C: drive unusually small

[my-name]

I recently bought an HP Pavilion a1560n with a 300 GB hard drive. I
verified through msinfo32 that the HD is 300 GB. But when I view My
Computer, then right click on C: (HP_PAVILION), then Properties, it reports
a C: total size of about 28 GB, with only 1 Gig or so free. (Lots of
pictures, movies, songs, etc. already on the machine.) Picasa already
complained about low disk space.

There is also the D: (HP_RECOVERY) but that is only using around 20 Gig.
So there should be around 250 GB still available.

So how can I make the C: volume use the rest of the space on the HD? Will
a Windows XP utility help me, or do I need a third-party utility, or is it
just a bad HD?

Thanks

 

[my-name]

What do you see if you examine it using...

start -> control panel -> Performance and Maint -> admin tools ->
computer management -> disk mnagement

Thanks for replying. I am at work and the machine is at home, so I'll have
to check that tonight. The Disk Management function looks like it is
view-only, so what should I do if it only says 28 GB, or if it says 250 GB?

Thanks again

 

[CWatters]

I recently bought an HP Pavilion a1560n with a 300 GB hard drive. I
verified through msinfo32 that the HD is 300 GB. But when I view My
Computer, then right click on C: (HP_PAVILION), then Properties, it reports
a C: total size of about 28 GB, with only 1 Gig or so free. (Lots of
pictures, movies, songs, etc. already on the machine.) Picasa already
complained about low disk space.

There is also the D: (HP_RECOVERY) but that is only using around 20 Gig.
So there should be around 250 GB still available.

So how can I make the C: volume use the rest of the space on the HD? Will
a Windows XP utility help me, or do I need a third-party utility, or is it
just a bad HD?

What do you see if you examine it using...

start -> control panel -> Performance and Maint -> admin tools -> computer
management -> disk mnagement

 

[my-name]

Run Disk Management (right click My Computer > Manage > Disk
Management) to see how the disk is partitioned.

It says 18 GB NTFS Healthy (even smaller than I remembered above) for
HP_PAVILION followed by 27 GB FAT32 Healthy for HP_RECOVERY followed by 234
GB unallocated. So is it possible to extend the C: volume using the
unallocated space? If I right click on the unallocated space I can get to
a new partition wizard, but this looks like it only adds partitions.

This is the way the new machine came; I didn't do anything myself.

Thanks

 

[Andy]

Run Disk Management (right click My Computer > Manage > Disk
Management) to see how the disk is partitioned.

 

[Rod Speed]

(e-mail address removed) wrote

It says 18 GB NTFS Healthy (even smaller than I remembered above)
for HP_PAVILION followed by 27 GB FAT32 Healthy for HP_RECOVERY
followed by 234 GB unallocated.

Was that a new system, or just new to you ?

So is it possible to extend the C: volume using the unallocated space?

Yes, but not using disk management.

If I right click on the unallocated space I can get to a new
partition wizard, but this looks like it only adds partitions.
Correct.

This is the way the new machine came; I didn't do anything myself.

Then get onto HP, something is seriously screwed.

 

[CWatters]

Thanks for replying. I am at work and the machine is at home, so I'll have
to check that tonight. The Disk Management function looks like it is
view-only, so what should I do if it only says 28 GB, or if it says 250 GB?

Thanks again

No it can be used to create new partitions (an E: for example) in unused
space.

If you want to expand C: I think you may need a product like Partion Magic.

 

[my-name]

Thanks, guys. I called HP and they said the only option was to start over
with their recovery disks. The computer is new, so copying over the
current files I've added won't take very long. I am going to investigate
tools like Partition Magic also.

 

[Horst Franke]

It says 18 GB NTFS Healthy (even smaller than I remembered above) for
HP_PAVILION followed by 20 (27) GB FAT32 Healthy for HP_RECOVERY
followed by 234 GB unallocated.

Hi Doug where does these values come from?

Hi "my-name" alias "Doug" told first:
C: about 28 GB (but only 18 GB NTFS healthy) and D: about 20 (27) GB
FAT32 followed by 234 GB unallocated?
First make sure that You use WinXP SP2 before any more assumptions.
Or do You use any other OS?

So is it possible to extend the C: volume using the
unallocated space? If I right click on the unallocated space I can get to
a new partition wizard, but this looks like it only adds partitions.

This looks ok since a NTFS partition (28 or 18 GB) was followed by
a 27 GB FAT32 partition! What happens to the rest of 10 GB on NTFS?
Thus there's no way to combine the unallocated space to NTFS.

You would have to move the FAT32 space to the end of the disk before
You'll be able to combine NTFS spaces (by means of third party tools)?
But what is the difference (10 GB) against the first said 28 GB?
And what about the 7 GB difference on the FAT32 partition?

This is the way the new machine came; I didn't do anything myself.

A system partition of C: = 18 (28) GB is not to be treated as small.
But where does the differences (on C: and D come from?
It is too large to be related to decimal vs. binary countings.

And also the 2nd partition of 20 vs. 27 GB FAT32 makes no sense.
What OS is installed?
Your news-headers does not reflect any Win system?
Did You post from that system or another one?

An 300 GB drive is nothing special besides possible 128 GB limits.
But this should be no problem with current BIOS/WinXP updates.

Please report some more details.
Your findings do not match any WinXp behaviour.
Was this a new bought or used PC?
Horst

 

[jchim3232]

I recently got an a1560n and that is how the drive comes from HP, main
drive is 18GB, Recovery is 28GB and the rest is unformatted. I know
this post is probably too late in your quest to get this drive
working but HP support was dead wrong.

As with other posts, you need to go into Disk Management and format
the unpartitioned space, no need to go through all that recovery
crap.