Hard drive blues

[WITHTEETH]

Well I installed my new hardrive, and chucked my old one. So i need to install a new version of windows.

As I was installing the harddrive in DOS (Its a western digital SATA Caviar 400GB) it read that it was going to make a 137 GB partition and that later in windows when i confirm i have service pack one or later it would give me the rest of my harddrive( the extra 263GB) back.

 

So everything is going cool, i install windows (original w/o servpice pack 1) and then do my updates, like installing service pack 1 and two since i have my internet connection back.

 

Now I'm trying to figure out how the HECK to get the rest of my harddrive recognized! I can't figure it out!

 

Microsoft Knowlwdge Database for my problem

 

Everything is up to date, I checked and i have the newest version of the ATAPI. So can anybody help me out and tell me how im suppose to get my PC to recognize the rest of my harddrive!?

 

I'm having trouble unlocking the rest of my hardrive space.

[LostStraw]

You might need to make another partition.

 

Right Click on "My Computer" > select "Manage"

 

Under "Storage" in the left menu, select "Disk Management"

 

If my idea is correct, you should have one 137GB partition and a bunch of unused stuff. If you do, select the unused space and make a new partition -- if you don't have any unused space, I have no idea .

[WITHTEETH]

That may work but i really want one giant partition. There must be a way to stretch out the rest of my harddrive through windowsXP im thinking. The search continues...

[LostStraw]

I'm not sure if winXP has the ablility to merge partitions, I know there are 3rd party programs that can do it though.

[angshuman]

LostStraw's suggestion should work. If it doesn't (i.e., Windows' Disk Management tool can't find the un-allocated space), you could try using a Linux install CD to get into a recovery console and use fdisk to create the new partition. I can walk you through the steps. Fdisk is a bit tricky to use, but for a task as simple as this it should be fairly straightforward.

 

EDIT: I was refering to LostStraw's first suggestion to create two partitions. You can't use fdisk to merge partitions, I'm afraid.

Edited August 17, 2006 by angshuman

[Spider]

I think a third party program like partition magic is required.

 

Edit: I think this program could work:

 

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

 

From what I understand it's shareware (only one I found though I only did a quick search). I'm not sure it can merge partitions, since I haven't tested it, but I think it can.

Edited August 17, 2006 by Spider

[tarna]

WITHTEETH, I've been using larger drives on my old, internet computer for several years now. I don't have good news for you. If your old motherboard ( and BIOS ) couldn't recognise the large drive, it may have formatted it to 31.4 Gb. If it did that you're screwed. Even updating your drive info won't give you the rest of the drive. When you were setting up the drive, did it ask you about the partitioning and make a remark about it being a larger drive? I installed a 160 Gb drive and the partion change became permanent to the drive. I haven't yet been able to remove the partion.

If you put a smaller drive in Master position, once WinXP is in place, it will run and recognise the larger drive but the BIOS will not ( without 'flashing' it ). That's why the large drive must come on-line after WinXP is in position to control it. There are drive adapter PCI cards that will overcome the 137 Gb barrier but I don't know what they will do as far as the Master drive is concerned. They work better for older OSs like Win98.

 

If you can't get it to work fairly soon, take it back and tell the store that the drive is defective and get another one. Place it as secondary and buy a 120 Gb drive for C drive. Sorry bud. If you can make it work, let me know how so I can repair the drive I have now that only allows me to use 1/4 of it's capacity.

[WITHTEETH]

WITHTEETH, I've been using larger drives on my old, internet computer for several years now. I don't have good news for you. If your old motherboard ( and BIOS ) couldn't recognise the large drive, it may have formatted it to 31.4 Gb. If it did that you're screwed. Even updating your drive info won't give you the rest of the drive. When you were setting up the drive, did it ask you about the partitioning and make a remark about it being a larger drive? I installed a 160 Gb drive and the partion change became permanent to the drive. I haven't yet been able to remove the partion. 

If you put a smaller drive in Master position, once WinXP is in place, it will run and recognise the larger drive but the BIOS will not ( without 'flashing' it ). That's why the large drive must come on-line after WinXP is in position to control it. There are drive adapter PCI cards that will overcome the 137 Gb barrier but I don't know what they will do as far as the Master drive is concerned. They work better for older OSs like Win98.

 

If you can't get it to work fairly soon, take it back and tell the store that the drive is defective and get another one. Place it as secondary and buy a 120 Gb drive for C drive. Sorry bud. If you can make it work, let me know how so I can repair the drive I have now that only allows me to use 1/4 of it's capacity.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Clever tarna, thanks.

I actually do have another 120 gig hardrice (same brand name) that would couple well, but i really wanted THIS drive to become the master. Still, your idea is more sound then having 3 partitions. I have 3 at the moment.

 

Screw it, im gonna go with your advice! I'm going to have to wait a few weeks, im working 13hour days including weekends, and then im going on a vacation to washington DC.

 

-thanks

[tarna]

I actually do have another 120 gig hardrice (same brand name) that would couple well, but i really wanted THIS drive to become the master. Still, your idea is more sound then having 3 partitions. I have 3 at the moment. 

 

Screw it, im gonna go with your advice! I'm going to have to wait a few weeks,  im working 13hour days including weekends, and then im going on a vacation to washington DC.

 

-thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Your other choice is to look up someone on-line that you can download an up-dated BIOS for your motherboard. Load this onto a floppy. Load the floppy, restart your computer and start praying . If it works, everything is great. If it doesn't, you're now the proud owner of an expensive boat anchor.

If you want to try the flash-the-BIOS thing ( russian roulette ), talk with Cant. He mentioned recently that he's done it several times without any problems at all.

[Cantousent]

Actually, I didn't flash my bios for this computer. I have done so, however. It is nail biter. Not because it's all that difficult, but because there's always the chance you've screwed up your bios, which means getting a new motherboard. However, even that isn't so bad as long as your other components work.

 

The thing is, go to the manufacturer's website and make sure you follow the instructions scrupulously. You might have to apply different iterations of the bios in a particular order. Don't just grab the latest and greatest version, as sometimes that doesn't work.

 

At any rate, good luck.

 

Now, I didn't upgrade the bios for my desktop, but I did recently have to update the chipset, which is another beast entirely.

[LostStraw]

I've flashed my motherboard bios 5 times, my videocard bios 1 time, and my router bios 2 times.

 

I still have yet for anything to die on me :D.

 

The videocard bios was the only one I had to use a floppy disk for, the others were updated while I was in XP through the companies custom programs.

[Cantousent]

I haven't updated a bios since before XP. Well before XP.

[metadigital]

My IBM laptop has regular BIOS updates, and I have generally applied them as they were released. Until I managed to screw up my IBM partition. Now I don't seem to be able to apply any more, but I am not particularly concerned (the laptop is threee years old and works adequately well).

 

I HAVE fried a WiFi router with a poorly executed BIOS update: it now operates as a very spiffy repeater. :D

[WITHTEETH]

I've updated my BIOS plenty of times, its up to date. I fixed my problem too. Borrowed partition magic and merged the 2 partitions as 1. cool beans! thanks guys!