WIN XP thinks 80G HD is just 40G

[SalemCat]

I've had two weird HD issues last week. On one system a Maxtor 80G was reported as 160G. Cool - except the actual remaining space for the "160G" drive was the same as if it were being recognized as an actual 80G drive. Somehow over 80G was being used for some non-existent data. So I gained nothing. I forget what I did but I was able to correct it.

On another system I have two Seagate 80G HDs - both ST380018A. They are both attached to an old Promise ATA100 PCI card, as masters, on different channels. So the drivers, OS (WIN XP Pro), etc should be identical. Yet one is being correctly reported as 80G, the other is being reported as 40G. Bummer. I can't figure out how to correct this 40G misidentification. Is this HD just bad ?

[BipolarBill]

Don't count on My Computer to show you actual drive capacity. Use Disk Management instead. Disk Management is well hidden. The easiest way to get to it and other consoles is to right-click My Computer and select "Manage".

The drive that's reported as 40GB may not be fully allocated. It also needs to be formatted with NTFS rather than FAT32.

It's important to be sure that all drives are jumpered properly. It's best to use Cable Select on all drives - provided that you're using the appropriate 80-wire IDE cables.

http://www.mikeshardware.com/howtos/howto_connect_ide_hd.html

[SalemCat]

I don't recall every detail on the Maxtor issue - so we can drop it. Still it was weird - in 21 years of screwing with computers I never saw that b4.

But the Seagate issue is current, and I am certain the cables are tightly installed - I've even tried more than one. I have used Disk Management - it thinks the ST380013A is 40G too. NTFS is the format. 80-wire flat cables are being used. I've set both HD's as Masters - I'll try CS. I have used every Seagate Utility on this HD. Zero Fill, etc. Nothing seems to help. I could easily toss this thing - but I'm trying to learn from it. Tossing it teaches me nothing.

I'll ship it to you, no charge, if you want to screw with it. I don't want it back. Just trying to learn why this might happen. Personally, I think the Onboard Controller Chip is flocked.

[BipolarBill]

There may be a jumper setting to limit drive size. Check that.

It's also quite possible that the drive has the wrong label on it! It happens. It may actually be a 40GB drive. If it's under warranty, RMA the sucka.

[SalemCat]

Nope, the capacity is not limited. And it's way past warranty. Actually it worked fine in a RAID 0+1 situation for over a year (and I bought it used!). Finally the Power Supply croaked, and the computer croaked with it. I replaced that PS, but the RAID 0+1 could not be restored, (Silicon Graphics RAID sux). I sure am glad I use my USB 2.0 External HD religiously !

The other 3 HDs removed from the former RAID 0+1 seem to be fine; I've recycled them in other computers. But this Seagate ST380013A 80G HD is acting real weird, as described.

I'll make another post when I try it with CS enabled.

BTW, I know RAID helps when a HD dies, but does it help when the PS dies ? That's what happened to me, and RAID 0+1 did not help at all.

[BipolarBill]

When it comes to PSU failures, anything goes. A power surge of that magnitude can fry everything - including drive logic chips.