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Community Newsletter: Q&A: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
- 9/2/04 4:39 PM
My gigs are missing
by mohit616 - 6/28/07 10:38 PM In reply to: Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by KevintmI had 130 GB laptop. I had recently very short of disk space and now it is showing the full capacity of 50gb. Please let me know what should I do to get my 80gb.
Thanking you in anticipation
MG
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by kbut - 9/3/04 6:36 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
the ghosting or copy program used to clone the original hd to the replacement hd set up a partition of the SAME size as the source disk on the dest.disk. look for unpartitioned space with the drive mfr trouble-disk / cd that came with the drive
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by msgale - 9/3/04 7:12 AM In reply to: Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by kbutI purpose a simpler answer. There are two numbering system used in computers today, The decimal where one gigabyte is 1,000,000,000 bytes and the binary number system where one gigabyte is 1,073,741,824 bytes. Therefore a 75 Gigabyte (binary) disk is about and 80 gigabyte disk (decimal). Think about it if your PC has one gigabyte of RAM and you were to count the bytes would the result be 1,000,000,000 or 1,073,741,824. And the winner is 1,073,741,824 bytes.
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by sttrellie - 9/3/04 7:07 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I recently used software to expose past files I deleted over the last two years. I noticed very few files were exposed in comparison to what was downloaded which seems peculiar to me.
I am wondering if maybe the issue being discussed here, could apply to my issue of not being able to expose deleted files.
I just thought I would add my two cents to this discussion as it might relate to my issue.
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by toonspire - 9/3/04 7:36 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I HAVE an ME edition! You have to read very carefully how much you can "REALLY" upgrade your "ME"
>example: my ME is upgradable to 512 mg ram, in which it came with 128 mg ram, HOWEVER, it will "ONLY" show added performance of 256 mg and WILL not recognize the rest<
ME can 'only' upgrade a certain amount of memory because it will not register any more than the BIOS.
That was the draw back on the "ME" Editions.
Also, you have to go to Microsoft.com to update the new memory and possible the info for the new drive.
LAST of all, get real good advice to techs who know this type of system, HINT: they will tell you to buy a new PC w/XP!
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by Cuffy10 - 9/3/04 7:42 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The operating system in this case is Windows ME which contains an updated copy of FDisk. The ME version will recognize a drive over 64 GB.
Should the problem arise in Win98 or Win98SE you will have to download an upgraded FDisk from MS. Once you have applied the upgrade you can copy the new FDisk.exe and drop it into the floppy containing your emergency boot disk. It will overwrite the old copy and allow you to boot from a floppy and partition your 80 GB drive.
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by royc - 9/3/04 7:50 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Start-> Run -> command and then in the DOS window type "fdisk c:"
______________________
Instead of "fdisk c:", I would use "fdisk /status" as this will list all hard drives with all partitions AND it is NOT interactive so you can't do anything that will hurt the drives, like delete a partition or mess up the boot sector.
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by supermanx1a - 9/3/04 8:51 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi there,
I am a certified tech lead and have been repairing PC's and supervising techs for the past 10 years for a major retailer. Every answer from contributors makes sense; however, no one mentioned the possibility of a DEFECTIVE hard disk. Whenever we come across a situation like this, we try it on a different modern PC, or on our test PC.
We have come across many defective units this way. Just because a hard disk is new does not necessarily mean that it is A1. And this applies to all the major brands without exception. A tech support person from a major manufacturer has even mentioned to us that the circuit of a HD can play tricks and show a different capacity than what it is supposed to be. I came across some customers who were "pleasantly surprised" to discover that the new 40G or 80G HD they purchased was seen as 100G by their computer!! They wanted to know if they could have another one for their friend!!
Just another possibility before touching the BIOS and very possibly messing up the motherboard.
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by dsheets5 - 9/3/04 9:02 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
To add to what Joe M. wrote. When you Get a New Hard drive you don't get what you pay for. For instance I built my own pc and bought a 80 GB. drive to put in it. When I received the drive it was only actually 76 GB. so although i'm sure this isn't your problem, because you say u have less than half what your supposed to. It is something for others to keep in mind when they are looking to purchase and install a new hard drive.
Michael question states "less than half of its capacity" so
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 9/3/04 9:38 AM
In reply to: Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by dsheets5
that means he's not complaining about a few gigs missing, rather more than half of his 80GB which is less than 40GB.
Just wanted to clarify this.
Also for your answer about why you are shorted when you buy a 80GB and the system only reads 76GB, here your answer from Maxtor:
This below reference is from the Maxtor Knowledge Base http://maxtor.custhelp.com :
Hard Drive Manufacturer Capacity Definitions
The listed capacity is an unformatted (raw) capacity. After partitioning and formatting, actual storage capacities may vary depending on the operating system and configuration. Maxtor adheres to the NIST and IEC definitions of Megabyte and Gigabyte.
Examples:
1 MB = One Million Bytes
1 GB = One Billion Bytes
Operating System & BIOS Capacity Definitions
Storage devices are marketed and sold in terms of decimal (base 10) capacity. In decimal terms, one Gigabyte (GB) is equal to one billion bytes. Most BIOS’s follow this definition as well. However, many operating systems use the binary (base 2) numbering system. That would be two to the thirtieth power, or 1,073,741,824 bytes equals one-Gigabyte.
