Hard Drive installation problem!

Hi everyone, yesterday I decided to upgrade my existing hard drive on my cpu. The original one began making a noise so I got scared and decided to upgrade. My current system is a Dell Dimension 2350 w/ 2.2 ghz p4 and 512 ram running Windows XP. I decided to buy the drive at the following link - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ductCategoryId=pcmcat33200050001&type=product

I installed the drive fine, went through all the procedures and had my cpu up and running, therefore I know that the cpu does indeed accept the drive and the installation was originally done properly. The problem was that, as you know, you need Windows XP SP1 or higher to access the rest of the partition (using the easy installation for Maxtor it partitioned the drive to 127 gb). I installed the OS w/ SP 1 and installed the registry patch that Maxtor supplies to allow the cpu to access the rest of the partition on the drive which worked fine. The problem was that, while I got a message stating that the registry patch was successfully applied and I could now access the rest of the drive, I didn't know how to partition the rest of it so that it can actually be used. This is where the problem occurred. I opened up the MaxBlast software and I wasn't sure where to go. I booted up w/ the Maxblast disk in order to attempt to reclaim the rest of the hard drive and I did something in one of the settings that, from what I understand, tells the system bios that the drive is actually smaller than it is, or something to that effect. I didn't know this at the time and accidentally went ahead and did this thinking that by changing the number it will increase the drive size to the 250 gb max. When I restarted my CPU I received a disk read error and it would not load up the OS. I went back to try and switch it back but it didn't work and now I'm stuck. I tried reformatting the hard drive but when I go to the Windows XP installation it only showed a 32 gb partition. I attempted to reformat again and this time it showed up as a 28 gb partition even though both times it was supposed to be a 127 gb partition. I attempted to install Windows XP on the remaining partition but the setup software indicates that the drive is improperly formatted and must be reformatted to install XP. After attempting the format the setup is supposed to continue installing but instead brings me back to the installation and formatting part that I previously had done, instead of continuing on with the installation. When I try running the computer without any cd's in the drive I get an error saying that something is missing (I can't recall what it was but I believe it started with an n). I ran a diagnostic problem to see if there are any problems with the hard drive and the scan indicated that the drive is working fine and there are no problems so I believe that it's a problem that I've created. The only idea that I have at this point is to reinstall the system bios which I can obtain from Dell.com. I am currently wiping out the drive completely in the diagnostic utility (the Maxblast software is turning all binary code on the hard drive to 0's) and I'm hoping that will allow me to start over and perform the installation properly. Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem may be? My fear is that the hard drive is now lost and I will have to return it to get it fixed? I'm not sure exactly what the problem is. Hopefully this detailed explanation will allow the moderators to assist me in solving the problem. If not, when I get home I will have to call Maxtor tech support. Thanks for any help. Manny.



I forgot to mention that after I began receiving the disk error message I tried to do an advanced install of the entire 250gb but that didn't work either. The installation disk that I have for Windows XP contains SP 1 so I figured that it would not cause a problem but that didn't work either. The error message I am currently getting can be found at

http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/...jM3JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9c2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcHJvZF 9sdmwxPTMzJnBfcHJvZF9sdmwyPSZwX2NhdF9sdmwxPSZwX2NhdF9sdmwyPSZwX3BhZ2U9NQ**&p_li=


if you click the link on the page you will see the error that I am getting when trying to boot up without a cd. The problemm is that after I get that little blue screen that it shows, it goes straight to the NTLDR error and I can't do anything

 

it looks like you destroyed your partition table when trying to access the rest of the drive the first time. you did the right thing by doing a low level format (writing 0's). if anyone wants to know, low level formatting will fix all partition table errors and some other random drive errors that can't be fixed by a regular format. anyhow, try installing windows as is and see if you can find all 250gb. you should be able to find it all, in fact. if you really really can't, you can use partitionmagic (dos edition) to expand your 127gb partition to the rull 250. but no matter what, i highly recommend you let windows initially partition and format your drive.

 

ok great....i was really worried that i messed up the hard drive permanently......it's been doing the low level format for a while now but my understanding is that when you do the entire drive it can take a looong time, expecially when you have a big drive like mine

so your suggestion then is to create the partition using the windows xp cd? don't even bother with MaxBlast software????

just to make it clear here's what i'll do

1. finish the low level format.
2. reinstall the bios (just in case....i have the newest version downloaded from dell.com)
3. skip the maxblast setup and go straight to XP and let the program format my drive.

Will XP format it as 127 or 137 gb or will it format it as a 250 gb partition? The cd I have already comes with service pack 1 so I don't know if it can do the entire thing right off the bat? Also, are you sure that the low level format will fix the problem i'm having? Will there be any permanent damage to the drive? Do you recommend splitting up the drive into partitions? (i would prefer to just have one 250 gb drive instead of it partitioned into 2 different parts) but I'm not sure what's better for the drive. Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it. Manny.

 

i don't think the bios reinstall will do much in terms of helping with the problem, but y ou got the idea. hopefully windows should install it as a 250gb partition. i don't recommend partitioning it further, since having a little free space left in several partitions is a waste compared to having a little free space in one partition. if you really want to be a bit more organized by using drive letters, check out the subst command

 

ok great....no i honestly would rather just have one drive letter and put everything there....one partition is all i need and it's what i prefer.

so there should be no problems short or long term with the drive once the low level format is complete?

 

nope. it'll be just like brand new