ok i have a 400GB hard drive put it in my computer it comes up with 120 how do i fix that?

Question

it is xp and it is a older computer is not my main computer and i need that hard drive space for movies and tv shows and music

Answer 1

You'll have to upgrade your Motherboard to one that will recognize more than 120G's. Or try updating the BIOS of your current MOtherboard. Most older ones won't recognize more than 120 gigs!!!

Answer 2

You have not mentioned which company's HDD you are using. Well there are few diagonostics error that I can get from your Question. If you have a Seagate HDD then open the HDD and check the pin settings at the back of the HDD. If you select the third row of the pin it limits the Capacity to that of 1/4 th of the actual size. Change the settings to Primary Master. Open Bios and Auto Detect HDD. You will see that the M-Board will recognize your HDD but it won't say you the total size. If you have not used this HDD till now divide the whole 400 GB in nine 40GB Partitions and keep the last one as 80 GB which is to be used as Primary Partition. Use XP because it is the only one which will recognize the full size. But if you are using such a large disc then partition should be done in NTFS file system. Hope this will solve your Problems.
Just for the curiousity I would like to ask you why do you need a 400GB HDD since the Mainframes use these HDDs and is such a thing available in the Market commercially.

Answer 3

Your motherboard's BIOS is out of date. Chances are that your computer uses an older BIOS which does not support a 400GB hard drive. It is a common problem when individuals like yourself install a larger hard drive on an older computer. There are two solutions that I know of. First, you can update your BIOS. Second, you can use a partition manager to divide your new hard drive in to multiple partitions each with a size no larger than 120 GB. I say 120GB because that seems to be the limit for your current BIOS.

If you decide to update or upgrade your BIOS then you are going to need to install Lavalys' Everest Home Edition software. You can download it for free at: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Everest_Home/1086844970/1

Lavalys' Everest is the easiest way I know of to find out what BIOS is installed on your motherboard and what company wrote it. Once you have installed Everest, click on the "+" symbol next to Computer to expand it and then click Summary. You should see an entry for BIOS on the right panel. Double click on the entry and the company will be displayed. Go to their website and search for an update or upgrade for your current BIOS. After downloading it, install it. Please refer to tech-recipes' tutorial on how to update the BIOS at: http://www.tech-recipes.com/windows_tips644.html

If you decide to partition your hard drive then you will need a partition manager. Two of the best are Norton's Partition Magic and Acronis' Partition Manager. The bad news is that you have to buy the software. There are some free partition managers but they are not too user friendly.

Answer 4

do you use Window XP? Win2000 won't recognize big size HD, there is a limitation to it. I don't remember.

If you use XP, the computer should recognize the size correctly. Try to format the HD or install the driver that goes with the HD. It might work.

Answer 5

depending on how old the computer is you may not be able to use it unless you partition it into smaller drives instead of 1 large drive

Answer 6

What kind of computer is it? your ide thing may have a limit on its capacity.

Answer 7

Do you really need 400 GB?

Answer 8

take unnecessary programs off of your computer