Urgent Question re Limitations on Hard Disk Size

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim

I have purchased a 320GB HDD (SATA 2.0) and when installing Win XP the setup
program reports that the Disk is only 128Gb.
I am sure that I have seen references to this problem before but cannot
recall what the solution was.

If I continue to install windows will I be able to regain the 'lost' space ?

Regards & TIA
 
Jim said:
I have purchased a 320GB HDD (SATA 2.0) and when installing Win XP the
setup program reports that the Disk is only 128Gb.
I am sure that I have seen references to this problem before but cannot
recall what the solution was.

If I continue to install windows will I be able to regain the 'lost' space
? NO you won`t.
Click to expand...
How old is your machine ?.
Make and model

Most machines now, with XP, have no trouble seeing the full
size of a hard drive.
 
It is a home made pc - ASUS P5b WiFi DeLuxe motherboard - which I build last
year about this time

I did have a 400Gb HDD installed but it got infected with a virus and so I
took the opportunity to purchase another HDD in a sale.

If I boot from another HDD, Windows XP Disk Management sees the new drive as
298Gb but when I attempt the install it appears to be 122Gb
 
Jim said:
I have purchased a 320GB HDD (SATA 2.0) and when installing Win XP
the setup program reports that the Disk is only 128Gb.
I am sure that I have seen references to this problem before but
cannot recall what the solution was.

If I continue to install windows will I be able to regain the 'lost'
space ?
Regards & TIA
Click to expand...

Does the drive have a jumper to limit size? There may also be a jumper
that limits the drive to SATA I, which you would want to remove, since
the MB is SATA II. Go into BIOS and set the port it's on as Auto and
see if the BIOS IDs it properly, or try another port, if possible.
 
Jim said:
It is a home made pc - ASUS P5b WiFi DeLuxe motherboard - which I
build last year about this time

I did have a 400Gb HDD installed but it got infected with a virus and
so I took the opportunity to purchase another HDD in a sale.

If I boot from another HDD, Windows XP Disk Management sees the new
drive as 298Gb but when I attempt the install it appears to be 122Gb
Click to expand...

bet you are using the original service release of windows xp aren't you.

download and slipstream sp2 into your installation media and you will not
have this problem. plus there will be that many less patches to apply


--
sbb78247

resident redneck alt.os.windows-xp

you aint frum 'round here are ya boy!
 
RobV said:
Does the drive have a jumper to limit size? There may also be a jumper
that limits the drive to SATA I, which you would want to remove, since the
MB is SATA II. Go into BIOS and set the port it's on as Auto and see if
the BIOS IDs it properly, or try another port, if possible.
Click to expand...
Thank you for yur speedy response - in answer to your questions
There are no jumpers on the HDD
It is an Hitachi Deskstar SATA rated at 3.0 Gb/sec

The SATA ports are all set to Auto and the BIOS reports the correct size
 
Belarc Advisor reports as follows:

Hitachi HDT725032VLA360 [Hard drive] (320.07 GB) -- drive 1
WDC WD2500KS-00MJB0 [Hard drive] (250.06 GB) -- drive 0

It is the Hitachi that xp install reports as 128GB during the install
process
 
Jim said:
Thanks anyway but I'm using XP2002 with SP2 and all upgrades to date
Click to expand...

on the new install or on the other one you mentioned below??



--
sbb78247

resident redneck alt.os.windows-xp

you aint frum 'round here are ya boy!
 
on the new install or on the other one you mentioned below??
Click to expand...

I have not installed any operating system on the new disk - I cancelled when
the install reported that the disk was only 128Gb
The installation disk is windows XP Pro version 2002 - and does not include
XP2 which I have on a separate CD
 
More info -

If I use a Vista Ultimate 32bit installation disk the install process
detects the HDD correctly i.e. 298Gb

When using the XP Pro 2002 installation disk the HDD is reported as follows:
131070 Mb Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
C: Partition [Unknown] 131072 (131071 Free)

From this I deduce that it is Windows XP that is causing the problem (am I
correct ?)

