WD HardDrive Problem

[CrazyCrusher]

Evenin all,

My sons computer at home is running windows XP Home, 512 Ram 1.7 Intel Celeron and a 40 Gig HDD,

Ok hears the fun part, I installed windows XP onto the hard drive as I have done on 100's of computers, nothing different. The computer runs fine, but I noticed something I have not ran into before, that the 40GIG harddrive is only showing 30 GIG, I checked the labeling on the HDD and its meant to be a 40, I have checked to see if there is a partition using that space but don’t see any, I have done a Virus scan which came out clean, scan disk every thing was ok, defrag, all good, so where is the 10 GIG of space gone? do any of you guys know what the problem may be? Would be great full thanks :)

[bassman]

Run fdisk (if you didn't before) to make sure there are no non FAT partitions on the drive. What brand/model is the drive? Use it's proprietary diagnostic tool and see if it reports anything unexpected. Post back!

[CrazyCrusher]

Thanks for the reply,

I’m sure I ran Fdisk, but ill do it again just to be safe, when I get home from work. The harddrive is a Western Digital 40GIG I have ran the proprietary diagnostic and didn’t see anything strange but I will check again to be sure, and post back my findings later.

[Midknyte]

the board is pretty new and should support drives over 32gb, but it wouldn't hurt to get the latest bios.

are you sure the drive is jumpered properly? some drives have a compatibility jumper setting to overcome bios limits. that can cause some wacky situations.

why are you using fdisk? do you really want FAT32? You can just use the winxp setup to partition and format, but it will create an NTFS partition if you use the whole 40GB.

[BipolarBill]

What does the drive look like in Disk Management? How big does Disk Management say that the drive is? Have you looked at it with Partition Magic?

[rraehal]

Originally posted by Midknyte

are you sure the drive is jumpered properly? some drives have a compatibility jumper setting to overcome bios limits. that can cause some wacky situations.


I have had some drives have a jumper setting that limits the drive size for the same reason mentioned.

I would boot the PC without changing anything.
In XP open Computer Management (Control Panel, Admin Tools)
Go to the Disk Management snap in
Look and see if the drive is partitioned at 100% or if there is empty (no partition space)

If it is at 100% the problem is before Windows. Look and see how the BIOS reports the drive size. If the drive size is 30GB in the BIOS look at your jumper settings.

[CrazyCrusher]

just to keep you guys in touch, i havent had time to check the computer yet, I dont think I can tell tomorrow, and ill post my findings thanks alot for your replys guys/gals

[BipolarBill]

Don't forget to check the jumper:

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=136530

[bassman]

I was under the impression that you said the drive was a WD, only confirmed when I saw the e-mail notification and noticed the Subj :p Use WD's diagnostic tool (http://support.wdc.com/download/dlg/dlgdiag11.zip) and post back with the results

[vatt]

modern HDD have 3 way size change :
1. jumper 2 (32) Gb limit
2.HPA (host protected area (see ATA 7))
3.reversing hdd microprogramm and make required change in hide area(for superuser).

download best programm for testing and unlocking HPA for HDD :
http://mhdd.com/files/mhdd/mhdd29.zip

see manual and make repair HDD yourself =)

[CrazyCrusher]

Im still working on this problem, im going to try out what you guys suggested, im only getting to it now, work I tell you:mad:

[sm8000]

Also check your BIOS settings and make sure it's all Auto for things like Cylinders, Heads, etc....

[CrazyCrusher]

Ok here is what I got so far,

1) Checked Jumpers all seem to be in the correct location.
2) Done Fdisk did not see any other partition containing the 10 Gig that’s missing.
3) Checked BIOS, all setting are as they should be.
4) Went into Computer Management checked to see if the Drive is partitioned %100, and it does say it is.
5) I have ran WD's diagnostic tools all past with know errors, the diagnostic tools recognize the Harddrive as being a WD 40 GIG.

Now I’m pretty confused as to what the problem may be, I don’t know if some how I got a wrongly labeled Harddrive or what, but any other ideas would be appreciated thanks alot guys.

[BipolarBill]

Is the WD alone on the cable? How is it jumpered?

[CrazyCrusher]

The drive is on a cable alone, it is set as a master, I have set it to CS and it works fine, but still the 10 GIG not showing up.

[BipolarBill]

Turn the jumper sideways and then Zap the drive:

http://service.boulder.ibm.com/storage/hddtech/zap.exe

(unzip that and read the README)

Replace the cable and start over with installation.

[CrazyCrusher]

Ok ill give that a go bill, ill post back later.

thanks for your help.

[sm8000]

Before you do that, remove the jumper altogether. That's what's worked for me with newer WD drives. Once booted, the remainder should show up as unallocated space.

[CrazyCrusher]

Originally posted by BipolarBill
Turn the jumper sideways and then Zap the drive:

http://service.boulder.ibm.com/storage/hddtech/zap.exe

(unzip that and read the README)

Replace the cable and start over with installation.

well that was a learning curve for me, thanks Bill, that worked out for me nicely, I never ran into anything like that, it was strange that it didn’t show up as an Unallocated section of the drive in Fdisk or Admin tools, but hey it worked, thanks a mill Bill, and to all.

PS, sorry about the slow replys, it was one of them Jobs I couldnt put down :) untill it was Fixed.