SATA disk size problem

[Sue Turner-Smith]

Hi, I'm trying to install a Seagate 250Gig SATA HDD onto a Winfast NF4UK8 MB
under Windows XP Pro. The BIOS shows the HDD as 250G but XP partitions and
formats it as 125G.
I tried low level formatting the drive with Powermax from the Seagate /
Maxtor web site but XP still won't allow a partition of >125G.
Has anyone else out there had this problem and, if so, how did you solve it?
Thanks in advance
Sue

 

[Anna]

Hi, I'm trying to install a Seagate 250Gig SATA HDD onto a Winfast NF4UK8
MB under Windows XP Pro. The BIOS shows the HDD as 250G but XP partitions
and formats it as 125G.
I tried low level formatting the drive with Powermax from the Seagate /
Maxtor web site but XP still won't allow a partition of >125G.
Has anyone else out there had this problem and, if so, how did you solve
it?
Thanks in advance
Sue

Sue:
You need either the SP1 or SP2 update to the XP operating system before the
system will recognize large-capacity hard drives, i.e., drives > 137 GB
(approx. 125 GB binary). Do you have either of those SPs installed?
Anna

 

[Sue Turner-Smith]

Sue:
You need either the SP1 or SP2 update to the XP operating system before
the system will recognize large-capacity hard drives, i.e., drives > 137
GB (approx. 125 GB binary). Do you have either of those SPs installed?
Anna

Hi Anna, I thought this may be the problem. My XP disk is an early issue and
does not have the Service Packs.
This looks like a 'chicken and egg' situation. How can I get the Service
Pack without installing XP?
Using another PC could I somehow merge the two onto a new CD?
I'd appreciate very simple step by step instructions if I'm going to tackle
this!
Thanks for your help.
Sue

 

[Anna]

Hi Anna, I thought this may be the problem. My XP disk is an early issue
and
does not have the Service Packs.
This looks like a 'chicken and egg' situation. How can I get the Service
Pack without installing XP?
Using another PC could I somehow merge the two onto a new CD?
I'd appreciate very simple step by step instructions if I'm going to
tackle
this!
Thanks for your help.
Sue

Sue:
Probably the easiest & most straightforward way at this point is to download
SP2 from Microsoft - see
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...be-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a&displaylang=en

(Don't be concerned that the title reads "... Network Installation Package
for IT Professionals and Developers". This is the SP2 version you want to
download & install.)

Note it's a very large file - 266 MB. So if you're using a dialup connection
to the Internet it will take quite some time for the file to be downloaded.
If, however, you have a cable or DSL connection, downloading time won't be a
problem.

Note there's a link on the webpage to order a CD containing SP2. It's a
freebie from Microsoft (surprise! surprise!), so if you don't mind waiting a
couple of weeks or so you might want to go that route.

Installing SP2 is simple & straightforward. Not much different than
installing any program on your computer. Note, however, that after SP2 is
installed on your machine, while the full capacity of your 250 GB HD
(actually about 232 GB in binary terms) will be recognized, the remaining
disk space above your present 125 GB (approx) will be "unallocated space".
You will need to partition & format that disk space using XP's Disk
Management utility. So you will have a minimum of two partitions on your
HD - the present one + the new one. I assume you can live with that.

If you've never used DM before, access Help and Support and search for "disk
management". You'll find step-by-step instructions for partitioning &
formatting your new additional disk space. The process is relatively simple
& straightforward. It will be a good learning experience for you if you've
never done it before.

One thing that concerns me a bit re your situation. You mentioned that you
used the Maxtor/Seagate software to perform "low level formatting" of your
HD. Without going into details, I am not fond of these third-party
partitioning/formatting programs even when they originate with the
manufacturer of the drive in question. I much prefer to use XP's Disk
Management utility to perform this function as indicated above and I
strongly recommend its use in preference to other third-party programs. It
does the job within the XP environment and does it just fine. So unless you
have data presently on your 250 GB HD that you wish to retain, I would
recommend starting fresh with the DM utility by deleting the present
partition and partitioning/formatting the HD anew - either creating a single
partition or multi-partition the drive as you desire. Again, the process is
relatively simple to undertake with the DM utility.

After you've installed SP2 and partitioned/formatted your HD you might
consider "slipstreaming" the XP OS with SP2 so that the combined program
will occupy a single CD. But that's another subject. If you're interested do
a Google search on "xp slipstreaming" for further details.
Anna
Anna

 

[Sue Turner-Smith]

Probably the easiest & most straightforward way at this point is to
download SP2 from Microsoft - see
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...be-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a&displaylang=en

(Don't be concerned that the title reads "... Network Installation Package
for IT Professionals and Developers". This is the SP2 version you want to
download & install.)

Note it's a very large file - 266 MB. So if you're using a dialup
connection to the Internet it will take quite some time for the file to be
downloaded. If, however, you have a cable or DSL connection, downloading
time won't be a problem.

Note there's a link on the webpage to order a CD containing SP2. It's a
freebie from Microsoft (surprise! surprise!), so if you don't mind waiting
a couple of weeks or so you might want to go that route.

Installing SP2 is simple & straightforward. Not much different than
installing any program on your computer. Note, however, that after SP2 is
installed on your machine, while the full capacity of your 250 GB HD
(actually about 232 GB in binary terms) will be recognized, the remaining
disk space above your present 125 GB (approx) will be "unallocated space".
You will need to partition & format that disk space using XP's Disk
Management utility. So you will have a minimum of two partitions on your
HD - the present one + the new one. I assume you can live with that.

If you've never used DM before, access Help and Support and search for
"disk management". You'll find step-by-step instructions for partitioning
& formatting your new additional disk space. The process is relatively
simple & straightforward. It will be a good learning experience for you if
you've never done it before.

One thing that concerns me a bit re your situation. You mentioned that you
used the Maxtor/Seagate software to perform "low level formatting" of your
HD. Without going into details, I am not fond of these third-party
partitioning/formatting programs even when they originate with the
manufacturer of the drive in question. I much prefer to use XP's Disk
Management utility to perform this function as indicated above and I
strongly recommend its use in preference to other third-party programs. It
does the job within the XP environment and does it just fine. So unless
you have data presently on your 250 GB HD that you wish to retain, I would
recommend starting fresh with the DM utility by deleting the present
partition and partitioning/formatting the HD anew - either creating a
single partition or multi-partition the drive as you desire. Again, the
process is relatively simple to undertake with the DM utility.

After you've installed SP2 and partitioned/formatted your HD you might
consider "slipstreaming" the XP OS with SP2 so that the combined program
will occupy a single CD. But that's another subject. If you're interested
do a Google search on "xp slipstreaming" for further details.
Anna
Anna

Hi Anna, thanks very much for your help. I decided to go for 'slipstreaming'
rather than divide up the disk. I didn't know it was called slipstreaming
and would never have found it without your help.
The new XP disk has formatted my drive to full capacity and all appears fine
now.
Thanks again.
Sue