250Gig Hard Drive only Formats to 131Gig!!!

[datasafe1]

Hi guys

My first post to the forum.

I decided to give my PC a spring clean and start from scratch. I've done this several times before without any problems.

My C: drive is a Seagate ST3250824A 250Gig and I've had no problems with it at all.

I start my PC by booting from a WindowsXP installations CD and choose to delete the existing partition. I then follow the simple instruction and proceed. When creating the new partition it only reports 131Gig! The drive is 250Gig.

All partitions have been deleted and I proceed to format the newly created 131Gig partition - there are no other partitions on this drive.

WindowsXP installs fine and when I check the size of the drive from My Computer, sure enough 131 less what has been used by the install.

So I remove the drive and connect it to a USB to IDE converter and connect this to my notebook - just 131Gig is seen by the PC.

I reinstall the drive into the main PC and install Partition Magic 8.01 hoping this might pick up the missing space. Alas it doesn't. No way can I find the 250Gig.

I've made no changes to the BIOS. Tried the drive in another PC to even doing a complete XP reinstall in the other PC (removing all partitions). Still only 131Gig

The jumper on the drive is set to master.

So what the heck is the problem?

Cheers

John

 

[Freestone]

Sounds a lot like a 48-bit LBA issue.

Does BIOS see the full size of the drive?
What Service Pack level is your XP install CD at?

http://www.48bitlba.com

 

[datasafe1]

Thanks for the reply.

It certainly was a 48-bit LBA issue!!

I'd used an early version of XP installation WITHOUT SP1 hence the problem!!

Thanks for the tip.

John

 

[Gerbaba]

I am having a similar issue. I have had both my new drives reporting small sizes. I do have XP with SP2 and my BIOS only recognizes the size sometimes. One drive I got to work was an old 80GB drive. The new Western Digital 80 is reporting 30hex and the 250 Seagate reports 31GB in size. I have a 60 that is on it's last legs and I have been fretting over this for 3 months and at my wits end. Any ideas?

Gerbaba

 

[cdogg]

How old is the motherboard. It might be a hardware issue, as older systems (designed before 2002) have a higher chance of not being compatible with 48-bit LBA. But since you mentioned "sometimes", it doesn't make much sense.

To get around that without upgrading, you can install an IDE controller into an empty PCI slot. These controllers come 48-bit ready. The cards go for about $20-30, and I recommend Promise or Highpoint if you go that route.

But before you buy anything, try the 250GB drive on the secondary IDE channel all by itself. Make sure it's set as MASTER attached to the end of the cable (not the "middle"). Also make sure you are using an 80-wire conductor IDE cable, and not the older 40-wire.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[Gerbaba]

The motherboard is new. I built it last year. I have been using the 80 wire cables, due to the drives coming with them, however, due to holiday traffic at home, I haven't had the opportunity to try the 250GB drive alone recently, but I do recall that was the only time it reported it's size was when it was setup as a single. Since the working 80GB is the boot drive, it reports 250 initially alone and 31 when it's set up as a slave. Bizzare.

And Happy Holidays!

 

[Freestone]

Some drives come with a size limiting junper. Be sure you are not using this setting accidentally when you are trying to make the 250GB drive a slave drive.

 

[cdogg]

In addition, make sure it is always attached to the "end" connector if it is master or the "middle" connector if it is slave. The position matters in most situations. Check the jumper as well, as Freestone mentioned.

Also, when you say "it is reported", are you talking about from within Windows or from the BIOS screen? Make sure you are going into the BIOS to look at the size of the hard drive. The BIOS should see it the same way each time, regardless of whether or not it's master or slave, alone or sharing. Windows is another story.

Let us know the exact size that you see reported in the BIOS...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[Gerbaba]

Now that I am back...
One 80GB reports as 33.5 in BIOS
One reports fine.
250GB reports as 33.5 in Bios and only detected as a slave no matter how the jumpers are set.

Windows and bundled installation software sees them the same way.

 

[wahnula]

Have you taken a peek in Disk Management?

Right-click My Computer > Manage > Disk Management

 

[Gerbaba]

Okay, I had my old 60GB die on me and got the 250GB working in time to salvage most of it. But disk management was checked and the BIOS was flashed with no changes to the situation.

Regardless of the fact my XP comes with SP2, and the BIOS already could recognize LBA drives, what solved the issue, was that it still needed a jumper to be seen at it's actual size. The 80GB issue, I never solved. The swapped out main drive that is the same make and brand works fine.

*crosses fingers and hopes there aren't anymore surprises*