Community Newsletter: Q&A forum: 9/03/2004 Gigs missing from my new 80GB hard drive

****** HONORABLE MENTIONS**********

(WARNING: Many of this week's suggestions include flashing the computer's BIOS. It is best to leave this task to a qualified computer technician or follow the manufacturer's instructions to the letter. Flashing the BIOS is serious task and if done incorrectly, can render your system completely useless. So be warned!)

Answer:

It all depends on how you installed Windows on the new HDD (Hard Disk Drive). I suspect that you will have used programs like Norton Ghost, which can clone copy HDDs - but since your original was only 40 Gig, the partition made by doing this will only be 40 Gig. Even if you did not use such an application, it is possible you made a mistake when you created a partition before. To find out your partition size, use an startup disk to enter MS-DOS. Once at the command prompt, enter the command "FDISK /status"
(without quotes) - this will clear the screen and then show you the status of all your partitions. Assuming that your only connected HDD is the 80 Gig, you will likely have only one partition listed. The figure by this one partition should be 100% (or close to), but is more likely to be about 50% based on what you said. If it is 100% and you are still not able to use all the space on the drive, it is possibly a limitation of Windows ME (although I am aware of no such limitations). If it is 50%, you have four options: -

1) Make do as is - messing with partitions is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing, you can end up losing all your data.

2) Create a second partition in the remaining space. To do this, load FDISK (without the /status), when prompted if you want to enable large disk support, select yes, then select the option to create a new partition. There should be the option to create a primary dos partition, an extended dos partition, and a logical drive. First, you should create an extended partition - select that option. When fdisk finishes scanning your drive, it'll return you to the main menu. It MAY first ask you if you want to use all space - select yes. Then return to create a new partition menu, and this time select logical drives. Fdisk then scans yer drives for a while before asking you if you want to use all the space - I advise you select yes. Then exit Fdisk - it will say you need to restart before the partitions are available. Restart back into windows. Go to my computer, right click your new drive(s), and select format, just as if you were formatting a floppy disk.

3) Resize the existing partition using third party software, such as Partition Magic. The FDISK tool mention in the above option is free, but very limited in what it can actually do. It can make an delete, but cannot resize, which is where partition magic comes in (most likely listed on Cnet.com somewhere). This tool is easy to use, but very powerful. If you want to do this though, I suggest you create partition magic "rescue disks"
ASAP, and use these instead - in the past I have encountered issues when trying to get the windows version to adjust partitions. Boot from the rescue disks. Once partition magic is loaded, right click the partition on the bar-onscreen and select move/resize. This loads a dialog box up, in which a picture of a line of grey on one side, and another colour on the other (which represents your existing partition), and lots of options below. Just drag the coloured box so that there is no grey left. Make sure that the options space before drive and space after drive both read 0.0, then click Ok. Somewhere there is a button marked apply changes, click it - partition magic displays another dialog box, in which your only option is to click cancel - DONT DO THAT. It will destroy all partitions on your drive, and all the data contained on them. After partition magic has messed around a bit, it will say all operations completed, and will probably want you to reboot - do so. You can return to windows now, although windows may want to restart to install drivers for its "new hard drive". Don't let it restart until everythings installed, then restart it - you should now have access to the entire 80 gig.

4 - Use FDISK to delete the existing partition and create a new one - this is ideal if you don't want to create new drives, and don't want to buy partition magic, however, all data on a deleted partition is lost permanently, unless backed up, so before you begin, back things up that you want to keep! Boot into MS-DOS and load FDISK. Enable large disk support when asked. Select Delete Partition > Delete Primary DOS Partition, and select number 1. it then asks you to type in the volume label of the drive, and then confirm you want to delete it. Once deleted, you return to the main menu. This time select create partition> Primary Dos Partition. FDISK scans yer drive, before asking if you want to use all the available space - select yes. When it has done, exit fdisk - it wants to reboot. Do so, and boot into MS-DOS once again. Once at the a:\> prompt, type in format c: - this allows windows and dos to be able to read/write to the drive. Once done, re-install windows and restore anything backed up.
In my opinion, option 1 or 3 would be best, but it is your choice. Please note that certain options within FDISK may not be named exactly as stated, however, they will have the same meaning as those above. Good luck!

Submitted by: David W.

