[GeekForgotten]

I have a SATA WD HDD 320GB and my computer only detects 10GB of the total 320GB
The 10GB is the recovery partition and I can use it but the other part of the HDD doesnt seem to be detectable

this HDD was initially used in a Dell Computer but somehow it crashed, I was able to use liveUbuntu and recover the files but my computer still cant detect the full drive

If anyone could help that would be great

The drive is Western Digital SATA WD Caviar SE16 7200RPM

Edited by GeekForgotten, 08 August 2011 - 05:39 PM.

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I take it the hard drive is in a system then? If so please do the following.

Go to Start then to Run
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On left side click on Disk Management
On right side you will see you hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply. Do the following to take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard. It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
Now go to Start and then to All Programs
Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop


Attach it to your next reply

[rshaffer61]

I take it the hard drive is in a system then? If so please do the following.

Go to Start then to Run
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On left side click on Disk Management
On right side you will see you hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply. Do the following to take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard. It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
Now go to Start and then to All Programs
Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop


Attach it to your next reply

[GeekForgotten]

Hi rshaffer61
thanks for your reply

I hooked up the HDD to a SATA to USB enclosure and this is the screenshot when it is plugged in

I am sure it is Disk 2 what you are interested in mainly

Edited by GeekForgotten, 08 August 2011 - 07:00 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Well the problem is there are 3 different partitions. So if you want to make this see everything then you need to right click on each of those partitions and then click delete.
Make sure this is what you want because there is no going back and all data on the first two partitions will be gone forever.

[GeekForgotten]

WOW im so shocked that actually worked, i deleted the last 2 partitions and allocated a new volume !
It came up as 298 GB and I can use it by going to My Computer
But it wont let me delete the OS Partiton (55MB)
when I right click it, all it gives me is the option for "Help"

I took a screenshot to give you a better idea again

[rshaffer61]

Yeah that one may be a little more of a problem but it is only 55 megs so it's just the oem preinstall for the dell you got it out of.
Are you able to now use the drive?

[GeekForgotten]

Hmm alright that sounds good then
yes I can use the drive on the computer, not sure if I can use it on my PS3 yet

Also one more question
Is there a way to enable a FAT32 Partition to be allowed to copy files larger then 4GB
I remember a while back I did this using command prompt but I cant seem to recall anymore

Edited by GeekForgotten, 08 August 2011 - 10:45 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Fat32? why do you have a fat32 partition when everything since XP has been NTFS?
All the partitions i see are NTFS
If you are talking about your PS3 it should work putting them on the internal drive.

[GeekForgotten]

I need to format it to a FAT32 Partition because my PS3 only reads the drive if it is FAT32 format
otherwise it wont read it

I use NTFS for everything else though

I cant seem to format the drive to FAT32 as it only gives me the options of exFAT and NTFS

[rshaffer61]

Everything I'm seeing says you would have to split the files up to no more then 4 gigs each to work.

[GeekForgotten]

Well now the problem is, the computer detects the HDD but my XBOX 360 and PS3 do not

[rshaffer61]

Yep again they use FAT32 and the drive is formatted using NTFS.
This is a situation where you want the game consoles to see it you have to format it with FAT32.
Doing that limits the file size to 4 gigs then.
Your option is to split files into less the 4 gig sizes.

[dennisK16]

Yep again they use FAT32 and the drive is formatted using NTFS.
This is a situation where you want the game consoles to see it you have to format it with FAT32.
Doing that limits the file size to 4 gigs then.
Your option is to split files into less the 4 gig sizes.

there is another option:

for example:

Open a command window by going to Start, then Run and typing in CMD.
Now type in the following command at the prompt: format /FS:FAT32 G:(or whatever letter your drive has think it is g: if you haven't changed it)
[attachment=51772:formatexternalharddrivefat32.png]
press Y and enter and it should format it in FAT32.
(this way it can take a while to format since DOS prompt isn't the fastest program

for externals i usually use SwissKnife.
it a good free program that can format allot of external drives (usb, firewire, pcmia, sata and scsi)and its faster then windows.

hope this works for you!

DK

[rshaffer61]

Thanks for the info dennisK16 but the formatting is not the issue. You can format it from within the computer management program in windows with no problem.
The issue is that with FAT32 the files size is limited to 4 gigs with what GeeksForgotten is trying to do.
From within windows this is not a issue but the problem is the game console not being able to read a external drive without FAT32 and then the file size limitations.
If you want the game console to see the drive it has to be FAT32 but you will have to limit file size to the 4 gigs or smaller.
Since there has been no reference to what kinds of files we are talking about I cannot elaborate on that part itself.

[dennisK16]

Thanks for the info dennisK16 but the formatting is not the issue. You can format it from within the computer management program in windows with no problem.
The issue is that with FAT32 the files size is limited to 4 gigs with what GeeksForgotten is trying to do.
From within windows this is not a issue but the problem is the game console not being able to read a external drive without FAT32 and then the file size limitations.
If you want the game console to see the drive it has to be FAT32 but you will have to limit file size to the 4 gigs or smaller.
Since there has been no reference to what kinds of files we are talking about I cannot elaborate on that part itself.

i have externals on both my XBOX360 and PS3 for game storage both drives formatted in FAT32 and i have no problems with downloaded (legal) games for the xbox and ps3 the install files are not bigger then 4 GB and the game saves ain't bigger then that either so i don't see the problem...besides him not having the drive in FAT32

quoting geekforgotten now: "I cant seem to format the drive to FAT32 as it only gives me the options of exFAT and NTFS"

Edited by dennisK16, 09 August 2011 - 11:31 AM.