Why doesn't my pc recognise the full capacity of my hard drive?

Question

I have a Western Digital WD3200YS hard drive, but my Windows XP SP2 only recognise 120gb (instead of 320gb or 298gb). My motherboard is an ASUS S775 P5NE-SLI and my processor Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2 Ghz, so my system is not an old one...
Could someone please help me?
Thanx in advance...

Answer 1

Windows XP will sometimes hide 11 gigs of the hard drive. To recover this 11gigs, create a WinXP Startup Disk (assuming you have a floppy drive) and restart your computer with this disc in the floppy drive. Now, dig around and you'll find tools that will Recover this lost space and/or do any partitions you may need. Make sure ALL partitions are either ALL Fat32 or ALL NTFS. You can't use both and if you change to NTFS (recommended) then you can't change back to FAT32. But if you have the main partition speaking in Fat32 and another speaking in NTFS, then they will not understand each other and you won't be able to access the non-compliant partitions. Also, check your computer's website to see if there are any BIOS updates for your computer's motherboard. This may also fix your problem by telling your BIOS to recognize the entire hard drive as one partition. good luck to ya! :)

Answer 2

do you have enable big LBA in the registry entry?
( google 137Gb windows )
as SP2 should recognized all 320Gbs, amberlotusthompson is wrong about the limit, there is a work around that has bee around for quite some time
you mobo is modern enough as well so the bios should not b the problem
how did you partition and format the drive? under windows or di the drive come prepartioned

Cookiecutter is wrong as well
you can mix partitions
( have boot on fat32, and other drives NTFS )
it's better to have all drives all NTFS, I agree, but I used to run mixed partions for years to allow DOS based recovery of NT based systems


Note, the MS article is not clear, to make the value 0x1 you need to set it to 1 in decimal notation. That will be changed to 0x1 binary notation by itself:
:: Quote ::
1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
Value name: EnableBigLba
Data type: REG_DWORD
Value data: 0x1
4. Quit Registry Editor.


also...

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B303013

Answer 3

you're encountering the '120gb minimize'. this is on some bios / motherboard / OS configurations. a million. replace to the main contemporary provider %. on your version of abode windows. 2. replace your bios. seek forchronic controller updates if available. 3. seek the western digital internet site for tech help suggestions relative in yourchronic variety (making use of variety variety). the answer could be a sparkling chipset motive force from Intel.

Answer 4

Use "LOCAL DISC MANAGEMENT" (Right click my computer select MANAGE)
Make sure entre disc is PARTITIONED; IF NOT make a new partition to use the rest, also chck under MY COMPUTER, might have a DRIVE D that is the remainder of the drive !

Answer 5

Install PowerQuest Partition Magic and you will find the lost space.

Answer 6

Your OS can only access 137GB of hard drive space in any one partition.