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Answer:

I believe this has to do with your computer BIOS configuration. In case you don't have any idea what the BIOS is, I'll tell you that it is a piece of software built into the motherboard that allows you to help your computer know what is attached to it and how to use those devices such as the hard disks, video cards and such.

First of all I will assume that the Hard disk you have replaced is not the one with the Operating system, that it is a secondary one. If I am wrong, you might have to reformat and reinstall. I hope for you that it is not the case.

Your BIOS is probably using your old HardDisk capacity iniformation because that is all it knows about it. You should configure it to automatically detect your HD and this will fix it. Seems easy? And yes it is! While your computer is booting, hit the DEL key (if this doesn't work you should see during the boot sequence the key to press to enter setup, usually something like DEL, F12, F2 or combination of these). Then you will enter the BIOS interface. You will find the hard disk configuration usually on the first page, but you might have to navigate a bit in order to find it. Once you have identified the line with your HardDisk information, change it to "auto-Select" or just "AUTO" all BIOS are not using the same terminology but you should be able to select an automatic configuration. Once this is done, just save your work by using the menus or F10. Then reboot your PC and check that is it detecting your hard disk in the boot screen.

If your BIOS is already correct, and you still see a 40GB hard disk, it might be that either it is formatted as a 40GB, or you have a formatted partition of 40GB and you have an unformatted space availlable for a second one. To fix the partition issue, you will need to use the DOS tool FDISK or a commercial Windows tool such as Partition magic to create the partition and then format it to be able to use it.

Good luck!

Submitted by: Christian B. of Beauport, QC. Canada

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Answer:

If your motherboard sees the drive correctly in the BIOS, then it's a Windows issue.

If not, you can first see if there's a BIOS update for your motherboard that addressed this issue. Many board makers release new BIOS instructions which allow for new technology to work after-the-fact.

If your BIOS shows the 80GB correctly, it's a Windows issue. The very easiest way to get around that is to use the drive maker's own software to install your new drive. It will install an "overlay software" which will correctly recognize the drive as well as allow for the partitioning, & formatting at a much faster rate than Windows old FDISK utility.

One other, less technical way is to simply partition your new HD into more than one partition- each less than 40GB. I do this to keep the Windows system separated from the rest of my programs & files. Give ME 20GB, make another 20GB for My Doc's & change the default location for it to that partition. That leaves you one more partition to use, of 40GB, for all else- perhaps photos & music & long-term saves.

Hope this helps!!

Submitted by: Tracy F.

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Answer:

You probably need to tell the BIOS that there is a new HDD using the "system setup" that you may or may not see the screen reference to when you first turn on the power. It goes by quick, and a lot of manufacturers use a customized screen for this info that cannot be read in the time span it appears on screen. Usually pressing the F1 key just after you hit the power on button will get you to the BIOS setup program.

You must use the keyboard to get around in this program, so read the screens for directions! The drive information is usually on the first page. Write down the information on the screen in case you have to go back to using the 40 GB drive info. Move to the HDD section (arrow keys or tab key) and choose Auto Detect for the first hard drive. This should change the drive info from the old 40 GB to the new 80 GB. Do not be tempted to change anything else! After the new hard drive information appears, choose "Save and Exit" (usually F10).

The computer should continue to boot normally, and your new drive size should show up in the Windows Explorer screens.

Of course, this assumes a properly partioned and formatted drive, with a correct installation of Windows. If the computer fails to work after resetting the HDD size, repeat the BIOS setup and change the HDD back to what it was when it worked (that's why you write it down). Backup your data, write down all hardware driver info (find the driver software if it is not a native Windows driver!), find all of your installation CDs and prepare to waste an entire weekend reloading your operating system and all your programs on a properly partioned and formatted hard drive that the BIOS now sees.

Submitted by: Ann S.

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Answer:

The operating system you are running (Windows ME) uses a file system called FAT32, which is an improvement on the original Microsoft FAT (File Allocation Table) file system. However, FAT32 only supports hard drives up to 32GB, as noted in the Micro$oft Knowledge Base:

NOTE: When attempting to format a FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB, the format fails near the end of the process with the following error:
Logical Disk Manager: Volume size too big.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;184006

Your operating system probably did not recognize the full size of your previous hard drive either, but the difference between the recognized size and the actual size was not nearly as large.

