Maxtor HDD showing up as a 128.00 GB

feo

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I am in desperate need.

I have tried searching for an issue related to hard drives showing up as 128.00 GB but have not found any topics.

I currently have a: Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150. I have updated computers but when I plug my hard drive in... and when I click on <Manage> it shows up as a 128.00 GB drive with 154.47 GB Unallocated.

diskmanage.jpg


When I try to access my hard drive, it just wants me to format it:

format.jpg


I am running SP2 with an ASUS P5VD2-X board: both of which support 48 bit LBA's. It was suggested to me that my new BIOS has different geometry translation and will not be able to read the hard drive. Is there any truth to this?

I have tried downloading a program called "Recover My Files" - which IS able to see the data, but when it copies the files over... most of everything is ... incomplete? For example, if its an audio file- I can only get HALF of the files to play properly.

Is there any other ways of repairing this drive without losing the data? Lunch is SO on me if anyone can figure out how :S
 

SomeJoe7777

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You left out some info about your setup, but I'm going to assume the following:

1. You bought a new motherboard.
2. You installed Windows XP on a hard drive attached to it.
3. You hooked up your Maxtor MaxLine III hoping to get to your old files.

IF I'm right in these assumptions, then:

Did you install Windows XP from a RTM (Release to Manufacturing - i.e. no service packs) CD? If so, have you upgraded Windows to at least Service Pack 1?

If not, that is the reason you can't see the rest of the partition.

Install SP1 or higher to regain 48-bit LBA capability in the OS.
 

feo

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You left out some info about your setup, but I'm going to assume the following:

1. You bought a new motherboard.
2. You installed Windows XP on a hard drive attached to it.
3. You hooked up your Maxtor MaxLine III hoping to get to your old files.

IF I'm right in these assumptions, then:

Did you install Windows XP from a RTM (Release to Manufacturing - i.e. no service packs) CD? If so, have you upgraded Windows to at least Service Pack 1?

If not, that is the reason you can't see the rest of the partition.

Install SP1 or higher to regain 48-bit LBA capability in the OS.

Thank you for your reply, your assumptions were correct... but as I stated in my OP - I am already running SP2 (my windows disk has this built in) ... and my motherboard already supports 48 bit LBA :S

I just wish it were that easy to have access to my hard drive again :(
 

cottonball

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I've had a simular problem as your having. I reinstalled SP2 and after it rebooted I was able to read everything on that disk again. Hope that helps.
 

feo

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I've had a simular problem as your having. I reinstalled SP2 and after it rebooted I was able to read everything on that disk again. Hope that helps.

hehe this is already my 2nd windows installation.

QQ
 

Kronos

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Had the same problem with my new HD. I finally had to make a new XP CD with a combined SP2 pack. The instructions on how to do so can be "Googled". Once done..you will have a write combined XP disc with SP2 added during initial XP installation. Good Luck
 

feo

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Get Partition Magic. It's the simplest easiest way to fix the problem.

How is the problem fixed with Partition Magic? Do you have any experience with Partition Magic?

Its viewing the entire partition as "BAD" and so none of the "Partition Options" are available.
 

LoneEagle

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Did you try to delete the 128 GB partition and recreate one? Prior to SP1 or SP2, the maximum was 128.

When I got my new 320 and did a clone from my old HD, I had that but could not extend it because was my primary drive. Now that I have Vista, I could do an Extend and worked great.

Let me know if that could help.
 

feo

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Did you try to delete the 128 GB partition and recreate one? Prior to SP1 or SP2, the maximum was 128.

When I got my new 320 and did a clone from my old HD, I had that but could not extend it because was my primary drive. Now that I have Vista, I could do an Extend and worked great.

Let me know if that could help.

Won't the partition deletion erase the data on the drive?
 

LoneEagle

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Did you try to delete the 128 GB partition and recreate one? Prior to SP1 or SP2, the maximum was 128.

When I got my new 320 and did a clone from my old HD, I had that but could not extend it because was my primary drive. Now that I have Vista, I could do an Extend and worked great.

