Need help: Seagate 250Gig disk reported as 2048 disk!!

[tobtoh]

This problem has me completely stumped. I would appreciate any advice
people might have on how to fix this problem ...

The Problem:
-----------
I have a Seagate 250 Gig ATA drive in an external disk enclosure
(connects via USB to my PC). When I connect, it reports the partition
as 2048 Gig!!! This is in WinXP SP2 and fully patched, latest BIOS etc
etc

What I Have Tried:
-----------------
I have tried many many things none of which worked. These included:

1. Formatting disk
2. Removing all partitions and formatting
3. Using 'fixmbr'
4. Using Seagate's DiskWizard tool and the other disk tool that you
have to boot into (I forget what it is called)
5. Installing Linux on it and then reformating the disk to use it for
XP.

Comments:
--------
Using Seagate's disk tool, I was able to write zero's across the start
of the disk and then re-initialise the disk. After I did this, the disk
reported the correct 250 Gig capacity. I went back into XP and went to
format the disk once more only for the format fail to complete and then
the disk returned to 2048 Gig in size.

Also, in Linux, the disk appears as 2048 Gig.

So based on these two observations (and given everything else has
failed), I'm thinking that the disk has a hardware fault in the area of
the MBR.

Does this sound correct? Anyone have any other theories?

Cheers,
Ben

 

[John Corliss]

This problem has me completely stumped. I would appreciate any advice
people might have on how to fix this problem ...

The Problem:
-----------
I have a Seagate 250 Gig ATA drive in an external disk enclosure
(connects via USB to my PC). When I connect, it reports the partition
as 2048 Gig!!! This is in WinXP SP2 and fully patched, latest BIOS etc
etc

What I Have Tried:
-----------------
I have tried many many things none of which worked. These included:

1. Formatting disk
2. Removing all partitions and formatting
3. Using 'fixmbr'
4. Using Seagate's DiskWizard tool and the other disk tool that you
have to boot into (I forget what it is called)
5. Installing Linux on it and then reformating the disk to use it for
XP.

Comments:
--------
Using Seagate's disk tool, I was able to write zero's across the start
of the disk and then re-initialise the disk. After I did this, the disk
reported the correct 250 Gig capacity. I went back into XP and went to
format the disk once more only for the format fail to complete and then
the disk returned to 2048 Gig in size.

Also, in Linux, the disk appears as 2048 Gig.

So based on these two observations (and given everything else has
failed), I'm thinking that the disk has a hardware fault in the area of
the MBR.

Does this sound correct? Anyone have any other theories?

Cheers,
Ben

Did you try installing Seagate's DDO (dynamic disk overlay)?

 

[Cyde Weys]

I have a Seagate 250 Gig ATA drive in an external disk enclosure
(connects via USB to my PC). When I connect, it reports the partition
as 2048 Gig!!!
Does this sound correct? Anyone have any other theories?

Maybe, just maybe, the disk actually is 2048GB.

Now how they invented the time machine is another matter entirely.

 

[Quaoar]

This problem has me completely stumped. I would appreciate any advice
people might have on how to fix this problem ...

The Problem:
-----------
I have a Seagate 250 Gig ATA drive in an external disk enclosure
(connects via USB to my PC). When I connect, it reports the partition
as 2048 Gig!!! This is in WinXP SP2 and fully patched, latest BIOS
etc
etc

What I Have Tried:
-----------------
I have tried many many things none of which worked. These included:

1. Formatting disk
2. Removing all partitions and formatting
3. Using 'fixmbr'
4. Using Seagate's DiskWizard tool and the other disk tool that you
have to boot into (I forget what it is called)
5. Installing Linux on it and then reformating the disk to use it for
XP.

Comments:
--------
Using Seagate's disk tool, I was able to write zero's across the start
of the disk and then re-initialise the disk. After I did this, the
disk
reported the correct 250 Gig capacity. I went back into XP and went to
format the disk once more only for the format fail to complete and
then
the disk returned to 2048 Gig in size.

Also, in Linux, the disk appears as 2048 Gig.

So based on these two observations (and given everything else has
failed), I'm thinking that the disk has a hardware fault in the area
of
the MBR.

Does this sound correct? Anyone have any other theories?

Cheers,
Ben

Run chkdsk X: /r from a command prompt on the disk, where X is the
current drive letter. Then check chkdsk.log for anything it turns up.

Q

 

[John McGaw]

This problem has me completely stumped. I would appreciate any advice
people might have on how to fix this problem ...

The Problem:
-----------
I have a Seagate 250 Gig ATA drive in an external disk enclosure
(connects via USB to my PC). When I connect, it reports the partition
as 2048 Gig!!! This is in WinXP SP2 and fully patched, latest BIOS etc
etc

What I Have Tried:
-----------------
I have tried many many things none of which worked. These included:

1. Formatting disk
2. Removing all partitions and formatting
3. Using 'fixmbr'
4. Using Seagate's DiskWizard tool and the other disk tool that you
have to boot into (I forget what it is called)
5. Installing Linux on it and then reformating the disk to use it for
XP.