The easiest solution to the problem is to partition the hard drive into smaller sections. To the operating system, it simply looks as though there are several smaller drives. This can be done with Fdisk, which comes free with Windows, or with a similar utility, such as the popular Partition Magic from Symantec.

http://www.symantec.com/partitionmagic/

However, partitioning the drives will require wiping out any data that is already on them. If you just got the drive, then it probably won't be as big of a deal. You may simply copy whatever you want to keep onto a cd (or your previous hard drive, if you still have it), and then copy it back onto one of the partitions afterwards.

Submitted by: Matt W.

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Answer:

Hi, not too much to worry about here, the capacity listing is just a limitation of the FAT32 file system ME uses. FAT32 has difficulty displaying capacities over 32GB, fortunately it has no problem accessing drives over this size - if your BIOS can see it, you (and windows) can use it.

First thing you will have to do though is format the drive.

To do this you will need a boot disk with the following files on board:
FDISK.COM - for creating and activating partitions
FORMAT.COM - to format the drive(s) created with FDISK
SYS.COM - to make the new partition bootable. This can be skipped if you plan to perform a fresh install onto the new drive.

Next. After loading up the drive - (I suggest that you remove or unplug the 'old' drive to prevent any 'mishaps' - FDISK isn't nice to accidents.) - boot from your newly organised boot disk and type FDISK. Most people only want one drive, C:, so I'll step through for one partition - there are several good sites to research the possibilities of FDISK.

Enter the number for create a partition. On the next screen enter the number for creating a 'primary DOS partition'. FDISK will now perform an integrity test on the drive - here's a good time for making coffee, this ain't fast.
When complete, FDISK will ask you how big you want the partition to be. Enter "100%", don't forget the percentage symbol. Once done and returned to the main menu, exit FDISK and reboot from the boot disk.

Now for the 'joyful' part, formatting. At the prompt, type the following: FORMAT C: /U
Answer yes at the prompt. Formatting will take the good part of an hour to complete with a drive this size.
Enter a drive label if desired when finished - this can be done in windows later as well.
Type DIR at the DOS prompt and you will see about 76GB of free space available - not all the space will be available as formatting uses some of the drives factory capacity.

The following is dependant on whether you will perform a clean install of ME and migrate your existing files or restore a backup to the new drive.

If the former, run FDISK again, this time entering the number for activating a primary partition. On the following screen, enter the number assigned to the 80GB drive's C:, exit and this time reboot from your ME CD. Install as desired.

If you would like to restore a backup to the new drive, you will have to plug in you old drive, ensuring the M-S-C jumper is on M. The new drive should have it's M-S-C jumper on S and be plugged into the same IDE channel as your old drive.
Start windows as normal, no boot disk or CD will be needed - your old drive shouldn't have been affected.
Make/update a backup, you can used the new drive for this, then restore the backup to the new drive - it should be listed as D: in windows.
Shutdown and swap jumper settings - new drive with M selected, old drive with S selected (reversing the master-slave designations). Now boot up from the boot disk and follow the previous directions for activating the new drives partition. If asked to reboot, do so from the floppy. Next comes the SYS command. From the A: DOS prompt, enter the following:
SYS C:
Remove the floppy and reboot from your new hard drive.

Submitted by: Flirkann

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Answer:

I had this problem when I switched to a larger hard drive. There are several reasons why your hard drive's capacity is not being shown correctly:

1. If you used a program to transfer your old files to the new hard drive, the program may have made an exact copy of the old hard drive, making a partition on your new hard drive that is the size of the old drive, leaving the remaining space unusable. If you used a program to copy the old hard drive, you should reformat the new drive, reinstall Windows ME and any other software you may have, then copy your documents from the old hard drive to the new one.

2. If you did not use a program to transfer your old files to the new drive, you should check to see if your main partition uses all of the drive. Use a startup floppy disk to boot your computer, then run fdisk and check to see that the primary partition uses all of the hard drive. I'm assuming that you know how to do all of this because you said that you replaced the hard drive, but if you need help, see this article from Microsoft.:
<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com
:80/support/kb/articles/Q255/8/67.ASP&NoWebContent=1>

2. If your main partition uses all of the drive, then your BIOS is not made to handle drives that large. You will have to contact your motherboard manufacturer to see about an update to the BIOS. If you are using a Maxtor hard drive, an easier alternative is to use their software, EZ-BIOS. This installs on your hard drive using the hard drive setup software that came with the drive. (Other manufacturers may also provide this software, but Maxtor is the only one that I know of.)

