Compaq 10gb HDD is really 20gb -why?

  • Thread starter Thread starter DeeBee
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DeeBee

Hi group

Can someone explain why a Compaq HDD shows up in Windows (my computer) and
the bios on my Caompaq Ipaq desktop as 10gb, but in device manager the HDD
is shown as a 6L020J1.

The actual drive is a Maxtor D740X 6L020J1which according to various google
searches is a Maxtor DIAMONDMAX PLUS D740X 20 GB 6L020J1

Even if I run Partion Magic 8, it still only shows up as a 10gb drive.

How do Compaq cripple their drives. Is there any way I can get the full 20gb
from this drive

Even the Compaq part number (253453-001) appears in google searches as a
20gb drive

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

Duncan
 
well part of it is a 20gb drive isn't really 20 gb (that 1000 vs 1024 thing)
but also my guess would be there's a few gbs of unpartitioned space or a
hiddend partition that contains the system recovery files.
 
Maybe the recovery files are there somewher, but surely not 10gb or there
abouts

How do I free up this lost HDD space?//

Duncan
 
DeeBee said:
Hi group

Can someone explain why a Compaq HDD shows up in Windows (my computer) and
the bios on my Caompaq Ipaq desktop as 10gb, but in device manager the HDD
is shown as a 6L020J1.

The actual drive is a Maxtor D740X 6L020J1which according to various google
searches is a Maxtor DIAMONDMAX PLUS D740X 20 GB 6L020J1

Even if I run Partion Magic 8, it still only shows up as a 10gb drive.

How do Compaq cripple their drives. Is there any way I can get the full 20gb
from this drive

Even the Compaq part number (253453-001) appears in google searches as a
20gb drive

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

Duncan
Click to expand...
I have a couple Compaq Deskpro 4000's, and, a Presario 5000.

All were gifts, broken in some small way.

I run Linux on them. Linux makes them run so efficiently that they do
not compare to anything Microsoft does to them! Especially, 1.1Ghz
Presario!

In order to totally wipe the drives, and to build them to use the entire
6.4 Gb and '20.0' Gb hard drives, I had to download the bios floppies
from Compaq Support. Free on the internet, easily found through google.com.

Then, I could delete the hidden partitions, and the unallocated/unused
spaces, repartition it all, plus get it recognized correctly!

I didn't bother putting back the Compac partitions, except for the
mandatory bios slice of 4Mb, just after the FAT tables, on the Deskpro.

all the other partitions were for Compaq 'support', restoration (the CDs
number 3! That is a potential 2.8 Gb, compressed, so, it could be up to
about 5Gb, when not compressed, as it is done on system!). Having all
that 'wasted' drive space would be redundant for this techie with
computer experience spanning 39 years.

Also, go and get a Live CD to troubleshoot, to boot and build with, if
you have the mind to learn anything.
http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php

YMMV.
 
Are you running the Compaq oem operating system?
If so check and see how much space has been allocated for the Compaq
backup and restore drive.
My wife's Compaq has a 20gig running the Compaq win98se version and
it's partitioned off 5gigs for the restore cabinet.
 
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