BIOS doesnt detect my 40Gb hdd full capacity 1

[tesa]

I have a motherboard made by pcchips... and the bios only detects up to 32Gb out of 40Gb of my hdd. I would like to have my hdd full capacity detected... Should I upgrade my Bios,?? what would happen if I format my hdd using only 32Gb??
thanks in advance for any tip
Tesa

 

[garwain]

Try changing the mode. you should have some options such as NORMAL, LBA, and a few others. I'm sorry I don't have much experiance with HDD's but I've seen playing around with that setting make big differences.

Good luck.

 

[jeremybarker]

I have a similar problem...BIOS detects my 30gb as 8456mb. I don't have any problem w/ windows detecting it as 30gb though.

 

[sleew]

Well,
Here is the problem.What acctually happens is that hard drive structure is hidden from bios and is represented in two posible ways: LBA or CHS.LBA mode, logical addressing mode,is mode when BIOs(13 inth in bios) see HDD chunkies as row with numbers, 1,2,3...CHS mode, cluster_head_sector
mode, is mode when bios see HDD as building_street_town mode
like bigger units wich contain smaller.Actual size of disk is when u multiply C with H with S.Because your BIOS does not support zero head(to Jeremybarker) when it multiply c with H-1 with S it gets 8gb instead of 3oGB.U can use those 8GB without any problems but what u need to do is to upgrade BIOS if there is version for your model.Newer BIOS will support 16 heads(from 0 to 15) instead of 15(from 1 to 15) and you will see 30GB.
Tesa, u can perfectly use 32GB but if u want to see 40 GB try to upgrade bios or to find some options in BIOS regarding HDD geometry and translation.It is odd that u see only 32GB because when u can't see whole drive u usually can't see more than 3/4 of HDD(like Jeremybarker).U can also install translation driver on HDD boot record but in that case u must allways boot from HDD.U can also use separate PCI IDE controler with approriate translation but it is rare solution.
Hope it was helpfull.
Sleew
Compaq & Microsoft TS
sleew@infosky.net

 

[dakota81]

First course of action is get rid of all PC Chips motherboards. =)

Seriously, check their website for any bios updates first. Just like there was a 528meg limit on original IDE drives, then a 2gig limit, another I think it was at 8gig, there is a limit on IDE drives at 32gig. You can purchase a PCI IDE controller, you can probably find one for $20 or $30, then this way you can use the full capacity of your drive. Otherwise, you're stuck at only recognizing 32gig.

Basically what happens is for larger capacities, the system needs to use more bits for addressing to access the harddrive. The downside is, the more bits used for addressing, the slower the access time and more memory used.

 

[boogio]

I have 2 40GB and does only get 63-67GB But it`s sopose to be that way.

short answer
40gb = 40.000.000.000 bytes
8 bits pr byte
40.000.000.000 X .8 =32.000.000.000 gb
= 32gb x2 = 64 gb - bootsector,formatting,etc = 63gb

http://users.belgacom.net/prepresspanic/units/bits.htm

 

[sleew]

Your calculation is nonsensical in every meaning and who use bits to calculate HDD capacity?And by the way 40 GB is much more than 40.000.000.000 bytes.(1 kb = 1024 bytes).
Tesa can't have 8GB overhead on 40GB HDD?!That would be to much. Sleew
Compaq & Microsoft TS
sleew@infosky.net

 

[LCPump]

I recently installed an IBM 20GB HD in a system with a BIOS limit of 8.4 GB. IBM and most HD mfrs. have overlay programs available for download that allow Windows to see the entire capacity, and Windows uses the entire drive-no limits. However, during the system POST, the drive will still be mis-reported. As someone else said, if you want to get the full capacity you have to boot from the HD, and use Windows, but that's usually what people want to do.

 

[Guest_imported]

Most harddrives come with a software solution to this problem. The majority of quality motherboards don't require the fix, but older machines or cheap boards will.

Check the website of the hardware for the appropriate download.

 

[jeremybarker]

Thanks alot sleew! Unfortunatly I'm using an older pc, work was giving them away free, and I just use it to house mp3s. That post cleared up alot for me.

 

[Snipeatwrk]

You'll have to either divide the hard drive into multiple partitions if you can't get a bios update for your motherboard.

 

[Graywolf96]

GR-Flame is on the mark too. My Western Digital 40G (2nd drive on P3 for video workspace) came with software to resolve the size issue.

 

[Guest_imported]

I also have a similar prob. I have a MicroStar Motherboard with AMI Bios. I tried to install a Samsung 40Gig Hard drive which would not be autodetected. I changed the jumpers to the setting for only 32Gig and my bios detected a 32 Gig hard drive. My bios has been upgraded so shouldn't be a prob seeing more than 8Gig. I can't seem to find the CHS settings to set manually. any more ideas?

 

[jackle74]

In response to both Tesa and Griegoe.

The problem that you are having is with your system BIOS. As far as losing space in the translation from the Manufacturers Gigabyte definition and the OS definition. You should only loose 7.37% of your space. On a 40 gig drive you will loose appoximatly 2.95 Gigs.

If you BIOS is recognizing the drives at 32 you can format them at this capacity but you are not using the full capacity of your drive and if you move this drive to a system that is able to see past the 32 gig limit you may have to repartition to see the full capacity. Now of coarse you will also have to remove the 32 gig clip that you have put on the drive to make it recognize. In my opinion if you pay for a 40GB drive you should not sell yourself short by using only 32gbs though. Also you are not going to set your drive manually to the 40 gig as the largest drive you can set manually using CHS is 8.4 GB. After that the drive sizes are determined by INT 13 or LBA.

Here are three solutions to your problem ranging from best to worst for your particular situations:

1. Purchasing a serperate IDE controller. For this I would probably go with a Promise ATA 100 controller as currently these are going to be the best value. This will allow you to not only see the full capacity of your drive but it will also allow you to use your drives at ATA 100 which you will definatly notice the difference in terms of speed.

2. Update your system BIOS. You can check with your MB manufacturer for an update for your BIOS to get past the 32G limitation. You MB manufacturer may or may not have an update for this, it will really depend on how old the board is. This will allow you to get past the 32Gb limitation but you will still be limited speed wise by your onboard controller.

3. Go to the drives manufactures site and download their installation software or use a 3rd party such as Ontrack Disk Manager.

http://www.ontrack.com.

I would first check the HDD manufactures website as their utilities are usually free to download. What the software will be doing to get past your limitation is installing a "Drive Overlay". This is a software fix that allows your system to see the full capacity of your drive. This is not an actual fix but more of a band aid.

 

[walshy]

don't muck around updating the bios unless you have done it before, go to your hard drive makers site and dowload the hard drive install program, it will install a thing called a dynamic disk overlay - which is like a mini bios on the hard drive that steps in and tells windows you have the correct drive.

 

[TKinton]

On a recently bought Seagate 40Gb, there is a jumper on the HDD to restrict capacity to 32Gb. Have a look see if that is causing the problem.

 

[dinosnake]

Sleew, IBM uses bits when quoting it's drive capacity. So when you format an IBM drive it will turn out quite a bit less capacity than quoted due to the base 2 math difference that boogio mentions.

See IBM if you have questions.