Unfortunately, there aren't any quick fixes to this problem. Hopefully, you will be able to find a solution using these instructions.

Submitted by: Loren J.

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Answer:

Your problem is not uncommon. You should check the documentation for your computer's motherboard to see what the largest capacity hard drive it can recognize. The problem could be that your computer cant recognize hard drives over a certain size and so it misinterpreted the actual size when you set it up. This can often be fixed by downloading a BIOS update for you computer's motherboard. You can check with your computer's manufacturer or with the motherboard manufacturer to obtain the BIOS update. (BE VERY CAREFUL DOING BIOS UPDATES)

You stated "...my computer shows the drive at less than half of its capacity." There is an important distinction to make. When you turn on your computer and it boots up and you get the POST screen(the black screen that tells you that devices are detected), what size does it report for the 80 Gig hard drive? This size may be different than the size you see when you boot the computer into Windows ME. If when you boot your computer and at that black screen you see the full capacity of the 80 Gig drive detected but its less then full capacity in Windows, this could mean that you created a partition smaller than the full size of the hard drive and installed Windows on it. If this is the case you could format, ! then repartition the hard drive to use 100% of its capacity using FDISK (on a Windows bootup disk). Hope this helps.

Submitted by: Demitrious O. of New York City, New York

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Answer:

A) The operating system does not control hardware installation, you should run Bios setup by pressing on (delete) when you first start your PC, it seems that your pc bios was set to a limited hard drive capacity, all what you have to do is to run auto detect (depending on your bios system) and save the new settings and restart your pc, but is should be done by experts only or (advanced user), mention that changing the bios setting without enough experience can seriously damage your system or even your pc!

Submitted by: Fareed J. of Baghdad-Iraq

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Answer:

To change and get the right configuration for your disk drives, do this:

1. At boot time hit DEL and select Go to SET UP option.
2. Select CMOS Option. You will see the wrong disk drives configuration.
3. Hit F3 to force your computer to read each disk drive. You will see the right disk drives configuration.
4. Choose Exit option
5. Select Leave with Update (hit Y).
6. You are able to use the full capacity of your disks drives.

Enjoy your PC.

Submitted by: Otto R.

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Answer:

The essence of your problem is that the 80GB drive exceeds the maximum size hard drive your computer can recognize.

If you purchases the full retail version of the drive, it probably came with software which will "fool" the computer into recognizing the drive's full capacity. Follow the supplied instructions to install the software. A word of caution -- doing this will remove all programs and data cuttently on the new hard drive.

Should you have received just the hard drive without the extra goodies, go to the manufacturer's web site. Most have the software (Disk Manager or equivalent) along with instructions for using it.

I recently did this for a friend who purchased a non-retail-packaged hard drive and had it up and running in a short time.

Submitted by: John F.

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Answer:

My first assuption is that you also had this problem with your 40 Gig Drive.

Windows ME uses the FAT32 file system. Fat32 in Windows ME allows for a maximum of a 32 Gigabit Partition on the Hard Drive. This means that any Hard Drive over 32 Gigabits will need separate partitions for use within Windows ME.

See Microsoft "Limitations of FAT32 File system" http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;184006 for referance.

I recommend the following partitions for an 80 Gig Drive :

16 Gig - System Partition
32 Gig - For Data
32 Gig - For Data

or if not storing large amount of data use a 32 Gig Partition for the System Partition.

Short of this, if the system meets the requirements for upgrade to Windows XP (i.e Memory and Processer speed) then it would be worth the upgrade costs. Windows XP uses the NTFS file system which supports Partition sizes up to 2 Terebytes (2000 Gigabits).

Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Home Edition
PC with 300 megahertz (MHz) or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233-MHz minimum required;1 Intel Pentium/Celeron family, AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
1.5 gigabyte (GB) of available hard disk space.1
Super VGA (800 600) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
CD-ROM or DVD drive
Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
These are Microsoft's requirements for Windows XP. I personally recommend at least 256 MB of Ram and a processer of 500 Mhz or more. Windows XP will certainly run with the requirements listed by MS, but not really well.

Submitted by: Peter M.