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Desktops forum: please help: hard drive issues.

by: m.nandini December 26, 2006 11:46 PM PST

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please help: hard drive issues.

by m.nandini - 12/26/06 11:46 PM

I have an old(er) tower with some minor upgrades such as sound card, video card, and a little more ram, and I decided to upgrade the size of my hard drive for christmas. today i went and bought a Western Digital Caviar SE EIDE 160 GB internal hard drive to install in my computer as an addition to my oh so pitiful 15 GB hard drive that came on the computer about 8 years ago. when i installed the new hard drive, and i run the diagnostics tool that came with the drive, it shows that the drive is installed, but only shows the drives' capacity as 34 GB, instead of 160 GB. and also, when i go into the "my computer" folder, it only shows my primary 15 GB hard drive, and not the new one.

i have the drives set up so the 15 GB is the master, and the 160 GB is the slave.

any ideas? any help is greatly appreciated.

thanks.


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Re: hard drive issues

by Kees Bakker Moderator - 12/27/06 12:01 AM

In Reply to: please help: hard drive issues. by m.nandini

There's a limit in Windows 98 SE (which I suppose you have) for a hard disk for 137 Gb. Bigger hard disk might give trouble. Your BIOS might have an even lower limit. Both causes could be related to your problem.

My Computer only shows drive letters if the drive is partitioned (fdisk) and all partitions on it are formatted. You don't tell if you did. Instructions in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255867

Also read (and download the patch from) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263044
Then see what fdisk /status tells you.

If you really have a need for a 160 Gb disk (lots of data), I suggest you switch to a newer computer with Windows XP on the long run.

Hope this helps.

Kees


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Link with some grit, and what one can do.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 12/27/06 7:44 AM

In Reply to: please help: hard drive issues. by m.nandini

http://www.48bitlba.com

I have one last 98 machine and it can work with a NETWORK SHARE that is over 127GB in size. Said drive is in a DLINK DSM-G600 Network Storage Enclosure.

Bob


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hard drive

by m.nandini - 12/27/06 1:26 PM

In Reply to: please help: hard drive issues. by m.nandini

thanks for the help guys, ill try these things out. i am actually running Windows XP on this machine, not windows 98.


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Re hard drive

by anmor - 12/27/06 1:37 PM

In Reply to: please help: hard drive issues. by m.nandini

Go to the Western Digital site http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1
download Data Lifeguard Tools 11.2 for Windows this will set your drive up for the correct size from Windows just follow the instructions.
John


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hard drive

by m.nandini - 12/27/06 3:29 PM

In Reply to: please help: hard drive issues. by m.nandini

thank you very much. i downloaded the lifeguard tools and formatted the hard drive. and there is a new partition, drive F, on the "my computer" folder. the only problem is that the computer still only recognizes the drive as 32 GB. i will take some more looking into it, maybe i will have to update my BIOS afterall.


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Two possibilities

by VAPCMD - 12/27/06 4:38 PM

In Reply to: hard drive by m.nandini

The drive could jumpered as 'CLJ' vice 'normal' which essentially makes the HDD look like its only 32GBs even if it's a 500GB HDD. The advantage is it will work with an older system as 32GBs and later as a 500GB when the jumpers are changed to the 'normal' position.

The BIOS on your PC is possibly so old it will not recognize any HDD larger than 32GBs. If it's a BIOS problem, your best solution is an IDE controller card with an onboard BIOS. Why is this best...because it circumvents the BIOS problem, gives you access to the entire drive and it gives you the full drive performance that would not be achieveable thru the old IDE controller. There is one more option but the loss of a key file renders all the drive content inaccessible so ...that's not worth it.

Hope this helps.

VAPCMD


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hard drive

by m.nandini - 12/27/06 5:51 PM

In Reply to: Two possibilities by VAPCMD

alright thanks for the option. im guessing that my BIOS is just too old. its from i believe 1998-1999, so it is probably too old to recognize the drive.

how do i go about buying an IDE controller card, and how much would that cost me?


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(NT) Does your system have PCI slots ?

by VAPCMD - 12/27/06 8:08 PM

In Reply to: hard drive by m.nandini


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hard drive

by m.nandini - 12/27/06 10:01 PM

In Reply to: (NT) Does your system have PCI slots ? by VAPCMD

yea i think so, not sure though. does it make a difference if its PCI or AGP??


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If no PCI slot....you can't use a PCI controller

by VAPCMD - 12/28/06 8:15 AM

In Reply to: hard drive by m.nandini

Before picking a controller ...you need to know whether you have PCI or ISA slots available for the new card.

We have no way of checking which you have as you've not posted what PC make, series and model number, you have. Info should be in your system or MB manual.

VAPCMD


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hard drive

by m.nandini - 12/28/06 10:38 AM

In Reply to: If no PCI slot....you can't use a PCI controller by VAPCMD

alright i can figure it out. ill find out whether i have PCI or not.

so if it is my BIOS, is there an easier way for me to update the BIOS on my system without using a controller card?

thanks


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You could get a new BIOS for your MB

by VAPCMD - 12/28/06 4:58 PM

In Reply to: hard drive by m.nandini

and that should give access to the entire 160GB HDD for about $25.

Or you can spend $25 for an IDE controller card with onboard BIOS which gives you access to the entire 160GB HDD and the drive performance the new drive and IDE controller can deliver.

Your $$, your call.

VAPCMD


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k thanks

by m.nandini - 12/29/06 12:44 AM

In Reply to: You could get a new BIOS for your MB by VAPCMD

so basically im lookin at $25 to get all the storage, and it just depends on which way i want to get it.


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IDE controller is a much much better choice...new BIOS

by VAPCMD - 12/29/06 7:30 AM

In Reply to: k thanks by m.nandini

is the road less traveled and results are not as predictable.

VAPCMD


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