Can not format all of a New 180 GB Hard Drive only shows 131GB

  • Thread starter Thread starter Aron
  • Start date Start date
A

Aron

Have a new WD 180 GB hard drive. Started to load Win XP
Pro, but only shows 131 GB. Where is the rest?
 
Aron said:
Have a new WD 180 GB hard drive. Started to load Win XP
Pro, but only shows 131 GB. Where is the rest?
Click to expand...

Did you use NTFS or FAT32 on the new drive.

FAT32 partitions should not be larger than 128 gb.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
i had same prob but with a 160GB Hard Drive think the
problem was my motherboard couldnt reconize all of it so i
used partion magic and split it into 2 drives (130GB &
30GB) so i got all my 160GB (which is really about 151GB
becuase they lie on how much space you have on it)
 
morgz said:
so i got all my 160GB (which is really about 151GB
becuase they lie on how much space you have on it)
Click to expand...

They're not really lying. It really depends what they are defining as a GB
and how you do the math. For instance, say you define a GB as being 1
billion bytes and then you convert using 1024 for your divisions. You end
up with 160,000,000,000/1024/1024/1024=149 GB. I guess ideally
1GB=1,073,741,824 bytes but I wouldn't be surprised if you saw a little
footnote somewhere in the HD's literature saying otherwise.

I lifted this off the Western Digital website from
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/current/drives.asp?Model=WD1600BB#physical
as an example.

1 Western Digital defines a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes and a gigabyte
(GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes

Chris
 
Aron said:
Have a new WD 180 GB hard drive. Started to load Win XP
Pro, but only shows 131 GB. Where is the rest?
Click to expand...

To use a drive of more than 128GB (137 decimal) you need support for '48
bit LBA' or the hardware and drivers will be unable to address beyond
that limit. This needs an appropriate drive (which you have) but also
appropriate controller and BIOS on the motherboard, which is where the
trouble will lie. Look for an upgrade of the BIOS
 
All, Thanks for your Help.
-----Original Message-----


To use a drive of more than 128GB (137 decimal) you need support for '48
bit LBA' or the hardware and drivers will be unable to address beyond
that limit. This needs an appropriate drive (which you have) but also
appropriate controller and BIOS on the motherboard, which is where the
trouble will lie. Look for an upgrade of the BIOS
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top