HD Question

Deamon · 01-21-06, 04:01 PM

I just bought a new hard drive and after installing it it shows only 8 GB space but it must be 160. Did i made something wrong ?

Deamon

Gizzmoe · 01-21-06, 04:03 PM

Does it show up as an 8GB drive in the BIOS? Is that BIOS/mainboard maybe very, very old? Is "Auto Detection" on? Are the HD jumpers set correctly? Or if the BIOS shows 160GB maybe itÂ´s prepartioned at 8GB for whatever reason and the rest is still unallocated!?! If everything seems to be ok try another cable.

Deamon · 01-21-06, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

Does it show up as an 8GB drive in the BIOS?

Yes.

Quote:

Is that BIOS/mainboard maybe very, very old?

I don't think so. My PC is just a few years old and i have two 40 GB drives. I wanted to replace one now as it starts to make very suspicious sounds.

Quote:

Is "Auto Detection" on? Are the HD jumpers set correctly? Or if the BIOS shows 160GB maybe itÂ´s prepartioned at 8GB for whatever reason and the rest is still unallocated!?! If everything seems to be ok try another cable.

I have to check this stuff out. Will be back soon.

Thanks
Deamon

Hellcat · 01-21-06, 04:34 PM

If you're using Windows XP you need to format the drive from my computer to NTFS if that's your format you want to use....

If you can't see the hard drive in my computer, you need to format it using the administration tools in control panel.

Deamon · 01-21-06, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

Is "Auto Detection" on?

It's on now and it shows its name properly but still only 8GB.

Quote:

Or if the BIOS shows 160GB maybe itÂ´s prepartioned at 8GB for whatever reason and the rest is still unallocated!?!

I formated it as one DOS drive.

Quote:

If everything seems to be ok try another cable.

Hmm, i pluged the new 160GB drive where the other 40GB drive was before. Can this realy be the cable ?

It just remains to check the jumpers.

@Hellcat:

I use Win98ME.

Deamon

Gizzmoe · 01-21-06, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deamon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

Is "Auto Detection" on?

It's on now and it shows its name properly but still only 8GB.

Connect your new HD as a single drive (you probably need to rejumper it). Do not attach a second drive to that cable! If it then shows 160GB you know that your new drive doesnÂ´t work together with the old 40GB drive (this only can happen in a Master/Slave configuration where both drives share a single cable). If you are lucky a mainboard BIOS update can solve that problem.

Deamon · 01-21-06, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

Connect your new HD as a single drive (you probably need to rejumper it). Do not attach a second drive to that cable! If it then shows 160GB you know that your new drive doesnÂ´t work together with the old 40GB drive (this only can happen in a Master/Slave configuration where both drives share a single cable). If you are lucky a mainboard BIOS update can solve that problem.

Can this happen by just wrong jumper setting ? When the second drive is maybe not set to slave ?

Deamon

Gizzmoe · 01-21-06, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deamon

Can this happen by just wrong jumper setting ? When the second drive is maybe not set to slave ?

ThatÂ´s unlikely, but never say never...

As I said, try it as a single drive, then you know if the drive is ok or not. If itÂ´s still 8GB update the BIOS. If it then still doesnÂ´t work either the BIOS isnÂ´t configured correctly, something is wrong with the cable or the drive is broken.

Deamon · 01-21-06, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deamon

Can this happen by just wrong jumper setting ? When the second drive is maybe not set to slave ?

ThatÂ´s unlikely, but never say never...

As I said, try it as a single drive, then you know if the drive is ok or not. If itÂ´s still 8GB update the BIOS. If it then still doesnÂ´t work either the BIOS isnÂ´t configured correctly, something is wrong with the cable or the drive is broken.

I will try the drive at the PC of my friend today who have a similar large drive, if its ok and eventualy try the BIOS update and see whats the deal with jumpers and report back.

BTW: To hang it on one cable didn't worked. I took a look with partition magic and no luck either.

Good night.

Deamon

SUBMAN1 · 01-21-06, 08:26 PM

Did your forget to enable large black addressing in the BIOS? The old BIOS's had limitations on how big an HD could be, and I think it was like 8 GB. THis is probably your problem.

-S

SUBMAN1 · 01-21-06, 08:29 PM

So I was right - Here it is - Change your BIOS setting and you should be OK. There are like 3 or 4 choices that you can select. If you saw 40 GB drives before, than your system definetily can see the 160 GB. Of course, only an NTFS partition or some form of Linux partition can actually be that big.

Standard - 528 MB max

LBA - 8.4 GB max

Large - anything bigger (I think - let me look at my own BIOS and I'll bb in a min)

EIDE specifications. With the growing capacity of hard disks on desktop computers, a redefinition of IDE specifications was necessary. The old IDE specification only supported drives up to 528 megabytes, which is the Normal partition setting. In 1994, the EIDE (Enhanced IDE) protocol was designed and now all new motherboards support it. This new protocol uses the LBA (Logic Block Addressing) system which considers logic blocks instead of heads, cylinders and sectors. It can support drive up to 8.4 GB. If your BIOS does not support LBA, several hard disk manufacturers provide drivers to trick the BIOS. You will also find a Large partition setting that can accommodate drives up to 1024 cylinders, but do not support LBA. Unfortunately, many large implementations don't work correctly for drives of over 1GB (there's no good reason why it wouldn't work for much larger drives though). Note that 1024 cylinders native is 528MB. The 528MB limit is the 1024 cyl / 16 head / 63 sector limit.

