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General discussion

Disk size

Feb 4, 2004 11:44AM PST

Have a 185 GB hard drive. Fdisk only sees 45, and XP partitioning tool only sees 132. Cannot format and install xp with greater than 127 gig. Is there a cure?

Discussion is locked

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Re:Disk size
Feb 4, 2004 11:52AM PST

1. Are you using the latest FDISK from Microsoft? They have a patched version that will fix the cosmetic defect.

2. For XP, an additional requirement is the ATA133 controller. You didn't tell what motherboard make/model you have, but if it's not a current model, there are PCI IDE controllers you can get. My WD 160 came with one, but my motherboard didn't need it.

Bob

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Re:Re:Disk size
Feb 6, 2004 6:04AM PST

1. Does fdisk partition ntfs

2. How would I format it?

3.Does the controller issue apply even if I could partition the full 185 GB with fdisk. I'm assuming that you meant that xp would not format the drive and the os itself will not see it even if it's installed on a full sized formatted partition.

My mother board is a soyo sy-p4x400 dragon ultra platinum edition and I'm almost certain as I type this that its ata 100, though it has raid and I believe that funtion may be 133. Would that take care of it?

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Re:Re:Re:Disk size
Feb 6, 2004 6:43AM PST

1. Does fdisk partition ntfs

There are a few fdisk programs. The fdisk program with linux will do ntfs just fine. Microsoft's Windows 98's FDISK that you get updated from Microsoft will be fine to and when I run the XP installer, it will ask me what final partition type (FAT/NTFS) it will be.

In short, linux's fdisk does.

2. How would I format it?

Your choice of how.

3.Does the controller issue apply even if I could partition the full 185 GB with fdisk. I'm assuming that you meant that xp would not format the drive and the os itself will not see it even if it's installed on a full sized formatted partition.

No.

(4) My mother board is a soyo sy-p4x400 dragon ultra platinum edition and I'm almost certain as I type this that its ata 100, though it has raid and I believe that funtion may be 133. Would that take care of it?

Most likely. The hard disk maker web site noted that ATA133 issue. It's not just the speed, but the extended CHS support. I will not duplicate their information in this small space.

Are you making progress?

Bob

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Re: Forgot to mention in first post....
Feb 6, 2004 6:07AM PST

That my motherboard bios sees the entire 185 gigabytes. Just the utilities do not and the installed xp os does not. Not certain whether this has any relevance to what you have already told me or not.

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Ahh, then you want to read...
Feb 6, 2004 6:45AM PST
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Re:Re: Forgot to mention in first post....
Feb 6, 2004 6:47AM PST
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Caveat.
Feb 6, 2004 7:05AM PST
Note: "Q331958" explains that if your computer has an ATA Packet Interface (ATAPI) hard disk that is larger than 137 gigabytes (GB), 1) your computer may restart instead of resuming from hibernation, 2) you may experience hard disk corruption when your computer enters either standby or hibernation, and 3) you may experience hard disk corruption when Windows XP writes a memory dump file as a result of an unrecoverable Windows error (or Stop error), unless the system is subsequently patched.
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Re: Let me make sure I understand.
Feb 6, 2004 3:18PM PST

I'm a little confused by your responses, and no I haven't begun yet. My present installation is still in the machine untill I know what i'm doing

Linux will partition it, xp will format the whole thing.. and then I'll need sp1 and this other patch, and I'm off and running right? I have a couple of mandrake versions but have never seen a partition\format in ntfs in there.

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Re:Re: Let me make sure I understand.
Feb 6, 2004 9:40PM PST

The way I understand that article is that if you expect to use Advanced Power Management (APM) or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) power management on such a system without that patch, you can expect the problems explained. I would suggest having that patch handy, and after completing the scenario of patching as explained in Bob's Q303013, that it being executed immediately before allowing APM to take place.

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Re:Re: Let me make sure I understand.
Feb 6, 2004 11:06PM PST

I only mentioned linux's fdisk since I wanted to cover more ground about your question about fdisk being able to do NTFS. http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html is another linux tool that does interesting things with NTFS. In short, very well supported now, but your posts left out VERSION and such information about what and whose fdisk we are to discuss.

If we roll all this to the top, and bring it down to something simpler like...

"How do I install XP retail non-SP1 onto a hard disk over 127 GB?"

Then the last knowledge base article I noted answers that. IF you ask other questions like "does fdisk do NTFS?", then the door is open to any version of fdisk I know of.

Bob

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Re:This is the right question...
Feb 7, 2004 1:13PM PST

"How do I install XP retail non-SP1 onto a raw un partitioned hard disk over 132 GB?"

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Re:Re:This is the right question...
Feb 7, 2004 8:41PM PST
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I agree with Bob, but . . .
Feb 8, 2004 12:01AM PST

I believe you'll find there are ways as explained in the "Deployment Guide", the section titled, "The Integrated Installation", which may not be practicle for you however. I believe there have been several discussion on this forum of how a user could create their own "integrated" CD.

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Create A Bootable/Slipstreamed Windows XP Installation CD
Feb 8, 2004 12:14AM PST

Perhaps you'll find that the ElderGeeks Web site has some interesting information concerning the subject above.