FAT32 XP format loss of space

[darkenedflame]

So my father's friend intelligently reformatted a 250GB hard drive on
XP using FAT32. Im already aware of the 32GB limit employed by XP's
built in software (they really should let you know about that before
you do it). The problem is - when I reformatted back to NTFS it
retained the same 32GB limit.

So my question is - how do I recover the lost 210GB of space on the
drive?

 

[philo]

So my father's friend intelligently reformatted a 250GB hard drive on
XP using FAT32. Im already aware of the 32GB limit employed by XP's
built in software (they really should let you know about that before
you do it). The problem is - when I reformatted back to NTFS it
retained the same 32GB limit.

So my question is - how do I recover the lost 210GB of space on the
drive?

use disk management and delete everthing

then recreate as you wish

 

[Anna]

So my father's friend intelligently reformatted a 250GB hard drive on
XP using FAT32. Im already aware of the 32GB limit employed by XP's
built in software (they really should let you know about that before
you do it). The problem is - when I reformatted back to NTFS it
retained the same 32GB limit.

So my question is - how do I recover the lost 210GB of space on the
drive?

darkened...
Assuming this is a secondary HDD, use Disk Management to delete the present
partition and start over. Apparently when you "reformatted" the drive you
formatted the *same* 32 GB FAT32 partition. The remaining disk space was
"unallocated".

If, on the other hand, you're installing XP on that disk, just delete the
partition through the XP installation CD and (again) start over to create a
single NTFS partition - if that's what you want.

We're assuming in all this that there is no data that has to be retrieved
from the present FAT32 partition.
Anna

 

[Guest]

If you want to, tell your Dads Friend if he wants to format a drive or
partition over the XP imposed restriction of 32GB for FAT32, he/you/she can
use the tool available here, just use it in a Dos box.. It works quick and
will format disks from 40-750GB..
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/fat32format.htm
The other responders have apparently answered your question..
Cheers
j;-j

 

[Bob Harris]

You can use the XP disk management tool to make additional partition(s)s
from the currently unused space. If FAT32, each will be limited to 32Gig.
If NTFS, each can be any size.

And, that might actually be a good idea. Keep XP on "C:\" along with
installed programs (like Office) and keep your data on "D:\". That way if
(more likely when) you need to repair/reinstall XP, you can do so without
erasing all your personal data files.

But, if you want any FAT32 partitions larger than 32Gig, you will need to
use something other than XP to create them. Partition Magic can certainly
do this sort of thing. That program can also "extend" the size of an
existing partitiuon by adding to it some or all of the unused space.
Partition Magic works with both FAT32 and NFTS partitions, as well as a few
less common types.

 

[darkenedflame]

Thanks everyone for the help.

When in windows' Disk Management - it says the actual disk is only
32GB. So when looking at disk properties - it says capacity as well as
unallocated space are 32248MB. Ive tried reformatting -
creating/deleting partitions - but nothing seems to make it recognize
the remaining space.

As a sidnote - its an external USB drive. Im wondering if windows has
cache'd the available space for this USB device.

And sorry for taking so long to reply. I actually assumed that my
thread had been trashed because i didnt show up for over 3 hours. On a
whim I decided to check back and voila! It was posted.

Thanks again for any additional help!

 

[darkenedflame]

Addendum: Forgot to post that I connected it to my laptop (which has
never connected to the device before) and it disk management still sees
it as 32GB (unallocated).

Bah.

 

[Guest]

Might have set the jumpers on the HDD incorrectly or there may be an extra
jumper or switch on the drive that may be causing the issue..? Is the drive
in an enclosure set as a "master" ..? What is the make and model # of the
HDD..?

May want to use the drives OEM diagnostic tools to verify the drives
integrity or to see if you can remove partitions.. Are you sure it is a 250GB
drive..? How did you first determine that there was 210GB unallocated space
on the drive..?
Cheers
j;-j

 

[darkenedflame]

Well, its a regular 250GB western digital hard drive...the WD2500. It
is definately a 250 gig hard drive, and it definiately at one time had
250 gigs of space. It was after they formatted it that it lost the rest
of the space (due to formatting FAT32 under windows XP.) Its an IDE
drive tied into some interface case that converts it into a USB drive.
Currently, it is set up has Slave, as that is required by the interface
case.

What leads me to believe that there is 210GB of extra space -somewhere-
is that before they formatted it it said it had 250GB....and that the
box it came in says it has 250GB. After formatting though, we havent
seen that number ever again.

Ill try hooking it up straight to the system through an IDE cable and
running some checks on it. Internet it sketch at the moment (ice storm
down here in Texas. Hooray) So we'll see.

