question of interest

I had to buy a new hard drive for my wife's computer. I purchased a 200 gig (on the box) unit and when I installed it, the computer info now reads 127 max installed. Is this normal and why the discrepancy? It's not really important I guess, just curiosity on my part.

Don

 

What OS & file system? Right click on the drive and do properities. Fat32 usually has that limit in Win98.. am I close?

 

I'm assuming your running either Windows '98 or ME; or most likely Windows 2000 or Windows XP Service Pack 1 (or pre-service pack 1, also known as Service Pack 0 or XP Gold). All these OS's had HD limits: 98 & ME maxed out at 80gb (I think- it's been a long time so I could be wrong; it might be 127gb) and Windows 2000 and XP SP0 or SP1 maxed out at 127gb (that I know for sure). Update your OS! If it's 98 or ME, get Windows XP SP2; if you're running Windows 2000, install SP4 (a free download from Windows Update)if you're running WinXP, install SP2 (also a free download from Windows Update). If you are running XP, look into 'slipstreaming' Service Pack 2 and creating a new WinXP install CD with SP2 slipstreamed into it. It's alot easier than it sounds. Just Google search 'slipstream SP2', or use a program called 'AutoStreamer'. It's EASY!!! All you need is your orginal XP CD, the AutoStreamer program (there's others available but this one is easiest IMHO), and the SP2 .exe file (a free download from Microsoft).... so, there you have it. Older OS's have hard drive size limitations; update your OS, and you'll have no more HD size limits.

hd2k