WD Hard Drive Size Issue

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carl Lucas
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C

Carl Lucas

Have a Dell Dimension 8300 desktop. Just installed a Western Digital 160
gig hard drive without any problems. An issue is that the set up shows
the drive as 160 gig. However in Windows it shows it as a 126 gig.
What's with that?

After I installed it I went to "Control Panel", "Administrative Tools",
"Computer Management", "Disk Management". There it showed the drive as
126 gig. Of course I had to format it so I did.

So why is it shown as 126 and not 160?
 
Carl said:
Have a Dell Dimension 8300 desktop. Just installed a Western Digital 160
gig hard drive without any problems. An issue is that the set up shows
the drive as 160 gig. However in Windows it shows it as a 126 gig.
What's with that?

After I installed it I went to "Control Panel", "Administrative Tools",
"Computer Management", "Disk Management". There it showed the drive as
126 gig. Of course I had to format it so I did.

So why is it shown as 126 and not 160?
Click to expand...

To fully use drives larger than 127GB, you need 48-bit addressing. This
may not be implemented by your PC's BIOS. If you go into your BIOS
setup, can it see the full capacity of the drive?

It also must be enabled within windows. That comes with Windows 2000
SP4 and higher, or Windows XP SP2 and higher.
 
Grinder said:
To fully use drives larger than 127GB, you need 48-bit addressing. This
may not be implemented by your PC's BIOS. If you go into your BIOS
setup, can it see the full capacity of the drive?

It also must be enabled within windows. That comes with Windows 2000
SP4 and higher, or Windows XP SP2 and higher.
Click to expand...

The Bios does see it as a Western Digital 160. How do I enable it in
Windows? I suppose I'll have to reformat it also.
 
Carl said:
The Bios does see it as a Western Digital 160.
Click to expand...
How do I enable it in
Windows?
Click to expand...

What version and service pack are you using? If it's below the limits
I've mentioned, I would start by upgrading to the appropriate service pack.
I suppose I'll have to reformat it also.
Click to expand...

I expect you're right there.
 
Carl said:
The Bios does see it as a Western Digital 160. How do I enable it in
Windows? I suppose I'll have to reformat it also.
Click to expand...

If you're using Windows XP, just install the Service Pack like
Grinder said. Either SP1 or SP2 will do. You don't have to
enable 48-bit addressing yourself - at least I don't have to on
my machine.
 
If you're using Windows XP, just install the Service Pack like
Grinder said. Either SP1 or SP2 will do. You don't have to
enable 48-bit addressing yourself - at least I don't have to on
my machine.
Click to expand...

Just installed SP1. (Different topic but my son says he's heard some
not too good things about SP2.) Now I get 149.05 gig. It said, as I
reformatted it, that the size was 152,625. Just confused why it's not
closer to 160 gig. Any input?
 
Just installed SP1. (Different topic but my son says he's heard some
not too good things about SP2.) Now I get 149.05 gig. It said, as I
reformatted it, that the size was 152,625. Just confused why it's not
closer to 160 gig. Any input?
Click to expand...

Drive manufacturers consider 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes, but Windows
thinks that 1GB = 1024^3 bytes. So 152,625MB (in Windows) =
160,038,912,000 bytes
 
Grinder said:
Drive manufacturers consider 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes, but Windows
thinks that 1GB = 1024^3 bytes. So 152,625MB (in Windows) =
160,038,912,000 bytes
Click to expand...

Thanks!
 
Carl said:
Thanks!
Click to expand...

There's a class action under way now, claiming WD uses misleading size
figures. You can join if you've bought a WD drive recently. Only the
lawyers get any money! :-)
 
There's a class action under way now, claiming WD uses misleading size
figures. You can join if you've bought a WD drive recently. Only the
lawyers get any money! :-)
Click to expand...

Class action is over, settled. If you've bought a WD drive you can
download some backup software for free. Whoop. (Not that WD was guilty
of anything.)
 
VWWall said:
There's a class action under way now, claiming WD uses misleading size
figures. You can join if you've bought a WD drive recently. Only the
lawyers get any money! :-)
Click to expand...

Only the
lawyers get any money! :-):o
Click to expand...

Been that way for years!

As for the OP;

You still need to run their software to change registry settings in windows.

datalifeguard for windows 11.2
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1

Lawsuit;

http://www.wdc.com/settlement/login.asp?bhcp=1

C.
 
Just installed SP1. (Different topic but my son says he's heard some
not too good things about SP2.) Now I get 149.05 gig. It said, as I
reformatted it, that the size was 152,625. Just confused why it's not
closer to 160 gig. Any input?
Click to expand...

That size is correct. Microsoft uses the wrong units:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

Side note: If you do not install SP2, Windows will destroy your
data at some point, unless you only use the first 128GB of the
drive. It is a knowen issue.

Arno
 
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Frodo said:
Windows XP with Service Pack 1 has the 48 bit addressing.
Click to expand...

Not completely. MS screwed it up. You will get data loss
if you use more than the first 128GB of the driove.

Arno
 
That size is correct. Microsoft uses the wrong units:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix
Click to expand...

I would suggest you re-read the article. Microsoft is not using the
"wrong units", it is the drive manufactures that are presenting drives
sizes which are technically wrong for the purpose of making the capacity
look larger. Microsoft on the other hand, is showing you the correct
actual values in Giga-Bytes and Bytes.

Using the articles value of 30,064,771,072 Bytes, it could also be
binary converted to read as:

29,360,128 Mega-Bytes
28,672 Kilo-Bytes
28 Giga-Bytes

All of these equal the same amount. The article talks about this, and
how the drive manufactures try to confuse some people. And, it
absolutely doesn't do anyone any good to display only one converted
value for everything.
Side note: If you do not install SP2, Windows will destroy your data
at some point, unless you only use the first 128GB of the drive. It is
a knowen issue.
Click to expand...

That's a load of crap.
 
Windows XP with Service Pack 1 has the 48 bit addressing.
Click to expand...

Windows XP with Service Pack 1 and 2 has it enabled by default, 48-bit
LBA is available in XP (no Service Pack), just that it needs to be
enabled.

Having said that, I wouldn't use anything older than Service Pack 1,
which if you've done any Microsoft updates is probably by now a
combination of Service Pack 1 and 2.
 
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Tom said:
On Jul 31 2006, Arno Wagner wrote:
Click to expand...
I would suggest you re-read the article. Microsoft is not using the
"wrong units", it is the drive manufactures that are presenting drives
sizes which are technically wrong for the purpose of making the capacity
look larger.
Click to expand...

Acftually they are required to use SI units and prefixes
by law in the civilised world (not the US, it seems).

Arno

Microsoft on the other hand, is showing you the correct
actual values in Giga-Bytes and Bytes.
Click to expand...
Using the articles value of 30,064,771,072 Bytes, it could also be
binary converted to read as:
Click to expand...
29,360,128 Mega-Bytes
28,672 Kilo-Bytes
28 Giga-Bytes
Click to expand...
 
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