Thanks for the help though Jaymon. Much appreciated.

 

[Anna]

Well, its a regular 250GB western digital hard drive...the WD2500. It
is definately a 250 gig hard drive, and it definiately at one time had
250 gigs of space. It was after they formatted it that it lost the rest
of the space (due to formatting FAT32 under windows XP.) Its an IDE
drive tied into some interface case that converts it into a USB drive.
Currently, it is set up has Slave, as that is required by the interface
case.

What leads me to believe that there is 210GB of extra space -somewhere-
is that before they formatted it it said it had 250GB....and that the
box it came in says it has 250GB. After formatting though, we havent
seen that number ever again.

Ill try hooking it up straight to the system through an IDE cable and
running some checks on it. Internet it sketch at the moment (ice storm
down here in Texas. Hooray) So we'll see.

Thanks for the help though Jaymon. Much appreciated.

darkenedflame:
As you apparently are aware of -- it would seem that when your 250 GB HDD
was formatted FAT32 the XP OS would create a maximum FAT32 formatted
partition of 32 GB. Presumably the remaining disk space (approx. 200 GB)
would be designated "unallocated" disk space.

Assuming you want a single NTFS partition comprising the entire disk space
of that HDD - approx. 232 GB - I would think the most practical way to
achieve this at this point would be (using Disk Management) to simply delete
the current 32 GB FAT32 partition (I'm assuming there's no data on that
partition that has to be retrieved), and partition/format the entire HDD
including the unallocated disk space.

I realize that you've stated that "Ive tried reformatting -
creating/deleting partitions - but nothing seems to make it recognize the
remaining space.", but I'm wondering whether you might have been
manipulating *only* the 32 GB FAT32 formatted partition and failed to create
a partition for the remaining unallocated disk space.

The fact that this HDD is being used as a USB device is immaterial. The
partitioning/formatting process should proceed regardless of whether the
drive is being treated as an internal or external HDD.

BTW, I'm assuming in all this that your XP OS includes SP1 and/or SP2 and
your system is a relatively modern one, i.e., your motherboard's BIOS
supports large-capacity disks (> 137 GB).

It's conceivable that the above may not be relevant to your specific
situation in that other factors may be at work here, but I thought I'd
mention all this as a possibility.
Anna

 

[darkenedflame]

Now with power and such back up (thanks for your patience)....

Ill do what I should have done a long time ago - post a picture!

http://www.blackfroststudios.com/disk.jpg

So here I have disk 0 - my windows drive
disk 1 - my backup drive (RAID Array)
disk 2 - an external that works correctly
disk 3 - the external I am having problems with
and two CD-ROM drives.

So as you can see - disk 3 ITSELF is only 32 GB. I dont have any extra
partitions that I can delete. Its because when formatting the disk to
FAT32 the process failed at the 32GB mark(software limitation by
microsoft), thus making the disk itself 32GB (or something). I would
think that available drive space would be hardcoded into the drive, and
would be uneditable, but I am thinking this somehow got corrupted. Of
course, I have no idea how hard drives keep track of their space, so
what do I know.

And yes - I have a 64bit system built a year ago - and running on the
latest version of Windows XP Pro x64 edition. So I know its not a BIOS
or a SP problem (where the max drive space is like 127 GB) Ive tried
all sorts of things on the partition - but theres only "Convert to GPT
disk" that I can enact on the drive. Ive also searched through
Partition Magic and havent found anything of use.

As a sidenote, I can see where yall are coming from. I guess I havent
made myself clear that the 32GB is all that windows sees - it doesnt
see the remaining space on the drive that I know is lurking around
-somewhere-. So instead of it being a 32GB parition of a larger
space(which is what you would assume it would show), windows believes
the whole space is just 32GB. So I cant just "delete the partition" and
create a larger partition. Deleting and creating a new partition has a
maximum size of 32GB (which windows believes is the size of the drive).

Hopefully that clarified it a bit....and that someone knows what the
hell went wrong.

Thanks for allll the time spent on me. I really do appreciate it
guys.....and yes....stay warm.

 

[darkenedflame]

I guess I should point out that in the image there is a scrollbar on
the right - there isn't another "hidden drive" with the extra space or
anything weird like that (though I wish there was). Its just a blank
spot with nothing in it. Dunno why they put a scrollbar in but I am
sure theres a good reason for it. Or not.

Cheers.

 

[Anna]

Is there any chance you can remove the HDD from the external enclosure and
install it as an internal HDD? System still sees it as a 32 GB HDD? BTW,
what *is* the actual disk capacity of that HDD? You never say...
Anna