Problem using full Hard Drive

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Guest

Ok, when my computer crashed, I had to buy a new hard drive. No problems
yet. It has 250GB memory space, which made me estatic because my old hard
drive had 30GB (I know, old and useless, maybe thats why it crashed in the
first place).

Anywho, I remove the old drive and install the new one. When I was
formatting the drive, it asked me for my operating system. I selected
"Windows XP Home Edition" because thats what I had. It told my that I would
only have 137GB availible until I installed the SP1 upgrade.

Well, I finally got around to installing that SP1 upgrade. When I restarted
my computer, an SP2 upgrade started immediately. Then it asked me to reset
my computer, which I did. I downloaded the SP1 upgrade directly off of
Microsoft's main site.

My question: How do I get my extra GB now that the Service Packs have been
installed? I tried looking at the help files, but I couldnt even begin to
navigate them, and everything I tried when trying to use one of the 2 "free"
email support requests tried to charge a $35-99 fee.

I need to access that extra memory, because I need space to put my new video
Effects software (Studio Plus Titanium Edition by Pinnacle). Does anyone out
there have a clue about what I need to do?

Before questions are asked, my computer is showing that I have Windows XP
SP2, but for some odd reason the code under the properties section still
comes up as the original Windows XP
 
"(e-mail address removed)"
| Ok, when my computer crashed, I had to buy a new hard drive. No problems
| yet. It has 250GB memory space, which made me estatic because my old hard
| drive had 30GB (I know, old and useless, maybe thats why it crashed in the
| first place).
|
<snip>

What make of hard drive is it? If it's a Seagate have a look here or go to
the website for the hard drive manufacturer and check out there info on
installing a 250GB on an older motherboard. The Seagate site should head you
in the right direction.

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/137_winxp.html
 
"(e-mail address removed)"
Ok, when my computer crashed, I had to buy a new hard drive. No problems
yet. It has 250GB memory space, which made me estatic because my old hard
drive had 30GB (I know, old and useless, maybe thats why it crashed in the
first place).

Anywho, I remove the old drive and install the new one. When I was
formatting the drive, it asked me for my operating system. I selected
"Windows XP Home Edition" because thats what I had. It told my that I
would
only have 137GB availible until I installed the SP1 upgrade.

Well, I finally got around to installing that SP1 upgrade. When I
restarted
my computer, an SP2 upgrade started immediately. Then it asked me to
reset
my computer, which I did. I downloaded the SP1 upgrade directly off of
Microsoft's main site.

My question: How do I get my extra GB now that the Service Packs have
been
installed? I tried looking at the help files, but I couldnt even begin to
navigate them, and everything I tried when trying to use one of the 2
"free"
email support requests tried to charge a $35-99 fee.

I need to access that extra memory, because I need space to put my new
video
Effects software (Studio Plus Titanium Edition by Pinnacle). Does anyone
out
there have a clue about what I need to do?

Before questions are asked, my computer is showing that I have Windows XP
SP2, but for some odd reason the code under the properties section still
comes up as the original Windows XP
Click to expand...


Yami:
First, the basics...

There are two basic requirements for the XP OS to recognize the full
capacity of large-capacity disks, i.e., disks > 137 GB...

1. The motherboard's BIOS must support large-capacity disks. Virtually all
motherboards manufactured over the past 4 or 5 years have this capability.
Frequently a BIOS upgrade is available for older motherboards to provide
this capability if not originally present, and,
2. The XP OS must contain SP1 and/or SP2 when the OS is installed.

And that's it. There's nothing more that users need do to enable
large-capacity HDD support.
If the motherboard's BIOS does not support large-capacity disks and there is
no BIOS upgrade to provide this capability, the only other practical course
of action is to purchase a PCI controller card having this capability and
installing it in the PC.

We're assuming that your motherboard's BIOS supports large-capacity disks.

In your case it would have been preferable to install the XP OS with either
SP1 or SP2 installed on your XP installation CD. That way the full capacity
(disk space) of your 250 GB HDD (approx. 232 GB) would have been recognized.
(In this connection it would have been better had you "slipstreamed" SP2
onto your basic XP installation CD).

Anyway, after you installed SP1 presumably the full-capacity of your 250 GB
HDD would be recognized, however, the remaining disk capacity above the 137
GB (roughly) that was originally recognized would be considered "unallocated
space' (roughly 100 GB or so). At this point you can format that additional
disk space so that it will be usable - you can even create multi-partitions
from that disk space if you desire. So at a minimum you will have two
partitions.

If you can live with that, fine. On the other hand if you want only a single
partition comprising the entire disk space of your 250 GB HDD (approx. 232
GB) you would have to fresh install the XP OS using your XP installation CD
with either SP1 or SP2 included.
Anna
 
If I can interject;
Some time ago I read an article that suggested there was a theoretical
possibility of data corruption if a large hd was partitioned with a pre win
sp, and after updating the free space was subsequently partitioned.
Any knowledge of this?
 
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