Did I get ripped off?

This is what it says on the Amazon page of the computer I purchased:

Hard Disk Size 240 GB

SSD: 240GB SATA III SSD, very fast

Hard drive: 500GB SATA II HDD


I was recently unpleasantly surprised to get a notification that there
was not enough room to install a game.

I looked at the C drive, and it says "52.5 GB free of 222 GB"

Why is it saying 222 GB?? Where is the 500GB plus 240 GB I am supposed to have?

I suppose I'm just confused, I dont' know much of anything about computers.....but this worries me. Did I get ripped off?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PRBWMHP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Shinobee SSD Ultra 8-Core Gaming PC/Multimedia Desktop Computer - FX 8300 8 x 4.20 GHz - AMD Radeon RX 460 2GB DDR5 Graphics - 8GB DDR3-240GB SSD - 500GB HDD - Win10 Pro - CD/DVD±RW - WiFi #6006

If you don't change to where applications/games get installed they will default to C drive which would be the SSD drive. Even thought the SSD is a 240 gb drive you don't get to use all that space. A 250 gb drive will only have 232 actual space. So its fine. Try reinstalling the game and see if you can change the install to the other drive.

Thank you very much. My main concern is that ONLY a "C" drive shows up.
I would speculate that I am not understanding how to view all of my hardware.
But only a C drive shows up, and it says the capacity stated. I can't find anything like the 500GB SATA II HDD the Amazon page says this comes with. What would that be named, other than "C"?

To be crystal clear about what is showing:

"C" drive

DVD drive

and an external hard drive I use for storage, a third party item...

But no SATA HDD

There’s a window, can you physically see the drive in there? Also you may be able to see something in disk management. Hold the windows key and hit R, then type diskmgmt.msc to which you should be able to see another storage device that simply might not be formatted yet

beers said:

There’s a window, can you physically see the drive in there? Also you may be able to see something in disk management. Hold the windows key and hit R, then type diskmgmt.msc to which you should be able to see another storage device that simply might not be formatted yet

Click to expand...

Thank you.
I'm embaressed to admit, even if I saw a drive, I wouldn't know what I was looking at for sure.

I used diskmgmt.msc, and it says:

(Disk 0 partition 3) Capacity 836 MB Free 100 %
BIRPRA 320GB (F I know what this is, it's my third party external drive
System Reserved Capacity 500MB Free 91%
Win 10 (C Capacity 222.26 GB Free 19%

Unfortunately, I don't really know what any of that means.


No idea how or why Emoji smile faces are in this......

Can you post a screenshot of disk management? At this point it's either it didnt come with it or it's not connected. Can you open the case and physically look for the drive?

Did you buy this used from some random dude or from a third party seller? It looks like they may have just installed a new copy of Windows on the drive without wiping what was already there.

You can run something like WinDirStat or SpaceSniffer on the C:\ drive see what is using the space up.

voyagerfan99 said:

Did you buy this used from some random dude or from a third party seller? It looks like they may have just installed a new copy of Windows on the drive without wiping what was already there.

You can run something like WinDirStat or SpaceSniffer on the C:\ drive see what is using the space up.

Click to expand...

From what I can see, it looks like the system only identifies the c drive and his external. According to Amazon, the pc comes with a 240gb SSD and then a 500gb HDD.

As I said prior, the drive is either not there or not hooked up. You'll need to open the case and look to see if its there.

voyagerfan99 said:

Did you buy this used from some random dude or from a third party seller? It looks like they may have just installed a new copy of Windows on the drive without wiping what was already there.

You can run something like WinDirStat or SpaceSniffer on the C:\ drive see what is using the space up.

Click to expand...

From the original post: "This is what it says on the Amazon page of the computer I purchased:"

johnb35 said:

From what I can see, it looks like the system only identifies the c drive and his external. According to Amazon, the pc comes with a 240gb SSD and then a 500gb HDD.

As I said prior, the drive is either not there or not hooked up. You'll need to open the case and look to see if its there.

Click to expand...

Ok, but what you ask is immense. Suppose you said to your great-grandfather, "You need brain surgery. Go do it yourself".

I would have no idea what i was looking for.

bearcat said:

From the original post: "This is what it says on the Amazon page of the computer I purchased:"




Ok, but what you ask is immense. Suppose you said to your great-grandfather, "You need brain surgery. Go do it yourself".

I would have no idea what i was looking for.

Click to expand...

A hard drive looks like this

johnb35 said:

From what I can see, it looks like the system only identifies the c drive and his external. According to Amazon, the pc comes with a 240gb SSD and then a 500gb HDD.

As I said prior, the drive is either not there or not hooked up. You'll need to open the case and look to see if its there.

Click to expand...

I turned off the computer normally. Had to unplug HDMI and power cables to turn it gently on side, removed panel, touched nothing, took photos posted in next post.
When turned back on, the computer took a long time to come back on. It also immediately started making a chirping beep every five seconds.
This would not go away until I used Restart.

I took the photos using an Android phone, hooked up the USB cable, and it seems like it's taking a long time to find the photos, the windows "looking" animatation goes on and on.
Also, once, the chrirp beep happened again, only once.

