160GB Drive Reported as 127GB External Enclosure

[Alan Paterson]

Just bought a Seagate 160GB drive to put in an external USB 2.0 enclosure.
The enclosure was an Acom Data which I have had for a while, which came with
a 60GB Samsung inside. I wanted more storage, so I swapped out the Samsung
for the Seagate. Problem is, only 127GB of the 160 is seen by Windows.
I have Windows XP Home SP1 with all the updates. Could the enclosure
electronics be limiting the drive size? Any way to reclaim the missing
storage space with this enclosure, or is it an OS issue?

Thanks in advance,

Alan.

 

[Tom Scales]

Sounds like it doesn't support 48-bit LBA addressing.
Tom

 

[Tod]

Check the web site of the manufacturer of the External enclosure (Acom Data)
for updated drivers.
It sounds like your current drivers have a 128GB limit.

 

[Alan Paterson]

Thanks all. Seems that if I change to firewire, the full 160GB is
recognized. The enclosure has USB 2.0 and firewire interfaces built in. Must
be a USB 2.0 limitation, at least with my system.

Alan

 

[Tod]

Not USB limitation, your firewire driver may just be newer then the USB
ones.

 

[Wayne Youngman]

Not USB limitation, your firewire driver may just be newer then the USB
ones.

Hi,
I would agree its a 48-bit LBA addressing issue. Maybe the Firewire has
newer *firmware* than the USB. Dunno if its a driver issue but rather a
hardware (Firmware issue).

 

[Eric Gisin]

There is no 137GB limit in USB or Firewire, both use SCSI LBA 32 bits.

There are enclosures that use separate chips for USB and FW, hence different
limits.

Get something with a Oxford 922 USB+Firewire bridge chip.

 

[Alan Paterson]

OK thanks everyone. I will probably stick with the box I have for now.

Alan