Missing files/hard drive space

Hello,
I have Windows98se based computer it is a Pentium 3 500 Mhz and has 320Ram with 2 hard drives.

But the strange thing is in Dos and Windows (not BIOS) it is saying the 2nd hard drive (slave) only has around 1.2GB space left even those it is a 40GB hard drive.

And the same thing happened to the other slave drive I had in the computer even those it was a harddrive with 3.2MB space it said it has 232,000 hard drive space left and has only had 232,000KB space left.

So I am wondering what happened tothe missing hard drive space on the slave drive even those the master drive is okay?

 

hmm, is it fat32? been awhile since I did the 98 stuff but I remember some special stuff needing to be done for it to recognize anything over 4 gigs. It might be partitioned as a 4 gig drive?

 

You've given us the physical capacity of one of the drives -- but what about the other? And what capacity does Windows see for each of those drives? If Kennyoz has put his finger on (part of) the problem, Windows will see something less than the physical capacity of the drive. We need to know what Windows is seeing, as well as the physical capacity of the drive.

Go to My Computer, and right-click on each drive letter involved to get the Properties menu. Click on Properties at the bottom of the Properties menu. You should get a dialogue box with a pie-chart in it, and the following information:

• File system
• Used space
• Free space
• Capacity

Please provide all of the above for each drive involved, as well as the physical capacity according to the drive manufacturer. The three-digit figures in GB will be sufficient. We don't need the 10- or 11-digit figures in bytes.

You also mention that you're running DOS. Which version? Or are you just referring to the character-mode DOS-prompt interface that Windows 98 provides?

 

DOS is 6.22 and my computer (Windows98SE) is showing for the Master (Seagate Model Number ST34321a as there is no mentioned of size):

Capacity 3.99GB Free Space 737MB Used 3.27GB

The Slave (Samsung 40.8GB):

Capacity 1.9GB Free Space 0.99GB Used 1.00GB

And the other slave that I took out was the following:

Seagate Model Number ST33232A 3.227MB but it was only showing 232,000KB.

But I find it is strange that Dos and Windows is showing the wrong amount but BIOS is showing the correct amount.

PS "Or are you just referring to the character-mode DOS-prompt interface that Windows 98 provides"? so could this mean I have to boot to dos to find the dos version?

Because when I booted to dos with the other slave it only showed 232,000KB one week after it showed around 1.GB space left.

 

Under Fdisk the Master is fat32 but both slave is showing fat but under a freeware I downlooad from here there are no numbers especially the heads, cylinders or showing fat12.

And the slave I took out was under 4GB at 3.2GB.

 

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/specs/ata/st34321a.html
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/specs/ata/st33232a.html

according to the above, two of your drives are showing the correct size.

is the samsung new? It may be that you are experiencing the 2GB barrier. The easiest solution would be to update your BIOS or reformat it with FAT32.

 

The Samsung is not new and the reason I need to update my BIOS or reformat with FAT32 especially since the master in BIOS, DOS and Windows is okay?

Also I forgot to mentioned I try to load Linux and I was told in Windows the Linux part in one word or another is not seen.

 

you have linux installed? windows doesn't recognize ext2,3 or reiserfs, and I don't think it ever will. The only way I've been able to access those file systems within windows is with partition magic. The best way is if you want access to data in both OS' is to create a documents partition with the FAT file system. If the case is that you can only see 2GBs of the samsung is because you have the rest formatted as linux partitions there is nothing wrong.

 

I don't have Linux installed as I abort the install of it because it failed to see some partson my computer and how do you create a documents partition with the FAT file system.

And is partition magic free and if not do you know of any freeware similar?

Also someone else suggested Boot up using your linux CD and when you get to a login prompt type in “cfdisk” or if thi doesn't help then use a freewarre called killfile

 

First, before you do anything else, make sure you goto your motherboard manufacturers site and update your BIOS. Next back up then reformat your 40GB drive with two 20GB partitions of FAT32. FAT12 has a size limit of 2GBs, and probably the source of your problem.

 

And the reason I need to update my BIOS especially since both drives are showing the correct size under BIOS?

