Built new PC with 160GB Hard Drive, but only shows it has 38GB

E

egm

New Member
I built my first computer with a 160 GB samsung HDD, and when I finally booted and installed XP, I went to "my computer" then under C drive, it shows I only have about 40 GB of hard drive space.

What could be the problem?

Thanks
 
ok I think I figured it out

when installing Windows XP, I was asked which file system to install

there was:

FAT32
and NTFS

I guess I must have choosen FAT32

is there anyway i can reverse this,
by uninstallin windows XP??

thnaks
 
yes, when you restart your computer with the windows xp cd in it, then it will load the setup screen, just select where you want to store it, and select "NTFS". This should solve your problem.
 
Hdd 101: http://computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=10947

Found this in there, see if it can help you out:
Partitioning and Formatting -- Straight out of the box, a hard drive's file system is "raw" which is unusable. In order to bring the drive to a useable state, it must first be partitioned and then those partitions need to be formatted. Partitioning refers to the process of subdividing the available space on a HDD into logical units (thus making c, d, e etc "drives"). Formatting refers to converting the file system from "raw" to format recognized by the operating system such as FAT, NTFS or EXT2
Click to expand...
 
if you don't mind, could you explain this partitioning process

i'm very new to this, and kinda lost

Will I have to format the HDD and re-install XP?

thanks
 
Egm, the easy way to fix your problem would be to reformat and re-install XP. This is a very easy but time consuming task. I'll paraphrase instructions below:

1)Restart computer, boot from your Windows XP CD.
2)This will bring up Windows setup menu (after a couple minutes of Windows setup loading device drivers)...
3)You will want to choose setup Windows XP.
4)You will then see a list of available hard drives....since you have a 160gb hd in one partition your screen will say something like this ... "Partition 1 NTFS"
5)delete that partition
6)next screen will tell you "unpartitioned xMB (x = how many MB your hd is)
7)setup a partition on the unpartitioned space
8)format using NTFS......do not use the quick format

With a 160GB HDD you may want to setup 2 or more partitions, if that is the case, let us know and we can walk you through that
 
where exactly is this jumper located, and how do I go about changing it?

I think that may be the problem, because it does say 32 GB limit, not 38 as I first thought
 
the jumpers are on the back of the drive beisde the spot where you plugged the power and ribbon in (provided you don't have a SATA drive)
 
ok hopefully this will be the last n00b question:

after changing the HDD jumper settings, do I just boot the computer and whala, or do I have to configure anything else?

keep in mind that windows XP is installed

thanks a lot guys!
 
You will have to repartition the drive, either by adding a new partition with the rest of the drive (ie you've got a 32GB already, you would add another partition that is ~123GB) or you could repartition the entire thing creating one partition that is ~156GB (with partition magic or similar program (might not have to reinstal everything this way), or by deleting your current partition and repartitioning it(involes reinstall of windows and erases everything on the drive)). Even using Partition Magic or a program like it theres a chance you will lose all the data on the drive.
 
ok what I'm thinking is best is to format the HDD and reinstall window


is this the best way to go? since I'm not too familier with this partitioning stuff
 
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no it's not bad, the only thing is that for all intents and purposes you lose anything that was on it so back up whatever you documents and such that you want to save.

Remember, even when reinstalling windows you will have to repartition the drive from the menu that is presented near the start of the process. Do this by deleting the present partition (creating a lot of unpartitioned stuff) then create a partition using the maximum size (it will tell you what this is) then you have to format it (automatic, you can choose quick or full, I prefer full but its your choice)
 
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well i just built the PC last night, lol, so thats the good thing.

and i'm guessing as long as I didn't register Windows XP, i can re-install it right?

YES!! my first PC to build!! this should be the last of my worries.

I checked all temperatures and everything is good
 
As long as you own the liscense and don't install it on more than 1 machine at a time (unless your liscense allows it) you can reinstall and activate XP on one PC as many times as you need.
 
get the trial version of Norton Partition Magic, its allows you to create and manage partitions with no data loss.
 
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