Maxtor HD 20 GB squeezed to 10 GB by OEM, how to unsqueeze?

Hi,

A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't get more as 10 GB out of it.

When I asked Maxtor they replied:

"Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as a
smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the correct capacity and can not be exchanged."

I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
know a trick?

Thanks in Advance.

Ron

first time I have seen this one.....I'm not sure how you would go about doing that...interesting. What does the label say the
capacity is?

"Ron" <rdgrt@freeler.nl> wrote in message news:bjhfpj$gu1$1@news.hccnet.nl...
> Hi,
>
> A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't get more as 10 GB out of it.
>
> When I asked Maxtor they replied:
>
> "Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
> sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as
a
> smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the correct capacity and can not be exchanged."
>
> I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
> know a trick?
>
> Thanks in Advance.
>
> Ron
>
>

What size does the bios think it is?
"Ron" <rdgrt@freeler.nl> wrote in message
news:bjhfpj$gu1$1@news.hccnet.nl...
> Hi,
>
> A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't
get more as 10 GB out of it.
>
> When I asked Maxtor they replied:
>
> "Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity
of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
> sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up
with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as a
> smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the
correct capacity and can not be exchanged."
>
> I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I
would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
> know a trick?
>
> Thanks in Advance.
>
> Ron
>
>
>

The model number is: 2B020H1, a Fireball 541 DX.

Officially LBA is 39102336 but MaxBlast reports only half of that. Which makes 10 GB. I can manually enter BIOS-settings whatever I
want but I won't get more than 10 GB.

When auto-detecting the BIOS always reports 10 GB. I can manually enter whatever I want but I never get more than 10 GB.

Some Maxtor drives have a set of pins that you can jumper together to limit
the drive to a certain size,
These jumpers are usually in the same place where you set the
Master/Slave/CableSelect settings
(on the end of the drive between the power and data connectors)
--jmnugent





"Ron" <rdgrt@freeler.nl> wrote in message
news:bjhfpj$gu1$1@news.hccnet.nl...
> Hi,
>
> A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't
get more as 10 GB out of it.
>
> When I asked Maxtor they replied:
>
> "Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity
of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
> sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up
with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as a
> smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the
correct capacity and can not be exchanged."
>
> I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I
would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
> know a trick?
>
> Thanks in Advance.
>
> Ron
>
>

Ron, if you have it installed as a slave (no jumpers) and the bios says it's
10 gb then it would appear that it is a 10gb drive and you got screwed.
I've installed 3 20gb Maxtors and quite a few larger ones, never had any
problems with them. I can't imagine anything that you could do that would
change what the bios sees it as and that is what really matters.

"Ron" <rdgrt@freeler.nl> wrote in message
news:bjit5h$7qg$1@news.hccnet.nl...
> When auto-detecting the BIOS always reports 10 GB. I can manually enter
whatever I want but I never get more than 10 GB.
>
>
>

Norm wrote:
> Ron, if you have it installed as a slave (no jumpers) and the bios says it's
> 10 gb then it would appear that it is a 10gb drive and you got screwed.

Unless the BIOS cannot detect larger drives. In which case he needs a
BIOS update or a drive overlay. Your comment about jumpers is a good
one and he should check that the drive does not permit jumpering to a
smaller size which could be (however unlikely) contributing to the problem.


> I've installed 3 20gb Maxtors and quite a few larger ones, never had any
> problems with them. I can't imagine anything that you could do that would
> change what the bios sees it as and that is what really matters.
>
> "Ron" <rdgrt@freeler.nl> wrote in message
> news:bjit5h$7qg$1@news.hccnet.nl...
>
>>When auto-detecting the BIOS always reports 10 GB. I can manually enter
>
> whatever I want but I never get more than 10 GB.
>
>>
>>
>
>


--

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Ron, that drive does in fact have a CLS (Cylinder Limitation Jumper) jumper.
Just go to the Maxtor website, find your model number and you can look for
yourself. That might explain what is happening.
"Ron" <rdgrt@freeler.nl> wrote in message
news:bjhfpj$gu1$1@news.hccnet.nl...
> Hi,
>
> A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't
get more as 10 GB out of it.
>
> When I asked Maxtor they replied:
>
> "Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity
of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
> sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up
with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as a
> smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the
correct capacity and can not be exchanged."
>
> I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I
would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
> know a trick?
>
> Thanks in Advance.
>
> Ron
>
>
>

Sorry I didn't tell earlier, but what Maxtor said makes perfectly sense because there were three Compaq "spare part nr ...
" -stickers on the drive.

Tried LBA, CHS, Large and all that stuff and also the cylinder-limitation jumper but nothing helped.