XP cut in half?

That is a common problem, there are two common reasons. One being that you need to have the service pack in order for Windows to see more then 127GB. The other situation is common in older computers, where the IDE controller can't access more then 127GB on a single partition, so it would either have to be partitioned, or see if theres a newer BIOS available.

EDIT: After re-reading your post, I see it's a SATA drive so the motherboard shouldnt be the problem. But does your OS have SP2 installed?
 
Yep, it's an LBA issue. Either the BIOS or your OS didn't support 48bit LBA when you partitioned the drive (maybe it still doesn't). If you have upgraded to XP SP2 at somepoint check to see if the remaining space is unallocated. Right click on my computer->pick manage->expand the storage tree->click on disk management. At the bottom see if the drive has unallocated space. If it does you can create a new partition with the remaining space, use a 3rd party tool to increase the size of the current partition or delete the partition and recreate it.
 
[-0MEGA-];764910 said:
That is a common problem, there are two common reasons. One being that you need to have the service pack in order for Windows to see more then 127GB. The other situation is common in older computers, where the IDE controller can't access more then 127GB on a single partition, so it would either have to be partitioned, or see if theres a newer BIOS available.

EDIT: After re-reading your post, I see it's a SATA drive so the motherboard shouldnt be the problem. But does your OS have SP2 installed?
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My bios is latest update, but this bios read 250GB

Edit: I do have SP2 installed too i did check Window Updates.

brianmay27 said:
yeah that is not right. it should be 232 ish
Click to expand...

Yes you are right. In Disk Management reads (Basic) 232.88GB.


Cromewell said:
Yep, it's an LBA issue. Either the BIOS or your OS didn't support 48bit LBA when you partitioned the drive (maybe it still doesn't). If you have upgraded to XP SP2 at somepoint check to see if the remaining space is unallocated. Right click on my computer->pick manage->expand the storage tree->click on disk management. At the bottom see if the drive has unallocated space. If it does you can create a new partition with the remaining space, use a 3rd party tool to increase the size of the current partition or delete the partition and recreate it.
Click to expand...

In disk management read. Basic 232.88GB, Healthy 127.99GB and Unallocated 104.80GB.
 
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Ok, so if you want 1 232GB partition you have to either delete the current one and recreate it or use partition magic or gparted or similar tool to increase the size of the partition. Either way, you should backup anything on the drive you want to keep because the resizing tools don't always work (might destroy the data) and deleting the partition will destroy all the data.
 
Cromewell said:
Ok, so if you want 1 232GB partition you have to either delete the current one and recreate it or use partition magic or gparted or similar tool to increase the size of the partition. Either way, you should backup anything on the drive you want to keep because the resizing tools don't always work (might destroy the data) and deleting the partition will destroy all the data.
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Well, at lease it is double size more than my old hard drive. It wont hurt it to leave 127.99GB alone because I will upgrade to Duel Core motherboard in next year or two years. Depend on up comming games.

Edit: But thanks for great help, I was this close to return it back to store.
 
my 500 gig hard drive had the same problem what I did was install xp to a 80 gig hard drive and then clone it to my 500 and now I have my 500 gigs back
 
Darkserge said:
Well, at lease it is double size more than my old hard drive. It wont hurt it to leave 127.99GB alone because I will upgrade to Duel Core motherboard in next year or two years. Depend on up comming games.

Edit: But thanks for great help, I was this close to return it back to store.
Click to expand...
If you paid for a 250GB, why do you want to wait a few years to use it?

Go into the disk management from administrative tools, and then you should be able to create a partition from the unallocated space.
 
[-0MEGA-];765049 said:
If you paid for a 250GB, why do you want to wait a few years to use it?

Go into the disk management from administrative tools, and then you should be able to create a partition from the unallocated space.
Click to expand...

Good point.

Edit: Now, I got it all. Thank you.
 
You say it is caused by LBA, but what is the technical reason that it is 128 GB and not something else?

Someone else said in the thread that in older days, this limit could be overcomed by making more than one partition. How is that possible?
 
nyhk said:
You say it is caused by LBA, but what is the technical reason that it is 128 GB and not something else?

Someone else said in the thread that in older days, this limit could be overcomed by making more than one partition. How is that possible?
Click to expand...
I believe it's because the controller itself couldnt access/read over 127GB.

You can create partitions using the Windows setup when you first install a Windows OS, or use a program such as Partition Magic.
 
if the controller cannot access sectors beyond that limit, why would it help creating another partition then? the sectors are on the other side...
 
It's LBA, not the controller. It's the controller's BIOS or the OS that have this limit, the controller can address up to the BIOS or OS limit. 28bit LBA (what was used to format the drive) gave a maximum of 268,435,456 addressable sectors of 512 bytes of data (it's really 127.9GB formatted in windows). 48bit LBA extends this limit to 144PB
 
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