According to the NIST and IEC standards, an 80 GB hard drive would contain eighty billion bytes. 80,000,000,000 bytes divided by 1,000,000,000 bytes equals eighty decimal Gigabytes. In binary terms, 80,000,000,000 bytes would be divided by 1,073,741,824 for a total of 74.5 binary GB. However, there are still 80 billion bytes on the drive in either case.
Some utilities use a binary conversion to calculate capacity. This is why users might see 504 MB reported on one utility and 528 MB from another.
I hope this helps clarify somethings for you.
Thanks,
-Lee Koo
CNET COmmunity
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by cward - 9/3/04 10:10 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I recall coming across the same identical problem with a computer where I worked. I was upgrading the hard drive from a 40 GIG to an 80 GIG and the BIOS only recognized it as a 40 GIG. It was one of those rare challenges that gets seasoned techs like me excited. I don't recall the exact details but I remember solving the problem by changing a setting in the system BIOS. The setting was contained in a menu option unrelated to IDE drive detection/settings (I think it may have been "Boot Options". It was an earlier P4. If you can provide the motherboard manufacturer & system BIOS (Phoenix/Award, etc.) information, I will look it up to refresh my memory and then I'll be able to tell you the specific setting to solve your problem.
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by Keith0 - 9/3/04 10:22 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
1. BACKUP YOUR DRIVE!!!
2. Did this drive ever show more than 40GB? For example when you were transferring your world from the 40GB drive to the new one.
3. Check the hardware jumper settings on the drive to make sure that the drive is not set to compensate for older operating systems by limiting what the drive reports to the BIOS.
4. Check your BIOS settings and make sure that your hard drive is set to "Auto"
5. From a DOS prompt run FDISK /STATUS. It will show your used space and, if it sees it, the missing space.
6. If there is unused space, you can use FDISK to create another paritition which you can FORMAT for use as another drive letter.
7. Or Invest in a program such as PartitionMagic which will allow you to set the partitions as you wish.
These are the basic methods of getting the BIOS to recognze the new drive as it really is. If the BIOS recognizes the size of the new drive WinME should have no problem with it.
An alternative might be using one of the drive makers setup programs one of which may have come with your new drive. These are frequently aimed at older systems whose BIOS may not recognize the larger numbers that show up on todays drives. They try to set up a translation situation so that the parameters of the new drive are more likely to be compatible with the requirements of the BIOS of more systems. There may be a minimal performance/resource cost and may require you to keep the disk with your recovery programs.
Have fun.
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by drtigger1969 - 9/3/04 10:38 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You all obiviously missed this most important point of all. Most Hard drives are rated as follows. 1024 equals one megabyte. Unfortunatly most people do not realize this. Looking at his basic system specs, his system will read an 80gig drive no problem. Tmis is neither a BIOS problem nor a problem of it reading larger than a 64Gig drive. Most of this has to deal with an industry that cannot come up with a standard. For instance, when you put in a 256 or 512meg memory module in your computer most dont read it that way they read it as more. This is because 1024k is one megabyte versus 1000k. Wheter or not your format FAT32, FAT16, NTFS, or even HPFS, you will never have full capacity and even when you use NTFS, it holds over some as a reserve for maintenance.
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by ramnet - 9/3/04 10:53 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The most common cause could well be you did not change the drive parameters in the BIOS. Often end users just disconnect the old drive assuming the BIOS will auto detect the new drive. Many BIOS settings provide for AUTO or MANUAL configurations.
If the original installer chose a MANUAL setting then a larger drive might well boot but be limited by the older drive BIOS limitations. If the drive has been formatted to 40 gig based on a BIOS limitation then no wonder another 40 gig is unused.
Suggest the system BIOS (DEL) key is the most common access point be invoked .. try to AUTO DETECT the drive parameters .. if it shows up as an 80 Gig drive fine. Reformat the drive and rebuild or use Partition Manager 8.0 or better to re partition (take care with this or get an expert to do it for you ) .. if it does not AUTO DETECT I would be surprised because most BIOS limitations hang around the 30 gig mark.
Once a BIOS can read 40 Gig it usually reads up to 80 comfortably.
So I am pretty sure you are NOT looking at an inherent BIOS issue.
Also I agree don't FLASH a Motherboard BIOS unless
1. You know exactly what you are doing
2. You have a reliable backup in place
3. You have got the BIOS update from a legitimate and trustworthy source i.e Manufacturer direct.
Regards
Ken McAvoy
Director
RAMNET COMPUTING
Re: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive
by leob - 9/3/04 11:17 AM In reply to: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello Joe M, I might have a fix for your missing gigs.
I had a similar problem. I am using xp Pro.
Right click on My Computer,on this page Click on Properties. Next Click on Advanced. There you will see Performance, click on Settings. Next click on Advanced.
At the bottom you will see Virtual memory. Here you can choose, the Change option. You can lower the total paging file size or even turn it off.
I have had it set at no paging file, for two years now with no problems or you can set it at minimum.
One of the side effects is a faster computer. I also Defrage my drives every day, which again speeds up my computer.
When you lower or turn off your Paging File System, you will notice that you will be able to compress more files when you Defrage.
What you are doing is freeing up space on your drive that would be taken up with the Paging File System.
Give that a try, it works for me.
leob
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