Extending a hard drive

G

Guest

I rebuilt a computer with a new 250 GB hard drive. After installing XP, I was
able to easily extend the 137 GB Drive C to take in all the unallocated space
BUT I DID NOT KEEP NOTES. After about four weeks, the hard drive died and was
not even recognized by the BIOS. I replaced the drive with another 250 GB and
repopulated the hard drive. Now, I cannot extend the 137 GB Drive C to take
in the unallocated space of 104 GB. I've even tried from Safe Mode but I get
the same message "Diskpart failed to extend the volume. Please make sure the
volume is valid for extending." It is hard to understand why I was able to
extend the first drive but not the second. Help!
 
R

Rich Barry

Merry, check here.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

You might want to temporarily delete the Page File. The kb article says
that you cannot extend the partiton the page file is on. So rt click
MyComputer>select Properties>Advanced>Performance-Settings>Advanced>Virtual
Memory-Change>
click on NoPageFile and Set, Ok. When you reestablish the Page File chose
System Managed Size>Set, Ok.
 
A

Anna

Rich Barry said:
Merry, check here.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590

You might want to temporarily delete the Page File. The kb article says
that you cannot extend the partiton the page file is on. So rt click
MyComputer>select
Properties>Advanced>Performance-Settings>Advanced>Virtual Memory-Change>
click on NoPageFile and Set, Ok. When you reestablish the Page File chose
System Managed Size>Set, Ok.


Merry;
At least for the moment, let's forget about "extending" page file partitions
or using the Diskpart command to "extend" your 250 GB HD.

Understand this...

There are two basic requirements for the XP OS to recognize the full
capacity of large-capacity drives, i.e., disks > 137 GB (about)...

1. The motherboard's BIOS must recognize large-capacity disks. We'll assume
yours does. And,
2. SP1 and/or SP2 must be installed at the time the drive is installed.

And that's it. If your motherboard's BIOS supports large-capacity disks and
you've installed SP1 and/or SP2 at the time the drive is installed, and the
drive is non-defective and correctly connected/configured, then the full
capacity of your 250 GB HD (actually about 232 GB binary) will be recognized
by the XP OS.

If, when you installed the 250 GB drive neither SP1 or SP2 was installed
then only about 137 GB (usually about 128 GB) will be recognized by the
system. If you LATER install SP1 and/or SP2 (and again assuming your
motherboard's BIOS recognizes large-capacity disks), then the full capacity
of the disk WILL be recognized, but the disk space above 137 GB (128 GB)
will be "unallocated space"; disk space that you can partition/format
(through XP's Disk Management utility), but at the minimum it would mean
your drive would have two partitions.
Anna
 
G

Guest

Thanks, Barry. I'll try that. Would you know why it was possible with the
first drive but not with the second to extend the primry partition into the
unallocated space? I can remember only one difference: I had installed ONLY
XP (the CD had SP1), had updated it completely, including SP2, even to the
extent of calling Microsoft to validate the installation. It was drop-dead
easy the first time.

I'll report what happens.
 
G

Guest

Anna, when I installed the first and the second drive, in both cases, I used
the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools from the CD that came with the
drives and booted from the CD. The drives were just the way they left the
factory, pristine. I had no choice - both times - but to accept that the HD
would show only 137 GB. XP, then as now sees that the drive does indeed have
~232 GB, but now recognizes only the 137 GB as usable space. The first drive
- after the successful "extending" into the unallocated space - had one 232
GB partition. I want to repeat my success but, somehow, have been foiled and
do not know why.
 
J

Jim Lewandowski

I think EnableBigLba needs to be dword=1 also.
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters.

Seagate's DiscWizard did this registry update (I assume based on the popup window
description about altering the registry) and then rebooted prior to being able to get my
new 250G drive installed.

JL
 
G

Guest

Rich, I changed the Virtual Memory to Zero, rebooted into Safe Mode, and then
tried extending the primary partition into the unallocated space. No luck.
same message. Is there a requirement for the exact configuration of the
unused space? It would seem it should be formatted as NTFS (It was, when I
earlier created a primary partition out of it but now is simply unallocated
space).
 
