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General discussion

Hard drive reporting size

by Roguehunter Sep 2, 2007 8:31PM PDT

I just had a new hard drive installed on my pc but the system see the hard drive as 127gb when in fact the hard drive has a size of 200gb. Is there anything i can do to let the system see the correct size so i can make maximum use of the full space? Also how do i partition this drive seeing that it is already installed as i want to move my data files to one partition and have the operating system on another.

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6 Posts
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"I just had a hard drive installed".
by Kees Bakker Sep 2, 2007 8:36PM PDT

- What's your OS (Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista)?
- Who installed the hard drive?
- Is it installed as the c:-drive (with the OS on it) or as, say d: or e: (with your c:-drive being the old one)?
- Why not simply go back, complain about the bad job they did (if they did a bad job, not really sure at the moment) and let them redo it?

Kees

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hard drive installation
by Roguehunter Sep 3, 2007 7:36AM PDT

my os is windows XP. The drive is installed as the c drive and is the only drive installed.

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More questions then.
by Kees Bakker Sep 3, 2007 7:40AM PDT

- What does the BIOS say about the hard disk (your "system" is too vague)
- What does XP's Disc management say about the hard disk. It might note there are some 60 Gb unallocated (you never know).
- How's the partition formatted (FAT32 or NTFS)?

Most likely, Bob is right about the limitations of your old PC. This is just to confirm it.

Kees

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Hard drive reporting size
by Roguehunter Sep 3, 2007 10:09AM PDT

Initially my bios saw the hard drive's capacity at 127GB. I just updated the bios and it now shows the correct size of the hard drive which is 200GB. Windows XP still sees the drive at 127GB. How do i get windows to see the correct size? Do i have to format the drive from scratch? The current drive format is in NTFS.

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Depends on your version of XP.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 3, 2007 11:41AM PDT

If you have only the XP CD, then you must leave C: at 127GB. Later after you apply SP2 you gain access to the rest and can partition, format that space and use it as another drive letter.

Bob

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Just a link about that issue.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Sep 2, 2007 10:20PM PDT
http://www.48bitlba.com details why you see the 127GB barrier.

But a parting comment about partitions. Be aware that it is a myth that this "saves your files" during an OS reinstall. I now have dozens of instances where they lost their files. Same as to virus, trojans, etc. It also was touted to speed up a machine. Again, another myth debunked.

In closing, backup. If you have the means (if not find them!) never do without a backup copy of what you can't lose.

Bob
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