Windows won't boot if any partition extends past 120 GB on 250 GBdrive

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Also correct.




But it's not a matter of doing it "properly." It won't do it at all.
FAT32 won't even be offered as an option if the partition is over
32GB.

Hi Ken,

I use WindowsXPpe[sp2], and if I right-click on the drive and chose
format to a partition made as FAT32 with PartitionMagic 8.05 it will in
fact try to format it.

OK, you're talking about reformatting an already-existing FAT32
partition. I was talking about creating the partition as FAT32.

 

[JS]

Verify if HD Tune indicates your drive supports 48Bit LBA.
HD Tune, provides drive info and has an option to test your drive.
http://www.hdtune.com/

JS

IAA is already installed. In fact, I just downloaded the lastest version
in January. Try again.

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On 15 Mar 2008 03:11:37 GMT, "C.Joseph S. Drayton"

Off the top of my head it sounds like you made the partition
FAT32 >> rather than NTFS. WindowsXP has a problem formating

FAT32 >> >>partitions over that size.

Well, that's a rather misleading statement. Windows XP will not
create >a FAT32 volume larger than 32GB. But that's by design,
rather than its >having a problem doing so.

If it was mis-leading my apologies.


Accepted.


The bottom line is that with
WindowsXP's built-in tools it can not do so.


Correct.


It has no problem reading
a large FAT32 partition,



Also correct.


but as far as I have seen, it does not format
a large FAT32 partition properly.


But it's not a matter of doing it "properly." It won't do it at

all. >FAT32 won't even be offered as an option if the partition
is over >32GB.

Hi Ken,

I use WindowsXPpe[sp2], and if I right-click on the drive and chose
format to a partition made as FAT32 with PartitionMagic 8.05 it
will in fact try to format it.

OK, you're talking about reformatting an already-existing FAT32
partition. I was talking about creating the partition as FAT32.

PartitionMagic 8.05 will partition without formatting and the same
holds true.

--

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On 15 Mar 2008 15:59:43 GMT, "C.Joseph S. Drayton"

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On 15 Mar 2008 03:11:37 GMT, "C.Joseph S. Drayton"

Off the top of my head it sounds like you made the partition
FAT32 >> rather than NTFS. WindowsXP has a problem formating
FAT32 >> >>partitions over that size.



Well, that's a rather misleading statement. Windows XP will not
create >a FAT32 volume larger than 32GB. But that's by design,
rather than its >having a problem doing so.

If it was mis-leading my apologies.


Accepted.


The bottom line is that with
WindowsXP's built-in tools it can not do so.


Correct.


It has no problem reading
a large FAT32 partition,



Also correct.


but as far as I have seen, it does not format
a large FAT32 partition properly.


But it's not a matter of doing it "properly." It won't do it at
all. >FAT32 won't even be offered as an option if the partition
is over >32GB.

Hi Ken,

I use WindowsXPpe[sp2], and if I right-click on the drive and chose
format to a partition made as FAT32 with PartitionMagic 8.05 it
will in fact try to format it.

OK, you're talking about reformatting an already-existing FAT32
partition. I was talking about creating the partition as FAT32.

PartitionMagic 8.05 will partition without formatting and the same
holds true.

Yes. My point, once again, is that Windows XP can *not* create a FAT32
partition larger than 32GB.

As I said earlier in this thread "There are many ways to create FAT32
partitions larger than 32GB. You can even use FDISK from Windows 98;
no third-party program like Partition Magic is required. My point was
only that Windows XP will not do it."

 

[Will Pittenger]

I already knew 48-LBA was supported thanks to another program I
downloaded. However, I did download yours. It was nicer. It does say
that 48-bit LBA is supported.

I should note that the drive in question has been chirping. When my
previous drive did that, someone at http://hddguru.com said to return
the drive. I did that. So far, I have only noticed it with this drive
(the replacement) once with Windows failing to wake up from hibernation
once (cause unknown as I was asleep).

However, neither of the programs that I have run to check things like
that have had a problem. Please note that your program sees this drive
as only 137 GB. It knows about 48-bit LBA drives but can't properly
recognize one?

 

[Anna]

I already knew 48-LBA was supported thanks to another program I downloaded.
However, I did download yours. It was nicer. It does say that 48-bit LBA
is supported.