A

Anna

Thanks, Barry. I'll try that. Would you know why it was possible with the
first drive but not with the second to extend the primry partition into the
unallocated space? I can remember only one difference: I had installed ONLY
XP (the CD had SP1), had updated it completely, including SP2, even to the
extent of calling Microsoft to validate the installation. It was drop-dead
easy the first time.
Anna, when I installed the first and the second drive, in both cases, I
used
the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools from the CD that came with the
drives and booted from the CD. The drives were just the way they left the
factory, pristine. I had no choice - both times - but to accept that the
HD
would show only 137 GB. XP, then as now sees that the drive does indeed
have
~232 GB, but now recognizes only the 137 GB as usable space. The first
drive
- after the successful "extending" into the unallocated space - had one
232
GB partition. I want to repeat my success but, somehow, have been foiled
and
do not know why.


(And Merry later adds...)
Rich, I changed the Virtual Memory to Zero, rebooted into Safe Mode, and
then
tried extending the primary partition into the unallocated space. No luck.
same message. Is there a requirement for the exact configuration of the
unused space? It would seem it should be formatted as NTFS (It was, when I
earlier created a primary partition out of it but now is simply unallocated
space).


Merry:
PLEASE, PLEASE -- forget about these esoteric machinations you're going
through, including this business of modifying your virtual memory and those
other processes you previously undertook. None of this is desirably nor
necessary and I fear you'll create further problems in the future by so
pursuing these actions.

This is relatively simple business...

As I've stated previously, if your motherboard's BIOS supports
large-capacity disks and your XP OS contains SP1 and/or SP2 at the time of
the installation of that disk, then the full capacity of that disk will be
recognized by the XP OS. And that's it. There's nothing mysterious about
this process; you needn't make any registry modifications nor invoke obscure
DOS-like commands nor tamper with "virtual memory" nor modify "page file"
settings, etc., etc.

It's hard, if not impossible, to tell what went wrong the second time when
you installed XP on the new replacement HD and you ran up against the 137 GB
barrier. I note you said you used the WD Data Lifeguard Tools utility
presumably to partition & format your new drive. I take it you did this
prior to the installation of the XP OS.

In the case of installing XP, we encourage users to use the built-in XP
mechanism to partition/format the HD during the XP install routine. We do
NOT recommend any third-party utility (including the one from the HD
manufacturer) to do this. In virtually every case, there is simply no need
to use a third-party utility to carry out this operation. The XP
partitioning/formatting process during the installation routine is perfectly
fine. Simply stated, it does the job.

If you need to partition/format a large-capacity HD that you're installing
as a secondary HD, then use the XP Disk Management utility (Start >
right-click My Computer > Manage > Computer Management > Disk Management).

As a final note, please understand that in all this we're assuming that the
HD in question is non-defective and is properly connected/configured in that
it's correctly jumpered and securely connected with a non-defective 80-wire
IDE cable.
Anna
 
G

Guest

OK, Anna, stay with me. Please don't take offense, but I think you may have
missed something. This is it:
1. The first 250 Gb hard drive was "Installed" by the WD Tools software.
That created one 137 GB recognized and usable partition.
2. I installed XP into the 137 GB partition.
3 Using Administrative Tools, Computer Management, I extended the hard drive
to 232 GB.
4. The drive died.

Not until I did 1, 2, and 3 did XP see the complete 232 GB drive. All the
above should prove that the BIOS supported at least 250 GB and that there was
nothing wrong with the new 80-conductor cable.

Had I known, which you seem to indicate works, that all I had to do was to
boot from the XP CD, I would have done it, but now, I don't see how I can put
the toothpaste back in the tube and start from scratch. What I want to do is
repeat the success with the first drive. THAT is the question; the only
question.

The WD Tools gave me no choice but to partition (one usable; one
unallocated), even after asking if I was going to install XP with at least
SP1. Not starting with the XP CD, and nothing else was, it would seem, my big
blunder the second time. Can't count the first time, because that was
successful, except for the doomed drive.
 
A

Anna

Merry said:
OK, Anna, stay with me. Please don't take offense, but I think you may
have
missed something. This is it:
1. The first 250 Gb hard drive was "Installed" by the WD Tools software.
That created one 137 GB recognized and usable partition.
2. I installed XP into the 137 GB partition.
3 Using Administrative Tools, Computer Management, I extended the hard
drive
to 232 GB.
4. The drive died.

