How to format a 120Gb Hard Disk in Win2K

[Tony]

Would anyone be able to tell me how to get Win 2000 pro to
recognise a 120 Gb hdd. I've just upgraded my equipment
viz. Mobo, CPU, Video card, RAM and HDD ( Western Digital
120Gb). I've used Data Lifeguard Tools V.11 from WDC and
prepared the disk to format at 120Gb but Win2Kpro (without
any service paks) can't see the whole disk.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[Ted]

First & foremost DOES the BIOS of the motherboard recognise the ENTIRE drive
size? If not, you might need to FLASH the BIOS on the baordto accommodate
the entire size...Get in touch with the manufcturer of the Board & check for
any issues regarding recognition of large HDDs...Also if necesary contact
the HDD manufcturer & confirm there are NO issues...

I strongly suggest you do NOT try creating JUST one partition which is the
entire size of the Hard Drive BUT rather partition the drive...Use say 5 to
6 GB of your drive to install 2000. That should NOT be a problem since you
will be able to see enough ofthe HARD DRIVE to create at least the BOOT
PARTITION (which will host your OS)!

Once you've installed your OS, go to the Computer Management Console &
create the EXTENDED partition & LOGICAL DRIVES in this extended
Partition....

Try this & if problems persist get in touch...

Ted

 

[Tony]

Hi Ted.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my win2k
question. In response to your guidance, yes the BIOS does
see the whole of the 120Gb hdd (This is a very new mobo
Gigabyte 81k1100), and yes under Western Digital Lifeguard
Tools Ver 11.0 I have partitioned the disk in to two ie.
40% primary partition and active and 60% Extended
partition and logical drive.

However during the installation of win2k after reading the
4th setup disk and pressing F8 to agree to the MS license
agreement the setup can only see 114471 Gb.

Is it at all possible that win2k is unable to recognise a
120Gb hdd just yet?

I took the time to download service pack 4 (4hrs) but it
does not update the makeboot disks so how do you get
win2kpro to format/recognise a new 120Gb disk ??????

I've checked all the faqs in western digital website and
microsoft without success. I am loath to phone MS in the
event that they will admit that win2k can not be installed
on a 120Gb hdd

thanks again

Tony

 

[Dan Seur]

Drive manufacturers tend to overstate drive capacities for marketing
purposes.
In that world, 1000 bytes = 1KB.
In the real world, 1024 bytes = 1KB.
This mis-nomenclature is carried upward into the MB, KB, and TB ranges.

I believe if you do the arithmetic you'll discover that the size
reported by W2k is based on 1024 bytes = 1KB, while that on the drive
box is based on 1000 bytes = 1KB. In other words, there's nothing wrong
with your software.

 

[CheckBiosVersion]

First, make sure your bios version is current enough to
recognise the larger 120 hardrive. To do this you must
record the bios version and manufacturers nubmer upon
starting the computer. Use the pause key to still the
screen; to write the information down. Take/contact the
manufacturer of your bios for an update; if they have one.

If they do have an update -do it. Then...
Make sure your bios is setup to "Auto" detect your newly
installed hardrive.

If everything is right the drive will be detected properly!

One last thing, make sure you read instructions for
formatting the hardrive... NTFS, or Fat, Fat32 ,etc!

Hope this helps! Good luck on your upgrade!

 

[Tony]

Hi Dan

Firstly thank you for taking the time to respond to my
item.

I have done as you said and using the following maths came
up with the following results

1Kb * 1Kb = 1Mb
1024 * 1024 = 1048576

"WDC HDD 120Gb" as printed in the media
120,000,000 Bytes / 1048576 Bytes = 114,440918 Bytes.

My Win2K recognises 114,471Mb. What has happened to the
last 30082 Bytes ? More importantly 114Gb is vastly
different from 120Gb - why bother ? Why not just advertise
110 Gb and retain your integrity and reputation.

Surely a huge reputable company of immense reputation for
quality would allow such false advertising ???

Tony

 

[Guest]

I wish it was that simple. Unfortunately this is a new
mobo Gigabyte 81K110......awesome. The BIOS has no problem
with the disk and can see the whole 120Gb.

Tony

 

[Ted]

Welcome to the real world...Most (if NOT all) HDD manufacturers do
that...your drive is NOT an exception...we all have to live ith that...next
time if you realy need at least 120GB remember the calculations...

 

[Dan Seur]

You're welcome for that first response.

But, Tony, we don't have all day to hold your hand while you attempt to
fine-tune a radish. Jeez.

 

[sam]

how about taking a trip to western digital website? some
special drives are, perhaps, too special for win2000 pro
to recognize.

 

[ss]

Tony,

Is this a SATA HD??? You might have to install the
controller first.