Let me know if that could help.

Won't the partition deletion erase the data on the drive?

Of what I can see, this HD is not your primary one and a new one. Just move your data somewhere else.
 

sweetpants

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Of what I can see, this HD is not your primary one and a new one. Just move your data somewhere else.

How do I get to the data?

What about the extra 150GB, can you temporarily format that portion of it?

Maybe it's the fact that I skimmed over this but for some reason I'm thinking that if you formatted the extra 150GB's you would be able to access the origial 120-130 or whatever it was. At that point could you move it over and then re-do the drive?
 

feo

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Of what I can see, this HD is not your primary one and a new one. Just move your data somewhere else.

How do I get to the data?

What about the extra 150GB, can you temporarily format that portion of it?

Maybe it's the fact that I skimmed over this but for some reason I'm thinking that if you formatted the extra 150GB's you would be able to access the origial 120-130 or whatever it was. At that point could you move it over and then re-do the drive?

Theres a total of ~250 GB of data on the drive.
I was under the impression that formatting erased it.
 

baddog1

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Format the unused section, and Windows will stop calling it "bad". 8O

Then use Partition Magic to expand your "c" drive to include the entire drive. By far the simplest way, and you don't lose data.
 
The same thing you are experiencing has happened to me a lot with external HDD's. The way I solved it was to hook up the drive to another computer and voila' suddenly I can see the files and everything is intact.
Sometimes the controller goes crazy for no reason.
 

FTCold

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The problem is with the driver being used for the drive. Does it happen to be a SATA drive? Are you connecting this to a new mobo?

The reason I ask is I was working on my friend's PC since he was complaining about the exact same thing. I took a look in compmgt and saw the same thing as you. He was using a DFI lanparty board and neglected to install the DFI drivers at windows setup. Since it was a fresh install and he didn't have any data on the OS drive I put the XP disk back in and this time loaded the correct drivers off the floppy - fixed the issue.

My guess is you have drivers for your sata/raid controller that aren't installed or aren't the one from the manufacturer.
 

ilias

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I guess that the old disk was not partitioned and was fairly full so the solution for formatting the 2nd part is not applicable..

Also the first part has no file system and is reported as empty this is why the system ask you to format the drive ( letter I ) (the first part of the disk which is supposed to be in good condition).

In reality there is no first and second part on the disk,

The problem could be in the controller at least one of them or the drivers of it

Your mobo has 2 controllers (2 sata I ports and 2 sata II ports, one of the sata II ports is external)

If you have the OS (main) disk connected to a sata I port (one of the 2 close to the battery), connect the "problematic" disk in the port next to it. That port is also sata I and uses the same controller, meaning that you already have the drivers for that controller.
(If you have already a disk plugged in there, i see you have 4 disks in total, just unplug it and move it to the port you have the "bad" drive and check what happens then. if the problem "moves" to the other drive then you solved the problem for the moment).

if you use the sata II port (the one near the cpu ) then you must load the drivers for the other controller also there is a possibly that you set the sata II port in raid mode...check you bios to disable the raid function (that applies also for the sata I controller) and reinstall the sata controller drivers

To conclude (and repeat) because my english sucks
-check the bios to disable raid mode if it is enabled
-install drivers (no raid mode) for BOTH controllers

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=346&model=1362&modelmenu=2 (info for your mobo)

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5VD2-X (link for drivers use it to get the sata controllers drivers in case you dont have them)

p.s. sorry for my bad English

edit: to correct some of the really bad english 
 

sweetpants

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Format the unused section, and Windows will stop calling it "bad". 8O

Then use Partition Magic to expand your "c" drive to include the entire drive. By far the simplest way, and you don't lose data.

So when you try to access disk 1 it asks you to format, seems like the OS is seeing the unformatted 151.42GB. Could you format that portion? Seeing as how the OS is seeing it as seperate, make it its own temporary partition, so that you can access the 128GB, copy all the information off, then recombine the 128+151GB and put your data back on... That was my suggestion.

I believe that's what BadDog1 was saying as well.