Also using killfile or typing cfdisk on Linux boot up to delete the Linux partition won't work?

 

Google the model no. The first hit will tell you that the physical capacity of that drive is 4.3GB.

If those are the figures Windows is reporting, I think your problem is apparent. Free space and used space add up to a reasonable approximation of the capacity of the drive, so I don't see any problem with that drive. It's just nearly full. It happens.

In reaching this conclusion, I'm assuming that Seagate reports the physical capacity in decimal GB. DOS reports in binary GB. 1GB binary translates to 1.048GB decimal. I'm also assuming that this drive is not formatted with the FAT16 filesystem. You haven't told us what filesystem is in place on this drive.

Yes, you have a problem here. Free and used space don't add up to something resembling physical capacity. But you haven't identified the filesystem on that drive. I assume it's FAT16. If that's the case, you've run up against the limitations of that filesystem. It can't establish a partition larger than 2.1GB. Back up what's on that drive, then convert it to FAT32. Windows 98SE has a tool to do that.

You may find that you need to delete the partition, then repartition the drive with a version of FDISK (or similar utility) that supports FAT32.

In doing so, you may discover that your machine is old enough that the BIOS won't support a partition size larger than 8.4GB. If so, you can:

• set up multiple partitions, all smaller than 8.4GB
• update your BIOS (if an update exists for that machine), and/or
• install a drive overlay. Maxtor provides that software, or did last time I looked a couple of years ago. Avoid this option if you can -- it makes life complicated, and bad things can happen to your data if the system is booted from a disk that does not install the overlay.

Bear in mind that you can't do any of those things without destroying all data on that drive.

Your first post told us that's the free space on that drive. That drive's physical capacity (according to Seagate) is 3.23GB. What are the rest of the numbers for that drive that I asked for? What filesystem is installed on that drive?

The BIOS interrogates the drive during the boot sequence to learn what the drive geometry is. The drive geometry determines the physical capacity. That interrogation does not use the operating system that's installed on the computer, so the numbers reported by the BIOS usually represent the theoretical capacity of the drive. (Older BIOSes have their own limits that may prevent them from accessing the full capacity of a large drive.)

The operating system and filesystem have other limits that may may not permit the full capacity of the drive to be seen or used by that operating system. Check out Maxtor's white paper on the topic. While it deals specifically with the 137GB barrier, it has info on other size barriers -- some of which are only of historical interest now.

Perhaps now you can see why filesystem information is important in your situation. That was why I asked you to include the filesystem information reported by Windows for each drive. You haven't done that, so I'm guessing about what's going on. Don't forget that if we guess wrong, you end up with the problems caused by the bad guess.

Without some context for that observation, I'd be guessing. Wildly. I won't do that. See my comment above.

But I will offer one observation: if that drive is formatted with a filesystem other than FAT16, and you booted into DOS 6.22 to read it, DOS 6.22 would not be able to read that drive properly. DOS 6.22 does not support FAT32, NTFS, or the Linux filesystems.

I'd have expected that DOS 6.22 simply would not be able to access the drive, but it might instead report some strange figures. Use an OS that understands the filesystem in place on that drive to determine what's going on.

BTW -- FAT12 is used only on DOS partitions of 32MB or less. It won't support anything larger.

 

Thanks for everyone help but I found the problem night not be space or updating BIOS especially as not only was the Master drive was okay but anything on the slave was okay a few days before.

What the problem could have was Windows not recognizing Linux paritions so what I done was copy all files to another hard drive then delete non-dos paritions and format the hard drive.

So anything is okay.

 

Well, now you've seen the quality and accuracy of the guesswork that you get when critical information isn't posted. What did Windows say about the filesystem on that drive anyway?

I guess there really is a reason for the "Announcement" at the head of the forum. The one that says, "Announcement: Before You Post Asking For Help, Please Read This".

 

Thanks for your help Rob M but my last message did mentioned the problem is fixed and my message did mentioned what you asked for File system (if you mean what Operating system as I am not a tech head like you) Used space, Free space and Capacity.

Once again thanks to everyone help