WinXP Home incorrectly reports size of new hd

[michko]

Okay, here's the situation, any help you can provide ... please!
I've got a pc running WinXP Home, the 20GB hd had some bad sectors. I bought a 160 GB hd to replace it. The version of Norton Ghost I have won't handle WinXP, so I did a direct sector copy from the 20GB to the 160 GB using HDClone (free copy from Ultimate Boot CD). Of course it could not copy the three bad sectors, but all else went ok. The Master Boot Record shows the proper size of the 160GB drive (actually shows 152, but that's ok). And it boots into WinXP just fine. However, once Windows is up, it reports the size of the hd to be 18.6 GB (exactly what it reported the original hd to be). It can scan for hardware changes, nothing. When you go into Disk Management, the top shows Volume C:, 18.64 GB capacity, yet the bottom screen (partition information) shows Disk 0, Basic, 149.05 GB, Online. I tried to convert to a dynamic drive using diskpart, but it just tells me cannot convert this version of windows. I don't really understand this, if the MBR is correct and WinXP can even show the correct partition information, why doesn't the hd size match? Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions on fixing this before I pull out what's left of my hair.

Thanks

 

[cdogg]

When you used HDClone, I'm guessing that it created an identical partition size matching the old hard drive, instead of first formatting the entire drive as part of the primary partition.

Disc 0 that you are seeing in Disk Management is unpartitioned space.

~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

 

[s0121]

Why would you clone a HD that is known to have BAD Sectors.

I've got a pc running WinXP Home, the 20GB hd had some bad sectors. I bought a 160 GB hd to replace it. The version of Norton Ghost I have won't handle WinXP, so I did a direct sector copy from the 20GB to the 160 GB using HDClone (free copy from Ultimate Boot CD).

If there are portions of data in the BAD Sectors.. you lost data... I'd get Ghost that is XP Compatible or get SpinRite and recovery the HD data... I also use EasyRecovery Professional is the complete solution for your data recovery, file repair, and disk diagnostic needs.
I have been able to recover data from otherwise non-accessable HD's.

Frank Smith irc.dhcnetwork.com

SomeWhere in Kansas Near Dodge City

 

[vacunita]

As Cdogg said, the cloning procedure effectively created an identical partition on the new drive, leaving the rest of the drive untouched. This is done beacuse ghosting or cloning, effectively copies everything sector by sector, including partition information, boot records etc. As is, to another medium effectively creating a ghost or clone of the original. Hence the 20GB partition.


You'll have to either format the drive, and Install a fresh copy of Windows,(which is what i'd suggest) to get all the space back. Or create a new partition on the Drive 0, with the remainder of space. Which will give you 2 partitions a 20gb system partition. and a 140GB empty partition to do with as you please.

 

[allteltec]

You should be able to add the un partitioned space to the working partition with a program like partitionMagic.

 

[wcburton]

Perhaps you could use Ranish Partition Manager or some other partition management software to modfy the partition size?

 

[cdogg]

You could modify the partition size using a utility as allteltec suggested, or you could start over by using the utility that your hard drive manufacturer provides. For example, Maxtor supplies the MaxBlast 4 utility and is a free download off their website.

Although free, these utilities are well-designed. They give you the option to create multiple partitions and control partition/cluster size. It formats the drive to your liking first, before copying data over from the old drive.

~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

 

[michko]

Thanks cdogg, I should have thought instead of getting frustrated. I've used Ghost and HDClone enough that I didn't even think to look for a disk that came with the hd. Sure enough Seagate provides one, it's currently copying files right now. should work, if not I'll post again.

Still frustrates me. As long as the MBR shows the correct partition info, Win2000 just picks up and reformats the unused space, why did they leave this out of WinXP?
Retorical question.

Thanks again.

btw to wcburton, I did use Ranish, that's why the partition info was showing as (almost) correct. I figured XP would have picked up disk size from the MBR, but apparently not.

btw to allteltech - PartitionMagic would probably do the job, but the evaluation version I have will only extend the working partition to 20GB. don't actually use it enough to justify buying the full version...

thanks to all for suggestions.

 

[cdogg]

- Hmm, I believe the MBR is actually read by the BIOS first, and the OS just looks at the file system of the drive (FAT, NTFS, etc) which contains information such as partition/cluster size. That's my understanding anyway!

- If Windows 2000 extends partitions automatically to include unused space, it never did for me! I don't seem to remember that being an option.


The underlying problem here, that I think you are getting closer and closer to realizing, is that the entire drive must be formatted first prior to copying data over from the old drive. If you copy sector by sector (like HDClone does), then the partition is forced to be the same size as it was on the old drive. And at that point, only a utility that can re-size partitions will help. I'm pretty sure Win2K or WinXP do not have built-in tools to handle that part.

~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

 

[bcastner]

Just a comment on this issue:

cdogg noted: "- If Windows 2000 extends partitions automatically to include unused space, it never did for me! I don't seem to remember that being an option."

He is correct. Use the manufacturer's utility disk to partition and format the volume as you desire. Then run HDClone again. Or use a Win98SE boot disk, and utility approach:

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Disk Manager under XP is fairly listing the unused space in its own way as not partitioned, and not formatted.

The issue is the the disk space is undefined for Windows as to its partitioning (other than the original 20gb active partition), and unformatted.

I would start this project all over again. Use the disk manufacturer OEM utility, or my reference above to a valid large LBR bootdisk, pre-partition, and format the disk, and then use HDClone.

You can do this natively:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313348

But it is often easier in your circumstance to resort to third-party tools if the volume is to be the active, system and boot volume as defined under XP.

Best regards,
Bill Castner