I should note that the drive in question has been chirping. When my
previous drive did that, someone at http://hddguru.com said to return the
drive. I did that. So far, I have only noticed it with this drive (the
replacement) once with Windows failing to wake up from hibernation once
(cause unknown as I was asleep).

However, neither of the programs that I have run to check things like that
have had a problem. Please note that your program sees this drive as only
137 GB. It knows about 48-bit LBA drives but can't properly recognize
one?

Will:
It seems reasonably clear (I least I *think* it's "reasonably clear"!) that
when you installed your large-capacity HDD your XP OS did *not* contain SP1
and/or SP2. Would I be correct about that?

Should that be the case the OS will *not* detect disk-capacity > 137 GB
(roughly 128 GB binary). Should you subsequently install SP1 and/or SP2 the
full capacity of the disk will be recognized however the remaining disk
space > the 137 GB (128 GB) will be considered "unallocated space", i.e.,
disk space that you can partition/format using XP's Disk Management utility.
So at the minimum you have two partitions on the drive.

Obviously we're assuming your BIOS supports large-capacity disks and judging
from your description it does.
Anna

P.S.
The "chirping" is another story. Just ensure you maintain current backups of
your system.

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On 15 Mar 2008 15:59:43 GMT, "C.Joseph S. Drayton"

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On 15 Mar 2008 03:11:37 GMT, "C.Joseph S. Drayton"

Off the top of my head it sounds like you made the

partition >> >>FAT32 >> rather than NTFS. WindowsXP has a problem
formating >>FAT32 >> >>partitions over that size.

Well, that's a rather misleading statement. Windows XP will

not >> >>create >a FAT32 volume larger than 32GB. But that's by
design, >> >>rather than its >having a problem doing so.

If it was mis-leading my apologies.


Accepted.


The bottom line is that with
WindowsXP's built-in tools it can not do so.


Correct.


It has no problem reading
a large FAT32 partition,



Also correct.


but as far as I have seen, it does not format
a large FAT32 partition properly.


But it's not a matter of doing it "properly." It won't do it at
all. >FAT32 won't even be offered as an option if the partition
is over >32GB.

Hi Ken,

I use WindowsXPpe[sp2], and if I right-click on the drive and

chose >> format to a partition made as FAT32 with PartitionMagic
8.05 it >>will in fact try to format it.

OK, you're talking about reformatting an already-existing FAT32
partition. I was talking about creating the partition as FAT32.

PartitionMagic 8.05 will partition without formatting and the same
holds true.

Yes. My point, once again, is that Windows XP can not create a FAT32
partition larger than 32GB.

As I said earlier in this thread "There are many ways to create FAT32
partitions larger than 32GB. You can even use FDISK from Windows 98;
no third-party program like Partition Magic is required. My point was
only that Windows XP will not do it."

Since the original article by the OP mentions Partitionmagic, I see no
problem in including its possible usage as a part of reasoning behind
the statement I made. Again if I mis-lead the OP then I apologize. As
to the rest of this sub-thread, what might be more useful is to
determine the actual partition descriptor. With that information we
would know why he can't see a large FAT32 partition.

--

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Will Pittenger]

Actually, I wrote that Partition Magic doesn't run -- and when it was
running, it also said the drive was only 137 GB.

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On 15 Mar 2008 22:21:19 GMT, "C.Joseph S. Drayton"
Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On 15 Mar 2008 15:59:43 GMT, "C.Joseph S. Drayton"
Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

On 15 Mar 2008 03:11:37 GMT, "C.Joseph S. Drayton"

Off the top of my head it sounds like you made the
partition >> >>FAT32 >> rather than NTFS. WindowsXP has a problem
formating >>FAT32 >> >>partitions over that size.


Well, that's a rather misleading statement. Windows XP will
not >> >>create >a FAT32 volume larger than 32GB. But that's by
design, >> >>rather than its >having a problem doing so.
If it was mis-leading my apologies.

Accepted.


The bottom line is that with
WindowsXP's built-in tools it can not do so.

Correct.


It has no problem reading
a large FAT32 partition,


Also correct.


but as far as I have seen, it does not format
a large FAT32 partition properly.

But it's not a matter of doing it "properly." It won't do it at
all. >FAT32 won't even be offered as an option if the partition
is over >32GB.

Hi Ken,

I use WindowsXPpe[sp2], and if I right-click on the drive and
chose >> format to a partition made as FAT32 with PartitionMagic
8.05 it >>will in fact try to format it.


