Large Drive Detection.... 1

[acrodyne]

Hello,

I'm a little new to this forum...
I have a slight problem with a hard drive. At my work, I have a 250 gig drive that we are trying to partition and format. We have tried 3 different machines to do the job but the computers will only detect around 130 gigs. At this point we didn't even try to partition or format. So, we took it back to the dealer. The technician at the dealer was able to partition/format for us. Turns out that he had to get a brand new top-of-the-line motherboard just to detect that amount of space in the hard drive. We figured it to be a bios issue.
So, we put the drive back into our system and it shows that it has 237 gigs of space, problem solved, right?!?!?. Now, we tried to dump over 200 gigs of video media onto the drive, but our computers will not allow us to write over 130 gigs to that drive, even though it shows us a capacity of around 237 gigs. Is this still a bios issue? I just don't know what to think.

Frank G.

 

[IslandCustom]

Are you using XP? If so, I believe you need SP1 to support drives over 130GB.

 

[pweegar]

Could very well be a bios issue. Go to the mb manufacturer and dl the lastest BIOS. You can also try repartitioning the drive with Partition Magic. Break it up into a 120 GB part and an 80. Or whatever you need.

Did the drive include any software to help with partition issues?

 

[1101001100110101]

I would think it is a bios issue as XP is theoreticly limited to 128GB drive sizes. which your well under. Have you went to disk managment and seen if it show the full size or un-allocated space?

 

[IslandCustom]

According to Frank, his BIOS sees the drive capacity, which is substantially more than the 128GB size limit for pre-SP1 XP, which is why I suggested installing the service pack. I think you mis-read his drive size.

 

[cdogg]

There are 2 important factors here to consider:

1) As IslandCustom has pointed out, XP does need to have SP1 to enable 48-bit LBA Addressing. 24-bit LBA addressing is limited to 137GB (or 127.6 true gigabytes).

2) The BIOS or IDE controller on a motherboard is also a potential problem. Older versions only used 24-bit LBA Addressing as well. Most of the time, a BIOS update will solve the problem. Other times, you will need to purchase a PCI IDE controller card that can handle 48-bit.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[wolluf]

2k -

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305098

xp -

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

(presume its not bios if bios is now seeing 237GB)

 

[acrodyne]

Hello all,

Thank you for your prompt replies. All of our machines have win 2k pro sp4. After a few more tests I think it really comes down to three choices. 1. Update the bios. 2. Add a controller card that supports >137 gigs. 3. Use software provided from the WD site. I'll try the bios update first and keep you guy posted.


Did the drive include any software to help with partition issues?
pweegar

Sure didn't!! Isn't that odd?!?

Have you went to disk managment and seen if it show the full size or un-allocated space?
1101

Disk managment was only picking up 137 gigs.

Frank G.

 

[cdogg]

Just to clear one thing up, the 137GB limitation from 24-bit LBA is per drive. Therefore splitting it up into smaller partitions (120GB and 80GB as suggested by pweeger) would not work around the problem. Also, SP3 for Win2K enabled 48-bit LBA. So it's not the OS in your situation.

This site has some good information on the subject:

http://www.48bitlba.com

http://www.48bitlba.com/win2k.htm

Here's also a recent discussion:
thread751-779044


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884