160gb hd only shows 137 gb

I am running XP Pro SP1a (2 messes up my machine), Amd 3000+, 512 mb pc3200, and my new hd is a maxtor 160 gb. I am running the latest version of bios for my asus A7N8X. Any suggestions? The hd isn't yet partitioned and I hadn't planned on doing that unless I have to.

 

That is normal. The 160GB value is the raw capacity of the drive. The 137GB value is the formatted capacity of the drive. There is a fair amount of unuseable disk space overhead in partitioning and formatting.

 

Are you sure? Check out the thread "Hdd" that is currently active in this forum. I realize that the actual size is always a little less but the 23 gb discrepency is way too big. Furthermore, the fact that it reads as 137gb pretty much gaurantees us that the problem has something to do with my system not recognizing 48 bit LBA. Anyone else?

 

Make sure that you bios supports 48 bit LBA, more than likely that is the problem. found this m$ document that may help:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q303013

 

is this your windows drive?

in any case, what did you use to partition and format the drive? you may want to use one of the maxtor's drive tools to do the partition and format prior to windows installation (if its your windows drive...)

 

Thanks, yeah I checked all that out and updated my atapi.sys. I even ran a Maxtor Large Disk Enabler that did nothing. I'm seriously stumped.

 

did you 'upgrade' to SP1? or is your XP disk slipstreamed with SP1 already? if you upgraded, then support for large disks was not added until AFTER the upgrade.

what does your Disk Management look like? (Start>run>Diskmgmt.msc)

if you havent already looked, you possibly have the extra space unformmated at the end of your hard drive. I forget if XP lets you expand the partition size, but a program like Partition Magic will do it easily.

 

hey all. Some of you may remember me posting about this before. I had the 200 gig that died and was looking for recovery tools.. I don't have SP anything. I have found a way to format this drive to full size though. You can only do it during a clean install (as an internal IDE drive),and it will display it's true size (in wierd HD math of course) BUT, and this was a painfull lesson, as soon as you try to upload beyond 136GB the drive will crash. (again remember, I have no service packs) However, if you can get your hands on a USB 2.0 external box the sky is the limit. (control panel > administrative tools > computer management > storage > disk management). What ever you finally do, be sure you back up things that you really want to keep (yeah I know thats everything... why else would you have it) I spent two weeks and tried 6 differrent recovery programs and only got back 16 GB of 136. A few weeks after I re-formatted and started over, a grand master Jedi (can I use "jedi" without getting sued) told me the best and pretty much the only reliable method of software based mass recovery is "ghost". Of course you need a second drive thats bigger than the data you are trying to save (hmmm! I can't get e 200 to work, what use is a 250???) I know I am not giving you an answer but I hope this will help you avoid the crap I went through....

 

Win XP does ot support the 48-BIT-LBA-Support which is necessary to run HDDs bigger than 130GB. Update your Win XP or 2000 pro or home to SP2 and your HDD will be detected at full size. ATTENTION: when reinstalling Win all partitions are deleted/not detected. Informe you about making a new Win Boot Disk including SP2!!!!!!!!

 

After detection your hdd should have something about 149GB. Just install Win on 130GB and update Win and check the size.

 

SP1 supports it as well. Do SP2 if you'd like, but know that you dont HAVE to... yet ;P

 

Thanks all.

dmaster: Are you saying I have to repartition my drive and start from scratch booting with a Win XP disk that has sp2 on it? Or are you saying I can just install SP2 and it will suddenly report the extra space? I'll give either a shot but I don't understand how that would help. Microsoft has a program, a hotfix, that enables 48-bit LBA. Also, their site claims that all you need is SP1, which I have (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013). As I said earlier, SP2 and my machine don't see eye to eye.

Also, diskmanagement says that the drive is 127.99gb with 24.67gb unallocated for a totoal of about 152gb.

Thanks again everyone

 

You must have SP1 or greater included (slipstreamed) as part of the Windows installation in order to support drives greater than 137GB.

Installing XP and then installing a Service Pack after won't change the size as the drives parameters have been set during the Windows installation.

You could always partition the drive, but it's very simple to "SlipStream" SP1 or SP2 into a XP CD then just do a fresh install.

 

just like yearstocome said ... just reformat .... you have 48-bit LBA enabled just the disk wasn't formated when 48-bit LBA was enabled so it only formatted what it could see(137GBs) ... (I'm assuming the 160GB drive is slave to your windows boot drive)

 

You can format till you are blue in the face, but you still need SP1 or better.

Windows XP does not support 48-bit LBA on it's own without SP1 or SP2.

You can use the Micro$$oft link above, but be aware it may cause problems.

The easiest way is to just make another copy of your XP CD and slipstream SP1 or 2 into it.

 

he doesnt need it slipstreamed as long as he installs the update. AFAIK SP1 supports large disks, period. if it can see it, it can see it, there is no reason that it would only work on a fresh install slipstreamed with SP1. I have upgraded from non SP1 to SP1 and tested it numerous times myself when SP1 was still new. just stating the facts.

 

If Win is already installed and showes only 137GB, just install SP2 and your HDD should be detected with a size of about 149GB.
The hotfix, you have, maybe needs to be aktivated and you need SP1.
Try this:
1. open regedit (type 'regedit' in the MS-Dos-Window)
2. search for the entry:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters
3. search for 'EnableBigLba' and set it to '1'
4. if there is no entry like this just type: 'EnableBigLba REG_DWORD 1'

If you do not feel good in fingering arround at regedit, do not!
But the easiest way is to install SP2.

If you need to reinstall your Win, some day in the future, all your partitions will not be detected by the Win-Installation-Setup. Therefore it is necessary to make an Wininstallationcd by yourself including SP2 or SP1. Therefore you can find some programms like XP-SP2-Updater. How to do? You can read at the helpfile of those programms...

 

Okay, I didn't want to go into my registry if I didn't have to so I just slipstreamed SP2 onto my XP Pro disk. SP2 took and I was able to get my software up and running with it fine. Something must have been different about the slipstreamed fresh install and the update... I can't really say for sure though. Anyway I reformatted my drive and created a 152 GB partition. Thats right, one big fat chunk, like EXTRA chunky Skippy or something. Never saw the point in breaking it up... Thanks everyone for your input except those of you that didn't contribute with your input.... like that guy that said only seeing 137gb was normal for a 160gb drive. lol

 

I have tried on several computers to install SP1 in order to support large hard disks and it has never worked for me either, even though it's supported by the bios etc.

That's why I suggested slipstreaming it, as it's simple, always there if you reformat, and guarateed to work.

Anyway, glad it's sorted.