Harddrive problems

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tom
  • Start date Start date
T

Tom

Hi,

I recently installed a new 80g (slave) HDD as extra storage (I have my OSes
installed on my 60gig master drive partitioned as four primaries), and also
to place the pagefile on it, but every time I install it, even using the
manufacturer's software, XP (I have SP1 by the way), after a reboot, keeps
removing it in disk management and resizes it to 32gigs. I can initially use
the software to set it to the correct size, and even us disk management to
make it a primary. but it keeps reverting back, and I lose my data that I
store on it in the meantime. I have my data backed up, so is no big deal at
the moment, but could be in the future.

Any ideas on how to keep my actuall drive size recognized in XP Pro?


Thanks,
Tom
 
XP will not make drives any larger than 32Gb in a FAT32 system.

If you want to see the whole 80Gb as one drive you will have to boot with a
boot floppy from a Windows 98, SE, or ME system and use FDISK to setup the
drive.

If you don't have access to one of these older systems then go to
www.bootdisk.com and download the appropriate files.
 
Hi, Tom.

Are you using Win9x/ME in this computer? If not, there is no point in
clinging to that format. NTFS is the preferred file system. It is much
more secure, both in the sense of security from unauthorized access and in
the sense of security from hardware glitches or failures.

Disk Management can create very large partitions and can format them as
NTFS. But volumes larger than 32 GB cannot be formatted as FAT32 by WinXP
(or Win2K). This is a step in Microsoft's plan to phase out FAT32. If you
boot from an MS-DOS or Win9x/ME floppy, you can format a volume as large as
about 127 GB as FAT32, after which WinXP will happily use the whole thing,
but WinXP can't do the formatting itself.

For details, see this page from the WinXP Pro Resource Kit online:
Size Limitations in NTFS and FAT File Systems
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tr...prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/prkc_fil_tdrn.asp

RC
 
R. C. White said:
Hi, Tom.
Click to expand...

<snipped>

Sorry for any confusion, and I see I left out info in my first post, so here
goes. My master drive has four primary partitions, XP-Pro on the 1st, and
the 2nd for storage, both NTFS. ME is on the 3rd (FAT32 obviously) and FAT32
for ME storage on the fourth. ME is installed after XP and I use a boot
manager to boot into which I want when I need it. ME has uses still for
certain things I use and do, that XP will not support. So now I have that
out of the way, what you and the other respondent suggested (thanks Jerry)
doesn't pertain.

My 80g slave was partitioned and formatted NTFS, and I can use the program
installation disk for that drive to install it 80Gs, and partition it. When
I boot into XP and use disk management, it sees (initilially) the whole
drive, and after it says it found new hardware, it request a reboot. After
that I can go in and set partitions on it. If I reboot again after that, it
reverts to one partition @ 31.5gs, or without doing any partitions, it
reverts back to 31.5! I have tried every combination of partition sizes I
know, and using different methods, but XP after the second boot, just takes
it back to less than half usage, and it doesn't even retain the partitions.
No matrter (this is what I find odd), it goes back to being one partiotn of
31.5!

Just to add, I have even tried setting up the partitions as
extended/logical, thinking that since I have four primary on my master
drive, XP won't allow anymore, but that didn't matter anyway. I know only
one physical drive itself can have 4 primaries, so I tried using that logic.
I know any physical drive can have 4 primaries..

Any more thoughts?

Thanks,
Tom
 
R. C. White said:
Hi, Tom.
Click to expand...

<snipped>

Sorry for any confusion, and I see I left out info in my first post, so here
goes. My master drive has four primary partitions, XP-Pro on the 1st, and
the 2nd for storage, both NTFS. ME is on the 3rd (FAT32 obviously) and FAT32
for ME storage on the fourth. ME is installed after XP and I use a boot
manager to boot into which I want when I need it. ME has uses still for
certain things I use and do, that XP will not support. So now I have that
out of the way, what you and the other respondent suggested (thanks Jerry)
doesn't pertain.

My 80g slave was partitioned and formatted NTFS, and I can use the program
installation disk for that drive to install it 80Gs, and partition it. When
I boot into XP and use disk management, it sees (initilially) the whole
drive, and after it says it found new hardware, it request a reboot. After
that I can go in and set partitions on it. If I reboot again after that, it
reverts to one partition @ 31.5gs, or without doing any partitions, it
reverts back to 31.5! I have tried every combination of partition sizes I
know, and using different methods, but XP after the second boot, just takes
it back to less than half usage, and it doesn't even retain the partitions.
No matrter (this is what I find odd), it goes back to being one partiotn of
31.5!

Just to add, I have even tried setting up the partitions as
extended/logical, thinking that since I have four primary on my master
drive, XP won't allow anymore, but that didn't matter anyway. I know only
one physical drive itself can have 4 primaries, so I tried using that logic.
I know any physical drive can have 4 primaries..

Any more thoughts?

Thanks,
Tom
 
Tom said:
<snipped>

Sorry for any confusion, and I see I left out info in my first post, so here
goes. My master drive has four primary partitions, XP-Pro on the 1st, and
the 2nd for storage, both NTFS. ME is on the 3rd (FAT32 obviously) and FAT32
for ME storage on the fourth. ME is installed after XP and I use a boot
manager to boot into which I want when I need it. ME has uses still for
certain things I use and do, that XP will not support. So now I have that
out of the way, what you and the other respondent suggested (thanks Jerry)
doesn't pertain.

My 80g slave was partitioned and formatted NTFS, and I can use the program
installation disk for that drive to install it 80Gs, and partition it. When
I boot into XP and use disk management, it sees (initilially) the whole
drive, and after it says it found new hardware, it request a reboot. After
that I can go in and set partitions on it. If I reboot again after that, it
reverts to one partition @ 31.5gs, or without doing any partitions, it
reverts back to 31.5! I have tried every combination of partition sizes I
know, and using different methods, but XP after the second boot, just takes
it back to less than half usage, and it doesn't even retain the partitions.
No matrter (this is what I find odd), it goes back to being one partiotn of
31.5!

Just to add, I have even tried setting up the partitions as
extended/logical, thinking that since I have four primary on my master
drive, XP won't allow anymore, but that didn't matter anyway. I know only
one physical drive itself can have 4 primaries, so I tried using that logic.
I know any physical drive can have 4 primaries..

Any more thoughts?

Thanks,
Tom
Click to expand...

Some drives have a jumper that limits the size to 32Gb. Check to make sure
yours isn't set that way.
 
D.Currie said:
Some drives have a jumper that limits the size to 32Gb. Check to make sure
yours isn't set that way.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, but what do I (or am I) look(ing) for exactly?
 
Hi All,

I want to thank everyone who offered help here, as I figured it out.
Sometimes, the dynamics of reading multiple pieces of advice seems to makes
things add up as a whole! Anyway, after reading indepth the documentation a
bit more of the drive in question, I saw that Dynamic Drive Overlay was
needed to overcome a (purported) BIOS limitation (which really shouldn't be
there anyway?). This allows me to use the whole of the drive. So all is well
for now. If anything else comes up, I will ask here again.

Again, thanks to all!
Tom
 
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