Comments:
--------
Using Seagate's disk tool, I was able to write zero's across the start
of the disk and then re-initialise the disk. After I did this, the disk
reported the correct 250 Gig capacity. I went back into XP and went to
format the disk once more only for the format fail to complete and then
the disk returned to 2048 Gig in size.

Also, in Linux, the disk appears as 2048 Gig.

So based on these two observations (and given everything else has
failed), I'm thinking that the disk has a hardware fault in the area of
the MBR.

Does this sound correct? Anyone have any other theories?

Cheers,
Ben

To eliminate half your potential problems from consideration, try
connecting the drive directly to the computer. If it is reported
properly and can be formatted and partitioned, then it obviously isn't
the drive and that leaves your external enclosure (well, and your
USB/Firewire port too I guess) as the problem. Some older enclosures
specifically did not support "large" hard drives -- something to do with
the bridge/controller being incompatible.

 

[Andy]

I suggest the following:
a. Only use Seagate's disk tool to write zero's across the start of
the disk (to make it look brand new).
b. Use XP's Disk Management to partition the disk.
c. Use Disk Management to format the partition.

 

[tobtoh]

Thanks Andy for the suggestion. I did try all those and unfortunately
still no luck

 

[tobtoh]

Hahah. I did think that for a moment Man I would have got such a
bargin if that was the case ....

 

[tobtoh]

Hmmm - you may be onto something John. Now that I think about it, the
only time I got the disk to actually appear as 250 Gig, was when I
pulled it out of it's enclosure and connect it directly to the PC. Then
when I put it back into the enclosure, that's when it reset to 2048
Gig.

And double hmmm, I bought this enclosure off eBay ... where the seller
said that the warranty would be void if I opened it up (not that I paid
any attention to that). Now I am wondering about whether I was
knowingly sold a faulty product.

Well only one way to be certain - time to connect it directly to the PC
again. I'll post and let you know how it goes ...

 

[kony]

Hmmm - you may be onto something John. Now that I think about it, the
only time I got the disk to actually appear as 250 Gig, was when I
pulled it out of it's enclosure and connect it directly to the PC. Then
when I put it back into the enclosure, that's when it reset to 2048
Gig.

And double hmmm, I bought this enclosure off eBay ... where the seller
said that the warranty would be void if I opened it up (not that I paid
any attention to that). Now I am wondering about whether I was
knowingly sold a faulty product.

Well only one way to be certain - time to connect it directly to the PC
again. I'll post and let you know how it goes ...

If it works directly connected to the system, then retry it
connected to the enclosure while the drive's capacity-limit
jumper is set (see manual, label or drive manufacturer's
website).

 

[Gary Hendricks]

Have you tried using the proprietary software from Seagate? Some large
hard disks require their own software to be run first before the
computer can 'see' them.

**************************************************************
Sincerely,
Gary Hendricks, Build-Your-Own-Computers.com
Step-by-step guides for setting up your own computer:
http://www.build-your-own-computers.com
**************************************************************

 

[kony]

Have you tried using the proprietary software from Seagate? Some large
hard disks require their own software to be run first before the
computer can 'see' them.

There are no Seagate drives that require this.
It could be that the system itself simply can't recognize
the drive capacity due to bios limits, but this is no
different for Seagate than any other make.

 

[Gary Hendricks]

I thought some manufacturers do require their software loaded to
recognize large disks. At least it happened some years ago with my
Seagate drive. Perhaps I'm mistaken.


**********************************************************
Sincerely,
Gary Hendricks, Build-Your-Own-Computers.com
The best PC hardware tutorials and how-to guides:
http://www.build-your-own-computers.com
**********************************************************

 

[kony]

I thought some manufacturers do require their software loaded to
recognize large disks. At least it happened some years ago with my
Seagate drive. Perhaps I'm mistaken.

It could be that the software (if not another option like a
bios update or an add-on controller card with it's own bios)
was needed due to limitations the motherboard bios had for
drive capacity support. In rare cases it was even possible
a drive might need a utility to overcome an incompatibility
in the ATA transfer rate, to force the drive down into a
slower mode (practically unheard of these days), but for
simply large drive support on a board that supports 48bit
LBA, there is no software needed.

 

[tobtoh]

Okay - here it the final result of my testing.

I pulled the disk out of the enclosure and removed the IDE to USB
interface card. I plugged the disk into the PC directly. Bingo. It is
detected immediately as a 250 Gig disk, formats correctly and works
beautifully.

So I reconnect the IDE/USB I/O card again and whilst the disk still
reports having a 250 Gig formatted partition, it now says the disk is
2048 Gig in size (and that I have 2048-250Gig unpartitioned space -
sorry, too lazy to do the maths ).

It appears to work fine like this .. until you do any sort of
repartitioning/formating, in which it then stops working again (no
doubt due to the PC thinking the disk is 2048 Gig in size).

So, my final conclusion is there is either some fault with the IDE/USB
I/O card or it requires some sort of driver. I looked everywhere for a
driver and all indications point that WinXP SP2 does not require one.
Therefore, my diagnosis is that the interface card is faulty.