Not until I did 1, 2, and 3 did XP see the complete 232 GB drive. All the
above should prove that the BIOS supported at least 250 GB and that there
was
nothing wrong with the new 80-conductor cable.

Had I known, which you seem to indicate works, that all I had to do was to
boot from the XP CD, I would have done it, but now, I don't see how I can
put
the toothpaste back in the tube and start from scratch. What I want to do
is
repeat the success with the first drive. THAT is the question; the only
question.

The WD Tools gave me no choice but to partition (one usable; one
unallocated), even after asking if I was going to install XP with at least
SP1. Not starting with the XP CD, and nothing else was, it would seem, my
big
blunder the second time. Can't count the first time, because that was
successful, except for the doomed drive.


Merry:
1. Let's forget about your "first" 250 GB HD. Since the drive "died", it's a
dead issue, right?

2. So we'll concentrate on your second replacement HD, another 250 GB HD,
OK?

3. If you can do a fresh XP install on this drive, understanding that you
would lose all programs & data already on that drive with a fresh install,
is that a viable option at this point? If so, do it along the lines I've
previously described. Let's forget about using the WD Data Lifeguard Tools
utility in this situation, OK?

4. If you cannot afford to lose the programs & data on your present HD
through a fresh install of the XP OS, and that drive has been recognized by
the system only up to the first 137 GB (approx.) with the remaining disk
space reflected as "unallocated space", you should be able to use the Disk
Management utility (see my previous comments) to partition & format that
space. So that the full capacity of the drive will be recognized but that
you will have a minimum of two partitions on your 250 GB drive. I assume you
can live with that.

Just to reiterate - we're assuming that your motherboard's BIOS supports
large-capacity disks (apparently it does from your description) and SP1
and/or SP2 has been installed to the XP OS (as I'm assuming it has from your
statements).
Anna
 
G

Guest

To Donna, Rich, and Jim (especially, Donna): I was able to put the toothpaste
back in the tube. I now have a one partition, 232.88 GB drive. How did I do
it? Luckily, my 70-year old neurons came back to life after Donna chastised
me for esoteric machinations. Thanks, Donna, for driving me into action.

1. First, I uninstalled SP2.
2. Installed 48-bit LBA Windows support from a Driver installation CD that
came with the computer.
3. Used Diskpart to extend the primary partition.
4. Updated XP to the state prior to uninstalling SP2.

One final note: my name is George - Merry's my wife - the computer's the one
she uses.
 
N

Newt Ownsquare

FWIW, the diskpart command should only be available while using the Recovery
Console and the help for the diskpart /extend command states, "You cannot extend
the current system or boot partitions."

You may have been misusing this utility but happened to luck-out on the first
try.

--
Hope this helps,
Newt
Lat: 39° 59' 12" N, Long: 75° 24' 2" W


| Thanks, Barry. I'll try that. Would you know why it was possible with the
| first drive but not with the second to extend the primry partition into the
| unallocated space? I can remember only one difference: I had installed ONLY
| XP (the CD had SP1), had updated it completely, including SP2, even to the
| extent of calling Microsoft to validate the installation. It was drop-dead
| easy the first time.
|
| I'll report what happens.
|
|
| "Rich Barry" wrote:
|
| > Merry, check here.
| > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590
| >
| > You might want to temporarily delete the Page File. The kb article says
| > that you cannot extend the partiton the page file is on. So rt click
| > MyComputer>select Properties>Advanced>Performance-Settings>Advanced>Virtual
| > Memory-Change>
| > click on NoPageFile and Set, Ok. When you reestablish the Page File chose
| > System Managed Size>Set, Ok.
|
 
G

Guest

Newt, please my post dated and time-stamped 3/14/2006 9:46 PM. It explains
what I did finally had to do so that Diskpart successfully extended my Hard
Drive.
 
N

Newt Ownsquare

Assuming you weren't using the RC with dispart and you successfully extended a
boot partition only proves that one cannot believe everything one reads from
Microsoft. ;-)

Thanks for the feedback!
--
Newt
Lat: 39° 59' 12" N, Long: 75° 24' 2" W


| Newt, please my post dated and time-stamped 3/14/2006 9:46 PM. It explains
| what I did finally had to do so that Diskpart successfully extended my Hard
| Drive.
|
|
 

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