Computer only recognizes 125 gigs free space on 200 gig hard drive

eighthcircuit · 07-18-2005, 06:03 AM

I put a 200 gig Seagate EIDE hard drive in my computer (Dell 4550) as the new master. When i install windows xp it recognizes that my hard drive has a 186 gig capacity but it says the free space is only 125 gigs. Once installed, that was indeed what my computer thinks. How is it that a third of the drive capacity is gone before i even put anything on it? Is there anything i can do to fix this problem or is my computer not able to utilize large capacity hard drives? It's only about 3 years old so I'm surprised i'm having this problem.

Bunchofstuff · 07-18-2005, 06:42 AM

do you have sp1 or sp2 installed?

eighthcircuit · 07-18-2005, 08:39 AM

I just installed sp2 and it made no difference. I have no idea what the problem is. How does my computer know how big the hard drive is but say only 2/3 of it is free space?

tomb08uk · 07-18-2005, 10:26 AM

Go to the Manufactures website, for example if a Maxtor drive then go to their site and they usually allow you to download specific files which enables your system to read larger hard drives. Though SP2 usually solves this....

newbie2005 · 07-18-2005, 11:40 AM

Dude, how about updating your computer's BIOS? This thingie plays a role in hardware recognizition.

dragon2309 · 07-18-2005, 01:19 PM

Aswell as SP2 your mobo needs to support 48bit LBA (almost 100% of ASUS boards now have this and i would expect most gigabyte ones do. Same for MSI, if you have an Abit then you might want to ckeck, same with PcChips)

Explode_ADX · 07-18-2005, 09:58 PM

I have the same problem and SP2 didnt change the HDD what is an easy way to obtain an updated BIOS for Dimension 4500

DanLatimer · 07-18-2005, 10:16 PM

when you got it did you partition it correctly?

Explode_ADX · 07-18-2005, 10:52 PM

I didnt partition mine at all I just installed it and got no partitions it reads that it is at 232GB but only has like 120 something Gbs free

alanuofm · 07-19-2005, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon2309

Aswell as SP2 your mobo needs to support 48bit LBA (almost 100% of ASUS boards now have this and i would expect most gigabyte ones do. Same for MSI, if you have an Abit then you might want to ckeck, same with PcChips)

i would like to highlight what he said about the 48bit LBA incase you overlooked that. its in psu101 if you haven't read about it already.

07-18-2005, 06:03 AM	#1 (permalink)
eighthcircuit New Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 21	Computer only recognizes 125 gigs free space on 200 gig hard drive I put a 200 gig Seagate EIDE hard drive in my computer (Dell 4550) as the new master. When i install windows xp it recognizes that my hard drive has a 186 gig capacity but it says the free space is only 125 gigs. Once installed, that was indeed what my computer thinks. How is it that a third of the drive capacity is gone before i even put anything on it? Is there anything i can do to fix this problem or is my computer not able to utilize large capacity hard drives? It's only about 3 years old so I'm surprised i'm having this problem.

07-18-2005, 10:26 AM	#4 (permalink)
tomb08uk Platinum Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 836	Go to the Manufactures website, for example if a Maxtor drive then go to their site and they usually allow you to download specific files which enables your system to read larger hard drives. Though SP2 usually solves this.... __________________ ..

07-18-2005, 01:19 PM	#6 (permalink)
dragon2309 P.I Dragon Join Date: May 2005 Location: KENT, UK Age: 21 Posts: 8,735	Aswell as SP2 your mobo needs to support 48bit LBA (almost 100% of ASUS boards now have this and i would expect most gigabyte ones do. Same for MSI, if you have an Abit then you might want to ckeck, same with PcChips) __________________ Intel Core2Duo E6600 @ 3.1Ghz - (__CPU__) eVGA 680i SLi - (__MOB__) 4Gb Corsair Dominator DDR2-800 (4x1024Mb) - (__RAM__) 250Gb Western Digital SATAII 7200rpm - (__HDD__) nVidia BFG 8800GTS OC 320Mb - (__GFX__) LG DVD+/-RW 18x DVD-RAM - (__OPT__) Triple Boot - [XP Pro] + [Vista Ultimate] + [Ubuntu 7.10] - (__OS__) [3DMARK'03 :: 25,587] --- [3DMARK'05 :: 13,989] --- [3DMARK'06 :: 8791] - (__BENCHMARKS__) dragon2309.co.uk - a little slice of geek

07-18-2005, 09:58 PM	#7 (permalink)
Explode_ADX New Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 21	I have the same problem and SP2 didnt change the HDD what is an easy way to obtain an updated BIOS for Dimension 4500 __________________ Dell Dimension 4500 Intel Pentium4 2.4Ghz (533Mhz front side bus) 232Gb HDD + 127GB HDD (7200 rpm) 768Mb DDR SD RAM DVD/CD-ROM Drive 19" Flat Screen Monitor NVIDA GeForce4 MX 420

07-18-2005, 10:16 PM	#8 (permalink)
DanLatimer Platinum Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Sydney, Nova Scotia Age: 23 Posts: 660	when you got it did you partition it correctly? __________________ -DAN ____________________________________ MY PC: Windows XP PRO AMD XP 64 3000+ oc to 2.25ghz 1 GB PC2700 Memory Radeon 9600XT 256mbs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 5.1 surround sound

07-18-2005, 06:42 AM	#2 (permalink)
Bunchofstuff banned Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: USA , Georgia Age: 20 Posts: 491	do you have sp1 or sp2 installed?

07-18-2005, 08:39 AM	#3 (permalink)
eighthcircuit New Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 21	I just installed sp2 and it made no difference. I have no idea what the problem is. How does my computer know how big the hard drive is but say only 2/3 of it is free space?

07-18-2005, 11:40 AM	#5 (permalink)
newbie2005 Bronze Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 53	Dude, how about updating your computer's BIOS? This thingie plays a role in hardware recognizition.

07-18-2005, 10:52 PM	#9 (permalink)
Explode_ADX New Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 21	I didnt partition mine at all I just installed it and got no partitions it reads that it is at 232GB but only has like 120 something Gbs free __________________ Dell Dimension 4500 Intel Pentium4 2.4Ghz (533Mhz front side bus) 232Gb HDD + 127GB HDD (7200 rpm) 768Mb DDR SD RAM DVD/CD-ROM Drive 19" Flat Screen Monitor NVIDA GeForce4 MX 420

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