard drive. It is 160 gb my ram is 512 mb, it is a compaq computer with 500 mgz.
Thanks,
Samantha

[peter99]

Click start
Click run
Then type this in the box click OK

diskmgmt.msc

you will see all the drives

set the jumper on the seconded drive as slave

Disk Management implies it's a tool used to manage system disks, both local and remote.

http://www.theelderg..._management.htm

Edited by peter99, 17 August 2007 - 08:26 AM.

[silverbeard]

Which filing system are you using? (NTFS or FAT32)

Is the Drive partitioned? I'll assume not but XP generally will detect large volumes. It could be a BIOS Issue. The 500mhz processor tells me it's an older machine.

Partitioning the HD may fix the issue or converting to NTFS should allow for the rest of the hard drive to be seen.

[computer_idiot]

I only have 1 drive hooked up right now, I took the other drive out.

I did the diskmgmt.msc and this is what it says.

It shows the C Drive and the D drive. C is the hard drive and D is the cd rom

For C it says Partition Basic NTFS Heathl (system) 127.99 GB 123.56 GB 96% No 0%

And at the bottom it has a dark blue line on both that I guess means partition

So what do I need to do to fix it with what this says?

I don't have much on there and can redo the whole thing but if I can bring up the other partition without wiping it that would be great.

Thanks for you time, please let me know.

Samantha

[Neil Jones]

Did you use an Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 CD? You need at least a SP1 disk to allow Windows to see drives bigger than 127Gb.

[computer_idiot]

Hmm,
I don't know, I can't find it.
But if it was sp2 wouldn't it automatically have sp1?
Is SP something I have to down load extra?

Thanks,
Samantha

[shard92]

You might have to download it seperately... The quickest check is to right click on my computer and select properties. It should tell you if you have a service pack or not...

It could also be a hardware limit as some controllers don't support over 127mb....

[computer_idiot]

Hi,
Thanks for the info, I looked and it does not have service pack 1 or 2, so I need to down load it.
Once I down load it will it catch it or what do I do then.
Thanks,
Samantha

[Neil Jones]

You need to do what's known as Slipstream - make a new CD with Service Pack 2 integrated.
If there is nothing on the computer you want, just wipe it again with the new CD you're going to make and it'll appear as a 160Gb drive.

How to do it:
http://www.helpwithw...sp2-bootcd.html

[computer_idiot]

Ok, I downloaded SP1.

I don't have a burner so I can't do a cd.

My computer this is on is a Compaq Desktop, it is an older model, P3, 547 MGZ, 512 Ram Would this be why it is only showing 127?

Now, if that is the case that would be ok, as as soon as I get my Gateway fixed it will be going in that one, that should work right in it shouldn't it? It is a Gateway SE.

Thanks,
Samantha

[Tyger]

After all this advice I'm going to give some more. Go to the Western Digital web site and download the Data Lifeguard .iso to your hard drive and burn it to disk as an image. Then boot from it and use it to setup the new drive. It will see the entire drive without any problem and install whatever combination of partitions and file systems you choose. This seems to be the simplest way to do what you want.