HDD Problem - PC sees it as being less than what it is.

[rpjone]

Hi there, I have a Gigabyte:GA-7VT600-L mother board and just bought a samsung 200gb drive. Im also running 10gb and 60gb drives as well as a DVD burner. At the moment I have the drive as a master on its own IDE cable. The drive works fine, but my PC sees it as only being 128gb. I looked in the bios and it says 200gb. Can any one help me here?

Thanks,

Rhys

[>GSXR<mrbusa]

Originally Posted by rpjone

Hi there, I have a Gigabyte:GA-7VT600-L mother board and just bought a samsung 200gb drive. Im also running 10gb and 60gb drives as well as a DVD burner. At the moment I have the drive as a master on its own IDE cable. The drive works fine, but my PC sees it as only being 128gb. I looked in the bios and it says 200gb. Can any one help me here?

Thanks,

Rhys

you need to enable large drive support in windows.you can download the utility from ms or just use the install disk utility from the drives mfg.if you are running xp updated to atleast sp1 then large drive support is enabled after sp1 is installed.if your version is sp1 then it is slipsteamed to recognize your drive from the install.alos you can just google it if you have problems and want to get all technical.i dont have all the right words to explain in detail.later


edit:::also when you post a question like this it is a good idea to list the basic specs of your system,os,mobo,cpu,gpu,etc..

[swimtech]

Yes, I had to partition and format my Maxtor 160G with the manufacturer's software first before installing Windows on it a year ago. Windows sees the whole drive fine now too.

[Tril]

Also, most drive have a jumper (at least they did before) to disable big drive support. That's not the true name but I don't remember how it's called. What it does is make the computer detect the drive as smaller than it is. I think its purpose is to make big HDD work with very old computers that do not support them. I don't see why you would need this. Any computers these days support big HDD.

I'm informing you about this jumper because I installed a jumper there on an HDD before by mistake. It took me a long time to figure out why not all the size was detected.

EDIT : I noticed that you said that the bios see it, so the jumper is not the problem. Still, it's good to know.

[PangingJr]

hard disk drive is larger 128GB in size (the drive size in binary base. or, often referred to as 137GB in decimal billion measure) needs use of "48-bit LBA" support so it can address enough individual sectors on the drive, and be able to keep tabs on all the sectors in the drive. the 48-bit LBA enables your computer to work without the drives size limit problems.

there are a few things involved that you should know before (or after as in this case) installing a new hard disk drive that is larger than 128GB in size to make it work well on your Windows XP computer system... before thing gets to Windows XP, where the Windows XP service pack 1 (and after) drivers will handle the matter and allows you to go beyond 128GB on the drive, your should make sure that your computer hardwares (includes the BIOS and the disk drive controllers on the motherboard) are fully support 48-bit LBA. the drive itself will always support 48-bit LBA if its size is larger than 128GB.

(assumimg your hardwares can support 48-bit LBA)

there is a way that you can use to make it work at the first time that you install this new drive...
- use Windows XP SP1 or SP2 setup (or product) CD to partition/format and install the Windows XP just as usual.

with or without using any third-party softwares or the disk drive utility of the disk drive maker. there are a few ways you can use to make sure that it will work after Windows installation is completed, or, in some cases at after a few disk drive configurations have been made...

- install the Windows XP just like you usually do. but only this time when the setup program asks you to partition the disk drive you'll partition it by entering the size that is equal to your preferred boot/system partition size and leave the rest of the drive space as an unpartitioned space. and then after the Windows installation is completed you can install one of the service packs, and then after rebooted you should be able to use the Windows Disk Management tool to partition the rest of the unallocated space on the drive. and also use it to change drive letter assignments for your Windows XP.

- use a third-party partitioning software or the disk drive utility programs to prepare and pertition the drive prior to install the Windows XP.
in many cases, these software programs are managing to avoid the need for the computer BIOS report and can use the whole disk drive space, after that the Windows XP will then able to handle the size as shown in the partition tables.

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here is an example of the Disk Management tool and the disk drive that is over 128GB with some free unallocated space on the drive (wating for me to partition it). this unallocated space is like an unpartitioned space when you're clean installing the Windows XP that i mention earlier.
just reconfigured my Windows XP system a few hours ago by removing and adding (Disk 0) a brand-new hard disk drive to it,
the new drive is a 160GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA-II, it has never been formatted by me (except it has already been low-level formatted from its maker). i restored the backup image into it and it's just like you're doing a clean installing of the Windows XP.

[H3X4D3C1M4L]

Most IDE controllers these days support 48 bit LBA @ ATA100...so you must have an older mobo, or maybe there is a new BIOS for it that enables 48 bit LBA