Memory Problem

[Guest]

I rebooted my computer, and my HD says I only have 3.46GB left, and 10GB
total. This happened before, and when it got to 5mb, I couldn’t download
anything (I never fixed it. I just rebooted the computer). Is this a virtual
memory thing that someone can help me with? I should have 60GB and 512MB.

When I bought my computer, it had on FAT32, and then about 4 months ago,
someone told me to switch to NTFS. On my HD info, it says I’m using 10 GB as
my capacity and 512 bytes as my Allocation unit size. I’m pretty sure the
capacity should be 512MB.

 

[Ron Martell]

I rebooted my computer, and my HD says I only have 3.46GB left, and 10GB
total. This happened before, and when it got to 5mb, I couldn’t download
anything (I never fixed it. I just rebooted the computer). Is this a virtual
memory thing that someone can help me with? I should have 60GB and 512MB.

When I bought my computer, it had on FAT32, and then about 4 months ago,
someone told me to switch to NTFS. On my HD info, it says I’m using 10 GB as
my capacity and 512 bytes as my Allocation unit size. I’m pretty sure the
capacity should be 512MB.

Hard disk space is normally referred to as "storage" rather than
"memory".

Memory is used with regard to RAM chips and video cards.

As for your hard drive space problems, use Start - Run and enter
DISKMGMT.MSC in the dialog box.

That will show exactly what Windows sees with regard to the total
capacity of your hard drive and how that total capacity is currently
allocated into partitions or is sitting as available unused space.

The most likely possible causes of your discrepancy are:
1. The motherboard BIOS in your computer is not capable of
recognizing the full capacity of large hard drives, and you may need
to do a flash update of the BIOS if an updated version is available
from the motherboard manufacturer's web site. In this circumstance
the Disk Management utility will report the drive as having only 10 gb
total capacity.
2. The hard drive has not been partitioned correctly. In this
circumstance the Disk Management utility will show the drive as being
larger than 10 gb, probably 55 or perhaps 56 gb with only 10 gb used.

Post the results back here if you need further advice or assistance.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[Guest]

I opend the Disk Management, and it said this for the C: drive --
10.01 GB NTFS
Healthy (System)

and to the right hand side, the box said --
27.26 GB
Unallocated

I dont know what that means...

 

[Guest]

Im pretty sure I need to get an update from my computer's maker. But i bought
it off Shop NBC, and their computers; V-Premier, say you need to have tech
support (which mine expired 2 years ago) to get any updates, or support from
them... so am i just in need of a new computer?
Or will a complete system restore fix the problem?
or change some settings in the BIOS ?

 

[Kerry Brown]

I opend the Disk Management, and it said this for the C: drive --
10.01 GB NTFS
Healthy (System)

and to the right hand side, the box said --
27.26 GB
Unallocated

I dont know what that means...

Whoever set up your computer only set it to use 10 GB of your 40 GB hard
drive. If you don't have any free support left it sounds like you may not
have the technical skills to fix this. It can be done but it is quite
complicated if you want to save all your programs and data. From what you
have said I would take your computer to a local repair shop and get an
estimate.

Kerry

 

[HeeroYuy]

I opend the Disk Management, and it said this for the C: drive --
10.01 GB NTFS
Healthy (System)

and to the right hand side, the box said --
27.26 GB
Unallocated

I dont know what that means...

Unallocated usually means that the 27.26GB is unpartitioned, unformatted
free disk space. Using partitioning utility software, you can merge that
free space into your current NTFS partition... Provided that there is not a
second, unpartitoned Hard disk drive in your sytem. Be sure to back up your
system before making any changes, though.

 

[Sleepless in Seattle]

Neither.

--
Jonah

Im pretty sure I need to get an update from my computer's maker. But i
bought
it off Shop NBC, and their computers; V-Premier, say you need to have tech
support (which mine expired 2 years ago) to get any updates, or support
from
them... so am i just in need of a new computer?
Or will a complete system restore fix the problem?
or change some settings in the BIOS ?

 

[Ron Martell]

I opend the Disk Management, and it said this for the C: drive --
10.01 GB NTFS
Healthy (System)

and to the right hand side, the box said --
27.26 GB
Unallocated

I dont know what that means...

Hi Kyle.

This is pretty good news, and there are a couple of options for you.

1. You can create an additional partition to use the unallocated space
on the drive. This will result in an additional drive letter. You
can use this additional drive for installing programs and/or
saving/storing data files as you please.

Use diskmgmt.msc, right-click on the unallocated space and select New
Partition. Follow the instructions to create a new NTFS partition
using the full 27.26 gb that is unallocated.

2. You can use disk partitioning software (not part of Windows) to
enlarge the size of the existing C: partition so that it uses the full
capacity of the drive. Products that can do this include Partition
Magic (www.powerquest.com) and Boot It Next Generation
(www.bootitng.com).

Either method will give you the full capacity of the drive available,
The first is probably easier to do but it does complicate things a bit
because you will have two drive letters to work with. Not a big
problem though, once you get used to it. I use 5 different drive
letters on my PC all the time for different purposes.


Hope this is of some assistance.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

 

[T. Waters]

Based on what you have told us, you just need to do what Ron Martell wrote.
You definitely do not need a new computer!
System Restore will not help you, and neither will changing the BIOS. Who
told you that?

 

[Guest]

I used the first suggestion.
But I do have a question:
where does the 512mb go?
on most computers it shows the amount of memory (which should be 512) and
then below it show the amount of GB (which is about 40 or so)
Mine shows the 2GB and then 10GB. the 2GB should be where the 512MB is
shown... or does that not matter?

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Ron

Congratulations on solving a problem that had me floundering. The only
aspect that I suspect was not resolved was the odd cluster size in the
original 10 gb partition. Can this be corrected using Windows tools or
do you need third party tools like Partition Magic.

I used Partition Magic recently to correct a 2 kb size to 4 kb. After
the event I wondered whether it was the best thing to have done as it
reduced my available free space. Any comments on the value of increasing
cluster sizes?

I can see merit in reducing cluster sizes to the correct size.

--


Regards.

Gerry

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