If so how can I install Win XP and have the full capacity of the disk ?
 
I have purchased a 320GB HDD (SATA 2.0) and when installing Win XP the setup
program reports that the Disk is only 128Gb.
I am sure that I have seen references to this problem before but cannot
recall what the solution was.

If I continue to install windows will I be able to regain the 'lost' space ?
Click to expand...

Yes. The reason you can't see all the diskspace is a limitation of the
first release of XP. The best way to do it is to use a copy of XP that
already includes SP1 and you can create your own "slipstreamed" copy of XP
that includes it, but even if that's not possible you can still use all
the disk space. Just install XP, then download and install SP1 or better
yet SP2. Once you've installed that, you can use any of a variety of
partition tools like Partition Magic, Paragon Partition Manager, Acronis
Disk Director, etc. to resize your small partition to use all the
available disk space. (You must update XP first though.)

See this site for the details of 48-bit addressing.
http://www.48bitlba.com/
and specifically http://www.48bitlba.com/winxp.htm
 
Jim said:
I have not installed any operating system on the new disk - I
cancelled when the install reported that the disk was only 128Gb
The installation disk is windows XP Pro version 2002 - and does not
include XP2 which I have on a separate CD
Click to expand...


then it is not 2002 - slip stream the service pack into the media and be
done with it



--
sbb78247

resident redneck alt.os.windows-xp

you aint frum 'round here are ya boy!
 
Two things: older computers' BIOS's cannot recognize larger than 137GB
harddrives. Also, XP without SP1 or SP2 included on the CD cannot recognize
larger than 137 GB.
 
Jim said:
I have purchased a 320GB HDD (SATA 2.0) and when installing Win XP the setup
program reports that the Disk is only 128Gb.
I am sure that I have seen references to this problem before but cannot
recall what the solution was.

If I continue to install windows will I be able to regain the 'lost' space ?

Regards & TIA
Click to expand...

Jim, if you don't have a slipstreamed XP SP2 CD, the easiest
way to proceed is simply create one volume for the OS install
(e.g. 32GB), install XP, then apply SP2. When you reboot, you
can create additional volumes to use the rest of your 320GB.
 
Jim said:
I have purchased a 320GB HDD (SATA 2.0) and when installing Win XP the setup
program reports that the Disk is only 128Gb.
I am sure that I have seen references to this problem before but cannot
recall what the solution was.

If I continue to install windows will I be able to regain the 'lost' space ?

Regards & TIA
Click to expand...
www.48bitlba.com will tell you all you need to know.
 
More info -

If I use a Vista Ultimate 32bit installation disk the install process
detects the HDD correctly i.e. 298Gb

When using the XP Pro 2002 installation disk the HDD is reported as follows:
131070 Mb Disk 0 at Id 0 on bus 0 on atapi [MBR]
C: Partition [Unknown] 131072 (131071 Free)

From this I deduce that it is Windows XP that is causing the problem (am I
correct ?)

If so how can I install Win XP and have the full capacity of the disk ?
Click to expand...
Find a WinXP installation CD that's at least SP1 or later.
 
Jim said:
I have not installed any operating system on the new disk - I cancelled
when the install reported that the disk was only 128Gb
The installation disk is windows XP Pro version 2002 - and does not
include XP2 which I have on a separate CD
Click to expand...


And that is your problem. If SP1 or 2 is not on the installation disk, it
will not recognize a disk bigger than about 128GB.
You need to slipstream SP2 onto that disk (nLite is very good at this) OR yo
can make a partition smaller than 128GB, install XP onto that and after
applying SP2 make additional partition(s)...



--
Tumppi
=================================
A lot learned from these newsgroups
Helsinki, FINLAND
(translations from/to FI not always accurate
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