Thank you to everyone for your patience and help!

The silver rectangular object installed at the bottom front of your case should be the 500GB HDD. The white rectangular object at the top front is probably a DVD drive and the small, black object immediately below it is your SSD. Make sure the connections on the back of the HDD are snug.

Beyond that, contact the seller and ask for tech support.

strollin said:

The silver rectangular object installed at the bottom front of your case should be the 500GB HDD. The white rectangular object at the top front is probably a DVD drive and the small, black object immediately below it is your SSD. Make sure the connections on the back of the HDD are snug.

Beyond that, contact the seller and ask for tech support.

Click to expand...

Thank you!
I have been in communication with tech support, (finally, it took months for them to reply)
and they want me to run various scans/tests and report back.

They say:

Could you perfom a memory check with the following tool?

"http://memtest.org/download/4.20/memtest86+-4.20.usb.installer.zip"

You need to extract the downloaded file and install it on a thumbdrive.
Then boot from the thumbdrive by pressing one of the following keys F2,F8,F9,F10,F11,F12, DEL, Entf or
Escape (different on any computer) and the analysis will start immediately.

Once if finds errors you can cancel and send us a picture otherwise proceed with the error scan.

Please also try to check the harddrive with
"http://www.hdtune.com/files/hdtunepro_560_trial.exe"
Please do not use the "Quickscan" use the "Normal Scan"
This tool can be tested for 2 weeks for free.

If errors are shown you can cancel as well otherwise complete the scan.



Since I presume these tests cannot be run while the computer is being used, I'm going to run them while sleep. If I can remember to do that.
By the way, I vividly remember being a little kid and freaking out over seeing UnderGround comix like R. Crumb! S.Clay Wilson is my fave.

I re-opened the case

strollin said:

The silver rectangular object installed at the bottom front of your case should be the 500GB HDD. The white rectangular object at the top front is probably a DVD drive and the small, black object immediately below it is your SSD. Make sure the connections on the back of the HDD are snug.

Beyond that, contact the seller and ask for tech support.

Click to expand...

I reopened the case. There are two cables attached to the seagate silver box. The silver box itself I gripped in order to tug on the cables. When I did this, the silver box wobbled inside the
dark black sleeve type thing that surrounds it.

When I pulled on the cable plugs they would not come out of the silver box.
Pressing them in, there was no sensation that they would go any tighter.
They are attached to wires that lead to places I cannot see inside the computer.

Thanks.

The chirp sounds like the hdd is toast and that's why it's not getting recognized. If you are unsure what to do if we tell you to do something. It might be in your best interest to take it to a repair shop and have them determine what's going on.

The memtest is a waste of time since you aren't having memory issues. The hard drive test is useless to attempt since the hard drive doesn't even show up to be tested.

I had assumed this was a newly purchased system but see that you say it took tech support months for them to get back to you. Do you have any idea whether the 500GB drive EVER worked?

johnb35 said:

The chirp sounds like the hdd is toast and that's why it's not getting recognized. If you are unsure what to do if we tell you to do something. It might be in your best interest to take it to a repair shop and have them determine what's going on.

Click to expand...

Just for the record, it wasn't chirping before, and isn't chriping now.




Thank you for the advice. I live on a very small Social Security Disability benefit as my only income.
I was, barely, able to afford a new monitor to replace one with a sticky on/off key.

A repair shop is not only out of my budget, but I own no car. It is possible to haul a cumbersome desktop on the bus, but not pleasant.
Nothing against you, but it is extremely interesting as I go through life.
People who have money and resources can't picture in their heads what it is like to live closer to the bottom.
I can picuture what it is to live on the top, because movies and TV have been shaming me with those unatainable images all my life.

I used to participate in a group called SCA, we were learning swordfighting. The group would go out after practice to a diner.
I can't afford to eat out, but since my ride was going there and there was no other way to get back to the train, I had to go.

I will never forget that night....I was huddled nursing the cheapest thing on the menu, a cup of coffee, while all around me they feasted and chattered and ignored me.
Loudly, someone said, "He offered me that job, but I can't live on a hundred thousand dollars a year!"

In my working lifetime, the most I ever made was $17 thousand in one year working two jobs at the same time.
So, you can imagine how I felt looking at this guy.
New clothes, not a second glance at the prices on the menu, just orders what he wants.
Driving a huge gas guzzling SUV.
And I found out, lives in a huge house in the suburb with kids and dogs and toys and luxuries I could not even dream of.

Flash back even further in time, not sure when, very late eighties maybe.
My rich republican aunt send me a letter all excited about how she saves money, no need for stamps any more,
she just sends her son this new "free" thing called "email".

"Yeah, I replied.......on a machine that costs two thousand dollars. Want to buy me one? Want to look at my bank account?"

But....republicans don't like to hear truth or reality.
This is not any sort of attack on you. Just saying who I am.

I have no savings. I have no credit cards, no credit. I would not qualify for a bank loan.

No friends. No family.

What small life I have, I live entirely on the internet.

When my eight year old computer began dying of Frequent BSOD, I bought this new machine in desperation.