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General discussion

250 GB Seagate Hard Drive only reads 31.4 GB available

Feb 27, 2007 1:51AM PST

Okay here's the deal.
My 250GB ATA Seagate barracuda hard drive is only reading 31.4GB available. I'v tried everything I can think of. I've read through the forums and serisouly cannot figure this out. Here's what I've done thus far:

Checked proper jumper settings. These are correct
Verified BIOS is 48 bit LBA comptble
Verified OS is 48 bit comptble (winxp pro w/ latest fixes)
Purchased a PCI card for additional IDE slots
Used 3rd party disc set up (Windows Disk wizzard)


I have 2 other drives not including this one that are both already partitioned over 31.4GB. I can't figure this out. Somine help please!

Discussion is locked

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"Used 3rd party disc set up (Windows Disk wizzard)"
Feb 27, 2007 1:58AM PST

Ok, now use just Windows. Use NTFS so you won't hit that 32GB limit.

Bob

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ftmdui zj
Feb 27, 2007 2:12AM PST

z etunA ETYUU

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250 GB Seagate Hard Drive only reads 31.4 GB available
Feb 27, 2007 2:12AM PST

already done in NTFS. I wouldn't use FAT anyway. Still limited to 31.4GB

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Don't use that 3rd party tool.
Feb 27, 2007 2:16AM PST

Use the native tool. And also try it on the PC's builtin IDE ports. You may have some ide card with an issue.

Bob

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250GB reading 31.4GB
Feb 27, 2007 2:41AM PST

I've tried just using windows through disc management and it still only gives the option of 31.4GB available. I've changed it over to one of my mobo's IDE's and still getting the same limitation of 31.4GB.

These forums are pretty damn slow. It took me nearly 10 minutes just to get this posted. - Kept getting page unavail.

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OK, next up. The big guns.
Feb 27, 2007 2:49AM PST

Since you are sure the host machine is good for over 32GB or over 127GB drives let's use DBAN on that drive to be sure we have a clean slate and try again. Be sure to not have drives that you don't want wiped out connected at the time.

Next try again but if it fails look to GpartEd and this boot CD -> http://gparted.sourceforge.net/documentation.php

That's it. All the big guns I know of. If that fails then something is limiting the drive size. Tell me the exact make, model of the drive and the jumper setting you used.

Bob

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Make Model
Feb 27, 2007 3:15AM PST

Seagate Barracuda Model ST3250623A using cable select on all 3 drives

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Figure 4 of page 23 at link.
Feb 27, 2007 3:24AM PST
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/manuals/ata/cuda_72008_pm.pdf

Sometimes I find a jumper PARKED on that location or the owner thought it was for the MASTER. The drive definitely has a limit feature so that gives us cause for the 32GB limit. There have been drives that a pullup resistor has failed and they permanently are 32GB drives in spite of the jumper setting. A super-tech can use a voltmeter and sniff that issue out.

Bob
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Well..
Feb 27, 2007 4:24AM PST

Well I tried DBAN and it actually did nothing. It took about 25 minutes to complete and stated that it returned "non fatal errors which is usually the cause of bad sectors." This just doesn't make sense. The drive is brand new straight outta the box. I haven't even had an opportunity to put any data on it yet.

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DBAN only wipes it.
Feb 27, 2007 4:32AM PST

Now that it's clean we can hook it up to a stock IDE port and see what XP's FDISK says or Gparted.

Bob

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Sorry. Any supertechs?
Feb 27, 2007 4:33AM PST

That is, one with a voltmeter to check that 32GB jumper is actually working? Hint: Measure voltage on the 2 pins and ground (black cable on power connection) then put the jumper on and what voltage?

Bob

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FDISK
Feb 27, 2007 4:42AM PST

FDISK is not working for me for some reason.

start --> type cmd --> type FDISK right?

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Depends on version of OS.
Feb 27, 2007 4:49AM PST

FDISK is on most Linux CDs, GParted gets the owner a mouse, DOS had FDISK, XP used DISKPART on the recovery console.

I used various machines since before CP/M including mag tape, cards and punch tape so I may skip past the tutorial steps. Sorry about that.

Bob

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disk part
Feb 27, 2007 4:56AM PST

Okay so I have diskpart up but I'm unsure what the next step is here.

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DISKPART tutorial?
Feb 27, 2007 5:22AM PST