SUBMAN1 · 01-21-06, 09:19 PM

Set your system to 'Auto' and that should fix your problem. That is how mine would be set if I were not using S/ATA on RAID 0.

-S

sonar732 · 01-21-06, 10:55 PM

I agree with the concensis of flashing your BIOS! :hmm:

tycho102 · 01-22-06, 11:55 AM

Gonna need more information to solve this issue. The make of the drive, chipset (or CPU socket) of your mainboard. I'm going to assume IDE, and you're trying to format it with FAT32 or NTFS (or Reiser/JFS/a decent journaling system).

If that's a Maxtor drive, then you've got a billion jumper settings on the back of the drive. Make sure it's not on something funky, like 15 heads and cable-select. Set that thing to 16 heads and master/slave.

And remember that LBA32 is limited to ~130GB, or 8.5GB, depending on the cylinder size you're using (8MB/1MB).

Deamon · 01-22-06, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tycho102

Gonna need more information to solve this issue. The make of the drive, chipset (or CPU socket) of your mainboard. I'm going to assume IDE, and you're trying to format it with FAT32 or NTFS (or Reiser/JFS/a decent journaling system).

OK, it's a P4B board from ASUS. The socked is called mPGA478 B. Chipset is Intel 845. The hard drive is from western digital 160 GB. I try to format it with FAT32 under Win98 ME.

Quote:

And remember that LBA32 is limited to ~130GB, or 8.5GB, depending on the cylinder size you're using (8MB/1MB).

I tried all other options and still it was 8GB's.

Deamon

01-21-06, 04:01 PM	#1
Deamon Commodore Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 642 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	HD Question I just bought a new hard drive and after installing it it shows only 8 GB space but it must be 160. Did i made something wrong ? Deamon

01-21-06, 04:34 PM	#4
Hellcat Ensign Join Date: May 2004 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 224 Downloads: 7 Uploads: 0	If you're using Windows XP you need to format the drive from my computer to NTFS if that's your format you want to use.... If you can't see the hard drive in my computer, you need to format it using the administration tools in control panel. __________________ "readiness is only accomplished when the need for it is over"

01-21-06, 04:03 PM	#2
Gizzmoe Silent Hunter Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Germany Posts: 3,668 Downloads: 4 Uploads: 0	Does it show up as an 8GB drive in the BIOS? Is that BIOS/mainboard maybe very, very old? Is "Auto Detection" on? Are the HD jumpers set correctly? Or if the BIOS shows 160GB maybe itÂ´s prepartioned at 8GB for whatever reason and the rest is still unallocated!?! If everything seems to be ok try another cable.

01-21-06, 08:26 PM	#10
SUBMAN1 Rear Admiral Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 11,866 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Did your forget to enable large black addressing in the BIOS? The old BIOS's had limitations on how big an HD could be, and I think it was like 8 GB. THis is probably your problem. -S

01-21-06, 08:29 PM	#11
SUBMAN1 Rear Admiral Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 11,866 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	So I was right - Here it is - Change your BIOS setting and you should be OK. There are like 3 or 4 choices that you can select. If you saw 40 GB drives before, than your system definetily can see the 160 GB. Of course, only an NTFS partition or some form of Linux partition can actually be that big. Standard - 528 MB max LBA - 8.4 GB max Large - anything bigger (I think - let me look at my own BIOS and I'll bb in a min) EIDE specifications. With the growing capacity of hard disks on desktop computers, a redefinition of IDE specifications was necessary. The old IDE specification only supported drives up to 528 megabytes, which is the Normal partition setting. In 1994, the EIDE (Enhanced IDE) protocol was designed and now all new motherboards support it. This new protocol uses the LBA (Logic Block Addressing) system which considers logic blocks instead of heads, cylinders and sectors. It can support drive up to 8.4 GB. If your BIOS does not support LBA, several hard disk manufacturers provide drivers to trick the BIOS. You will also find a Large partition setting that can accommodate drives up to 1024 cylinders, but do not support LBA. Unfortunately, many large implementations don't work correctly for drives of over 1GB (there's no good reason why it wouldn't work for much larger drives though). Note that 1024 cylinders native is 528MB. The 528MB limit is the 1024 cyl / 16 head / 63 sector limit.

01-21-06, 09:19 PM	#12
SUBMAN1 Rear Admiral Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 11,866 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Set your system to 'Auto' and that should fix your problem. That is how mine would be set if I were not using S/ATA on RAID 0. -S

01-21-06, 10:55 PM	#13
sonar732 The Old Man Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Central MO Posts: 1,562 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	I agree with the concensis of flashing your BIOS! :hmm:

01-22-06, 11:55 AM	#14
tycho102 Ace of the Deep Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 1,100 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Gonna need more information to solve this issue. The make of the drive, chipset (or CPU socket) of your mainboard. I'm going to assume IDE, and you're trying to format it with FAT32 or NTFS (or Reiser/JFS/a decent journaling system). If that's a Maxtor drive, then you've got a billion jumper settings on the back of the drive. Make sure it's not on something funky, like 15 heads and cable-select. Set that thing to 16 heads and master/slave. And remember that LBA32 is limited to ~130GB, or 8.5GB, depending on the cylinder size you're using (8MB/1MB).