Partition Problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kath
  • Start date Start date
K

Kath

I have partioned my 160gb hard drive into 3. When I want
to save a document it seems to take about 10 secs before I
get the dropdown list on where I want to save it. Have I
done something wrong?
 
If the PC works, and you can save files, it is unlikely that you have a
partition problem. Partiton problem usually result is windows not seeing a
partition, or data being corrupted.

Your problem could be as simple as a badly fragmented partition, or possibly
some problem with the fiel system.

First, run CHKDSK C: /R (or whatever partition letter if not C:). Do this
in a command prompt. Say yes when it asks whether you want to do this
during a reboot. Reboot. e patient, the /R option is very slow. You might
want to do this for all partitions, just to be safe.

Next run a defragger. This is done from windows explorer, but
right-clicking on the disk letter, properties, tools, defrag. It is
important to run CHKDSK first, since defragging a disk with some problem can
create more problems.

Finally, what is your CPU and bus speed and drive speed for that matter? An
older PC can only move data so fast, and a hard drive will automatically
dumb-down to the fastest speed that the bus can handle.
 
A couple of other thoughts:

Read this article on PIO vs DMA and then verify that your hard drive is is
DMA mode. If not change it:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx

Also, verify that you are using an 80-pin cable not a 40-pin cable. The
80-pin cabel, is required by XP for ATA/100 hard drives, and it might
dumb-down a lot if that rquirement is not met.

Nex, can your motherboard correctly support a disk as large as 160Gig? Some
have limits at about 128Gig, and older ones as low as 32Gig. Check with
your motherboard manual, or better yet check the limitations of the
particular BIOS you have installed by contacting the motherboard website.

Finally, do you have SP-1 for XP installed and did you enable 48-bit LBA?
If not, these may be required to correctly handle a disk this large,
assuming that there are no BIOS limitations:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013
 
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