Incorrect Partition Information In Disk Management

[Guest]

I recently reinstalled Windows XP Professional on my home computer. I own two
hard drives, a 120GB and a 250GB. The 120GB hard drive is partitioned into
two 55GB partitions. The 250GB hard drive consists of only one giant
partition. Upon reinstallation I discovered that the contents of both
partitions on my 120GB hard drive (the one I used to install Windows on) were
intact. My 250GB drive may not have been so lucky. Though it is shown in
Device Manager, the Disk Management program thinks now that it is a 127GB
drive that has not been initialized. This drive actually contains roughly
127GB of data or free space (one of the two). The drive uses the NTFS file
system. The drive was not formatted or tampered with in any way during the
reinstallation. Why is this drive showing as such and is there anything that
I can do to fix it?

 

[neil]

Windows does not recognise a drive size greater than 137GB without SP1 or
SP2, that may be your problem have you installed either SP.
As far as I know installing either pack should give you access to the 250GB
drive and the files on it.


hope that helps
Neil

 

[Guest]

I think this has to do with the bios and not actually windows. You should
check the bios to see if it is registering the full 250gb in there...if it's
not, windows will only see roughly up to 130gb.

When you restart your computer you should see an option to enter setup.
It's a small window of opportunity so you have to pay attention. All bios's
are different but common keys to hit when you see that message is F1, F2 or
the DELETE key.

You should have a look at your documentation that came with your computer
for bios info. It's really important that you don't CHANGE settings in here
that you're not aware about. You could change it to a point where your
computer will not boot up at all. Having a look in here is not going to hurt
things.

Generally your hard disk information is going to be on the first screen that
comes up. If the bios is not recognizing the full 250 gb hard drive, there
may be a bios update on your computers manufacturer's website. This is
called "flashing the bios" and it's VERY IMPORTANT that you follow the
instructions!!! You could render your computer unusable.

Good Luck!

 

[Enkidu]

You may also need a patch from your HDD manufacturer *as well as* SP1
or SP2.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Enkidu]

I don't agree that it is the BIOS. He had it working before he
re-installed. If he could see it before and he can't know that
definitely points at the OS, and the BIOS must be OK. The fix for very
large was part of SP1 or SP2, but he might still need a manufacturers
patch.

Cheers,

Cliff

 

[Guest]

Oops, my mistake. I read the first entry wrong. Didn't realize it was
working at one point in windows! Then for sure it is not the bios.

Teddy

 

[Enkidu]

No worries. It's easy to do.

Cheers,

Cliff

Oops, my mistake. I read the first entry wrong. Didn't realize it was
working at one point in windows! Then for sure it is not the bios.

Teddy