OK, you're talking about reformatting an already-existing FAT32
partition. I was talking about creating the partition as FAT32.
PartitionMagic 8.05 will partition without formatting and the same
holds true.

Yes. My point, once again, is that Windows XP can not create a FAT32
partition larger than 32GB.

As I said earlier in this thread "There are many ways to create FAT32
partitions larger than 32GB. You can even use FDISK from Windows 98;
no third-party program like Partition Magic is required. My point was
only that Windows XP will not do it."

Since the original article by the OP mentions Partitionmagic, I see no
problem in including its possible usage as a part of reasoning behind
the statement I made. Again if I mis-lead the OP then I apologize. As
to the rest of this sub-thread, what might be more useful is to
determine the actual partition descriptor. With that information we
would know why he can't see a large FAT32 partition.

 

[Will Pittenger]

Well, my Windows CD is SP1. I was forced to start with a new Windows
install when the previous drive (also a warranty replacement drive)
arrived. Once installed, I had Microsoft Update install SP2 as soon as
it would let me.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Now make a new XP (slipstreamed) cd integrating your XP SP1 cd and SP2 using
a program like nLite, http://www.nliteos.com/guide/, and SP2 from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...BE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

That way you can install XP SP2 directly and not have go through the update
stuff again. When SP3 releases you can repeat the process to get an
integrated XP SP3 cd.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Actually, I wrote that Partition Magic doesn't run -- and when it was
running, it also said the drive was only 137 GB.

You need two things to support a drive over 137GB:

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.

You apparently are missing at least one of these.

 

[Will Pittenger]

I think we have already ruled both out. I know that SP2 is installed.
I also know the BIOS supports 48-LBA.

 

[Will Pittenger]

Are you saying I should toss my existing Windows partition? I would
prefer a way to keep it.

Now make a new XP (slipstreamed) cd integrating your XP SP1 cd and SP2
using a program like nLite, http://www.nliteos.com/guide/, and SP2 from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...BE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en


That way you can install XP SP2 directly and not have go through the
update stuff again. When SP3 releases you can repeat the process to get
an integrated XP SP3 cd.

 

[Bill in Co.]

When you install SP2, and get to be able to see the whole drive with the
unpartioned remainder disk space, you can either just keep it that way, or
resize it to max, OR create and format a second partition in there, which is
what I would do. Your call. Personally, I find it convenient to have at
least two partitions (and even more, frankly).

Are you saying I should toss my existing Windows partition? I would
prefer a way to keep it.

 

[C.Joseph S. Drayton]

I think we have already ruled both out. I know that SP2 is
installed. I also know the BIOS supports 48-LBA.

Hi Will what type of drive are we talking about? SCSI, PATA, SATA?

When you go into the BIOS, does the BIOS identify it properly? If it
does and it is PATA, is legacy support for the IDE channel turned on?

--

Sincerely,
C.Joseph Drayton, Ph.D. AS&T

CSD Computer Services
Web site: http://csdcs.tlerma.com/
E-mail: (e-mail address removed)

 

[Will Pittenger]

Actually, I already have 4 partitions on that drive. The problem
happens if ANY of those partitions extend past 137 GB.

When you install SP2, and get to be able to see the whole drive with the
unpartioned remainder disk space, you can either just keep it that way, or
resize it to max, OR create and format a second partition in there, which is
what I would do. Your call. Personally, I find it convenient to have at
least two partitions (and even more, frankly).

 

[Will Pittenger]

PATA. Hooked up via a Promise Ultra ATA/100 card.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I didn't say anything about partitions. I said you should make a new cd
that saves you from having to download and install SP2 again by combining
your XP SP1 cd and SP2 into an integrated cd that you can use whenever you
need an XP cd.

Are you saying I should toss my existing Windows partition? I would
prefer a way to keep it.

 

[Bill in Co.]

Have you installed SP2 yet? Or you could use Partition Magic.

Actually, I already have 4 partitions on that drive. The problem
happens if ANY of those partitions extend past 137 GB.

 

[Will Pittenger]

I didn't say you did. But I have a working Windows partition now (aside
from it not accepting partitions above 137 GB) and I don't care to start
by reinstalling Windows from scratch -- even if I can start with SP2
preinstalled.

I didn't say anything about partitions. I said you should make a new cd
that saves you from having to download and install SP2 again by
combining your XP SP1 cd and SP2 into an integrated cd that you can use
whenever you need an XP cd.