hard drive space limit

[Josh]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers (More info?)

I recently purchased a 160 gig hard drive and installed windows xp pro with
sp2 on it. When installing windows it told me it could only let me use
134gig not the full 160. How can I make it to let me use the whole drive. To
make it notice the full space?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers (More info?)

In news:B1AB5A12-D996-4FEF-BD92-1523AFEFF240@microsoft.com,
josh <josh@discussions.microsoft.com> typed:

> I recently purchased a 160 gig hard drive and installed windows
> xp
> pro with sp2 on it. When installing windows it told me it
> could only
> let me use 134gig not the full 160. How can I make it to let
> me use
> the whole drive. To make it notice the full space?


You need two things to support a drive that large:

1. A motherboard with a BIOS and controller that supports 48-bit
LBA (or alternatively, an add-in controller card that does).

2. At least SP1 of Windows XP.



Since you have number 2, it would appear that you don't have
number 1.


--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers (More info?)

Hi,

Update the system BIOS, both it and WindowsXP (must have SP1 or SP2
slipstreamed) have to support 48-bit LBA before you can use all of the
drive.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"josh" <josh@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B1AB5A12-D996-4FEF-BD92-1523AFEFF240@microsoft.com...
>I recently purchased a 160 gig hard drive and installed windows xp pro with
> sp2 on it. When installing windows it told me it could only let me use
> 134gig not the full 160. How can I make it to let me use the whole drive.
> To
> make it notice the full space?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers (More info?)

josh typed:
>> I recently purchased a 160 gig hard drive and installed windows
>> xp
>> pro with sp2 on it. When installing windows it told me it
>> could only
>> let me use 134gig not the full 160. How can I make it to let
>> me use
>> the whole drive. To make it notice the full space?

Ken Blake wrote:
> You need two things to support a drive that large:
>
> 1. A motherboard with a BIOS and controller that supports 48-bit
> LBA (or alternatively, an add-in controller card that does).
>
> 2. At least SP1 of Windows XP.
>
> Since you have number 2, it would appear that you don't have
> number 1.

In addition, know this is what you can expect:

Advertised --- Actual Capacity
10GB --- 9.31 GB
20GB --- 18.63 GB
30GB --- 27.94 GB
40GB --- 37.25 GB
60GB --- 55.88 GB
80GB --- 74.51 GB
100GB --- 93.13 GB
120GB --- 111.76 GB
160GB --- 149.01 GB
180GB --- 167.64 GB
200GB --- 186.26 GB
250GB --- 232.83 GB

--
<- Shenan ->
--
The information is provided "as is", it is suggested you research for
yourself before you take any advice - you are the one ultimately
responsible for your actions/problems/solutions. Know what you are
getting into before you jump in with both feet.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers (More info?)

josh wrote:

>I recently purchased a 160 gig hard drive and installed windows xp pro with
>sp2 on it. When installing windows it told me it could only let me use
>134gig not the full 160. How can I make it to let me use the whole drive. To
>make it notice the full space?

A drive bigger than 128 GB (binary measure, 137 decimal billion) needs
support for '48 bit LBA' so as to be able to give a unique address to
each sector of the drive. This may need an upgrade to BIOS or
controller, and certainly needs XP at SP1 state or later.

Also I am pretty sure the initial setup program on the XP CD does not
handle 48 LBA. A single partition that size does not make sense anyway.
If you have SP1 and the BIOS has the size right, start over, making sure
you hit ESC when asked where, so you can delete the present partition
and make a new one. , Setup at a modest size, enough for system and
programs (say 20GB), then when the system is installed, Control Panel -
Admin Tools - Computer Management, select Disk Management and look lower
right for the graphic of the drive. R-click in Unallocated space and
Create Partition, which will be able to use the rest of the drive


--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. Alexn@mvps.D8E8L.org (remove the D8 bit)