Installed 500Gb IDE drive, computer thinks it's 127Gb!

L

lukeshep

New Member
Hi guys,

Just swapped out my old IDE harddisk (it was broken) and put in a new Hitachi Deskstar 500Gb.

Installed Win XP fine, using the original Microsoft disc (an old version which I have not yet updated to SP3 - it's not even SP2 - or SP1 as far as I know).

Although the harddrive is definitely 500Gb, the computer is telling me that it's 127Gb. My old drive was about this size (123.50Gb or so the sticker says). I was wondering whether someone could tell me why this is happening! I'm a bit confused!!

Your help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks.
 
Windows xp (pre sp) has problems with hard drives above 127 GB. If you install the service packs, and you go into the computer management (start>right click my computer> manage>disk management). You should see a unformatted section in there.
 
Beautiful - what do I need to do then?? Just burning SP3 to a cd (other comp doesn't have an internet connection at the moment).

Thanks very much for your help already!
 
Dammit, just tried to run the SP3 update and it says I need SP1 before I can do it. Microsoft doesn't have SP1 on their download site anymore - do you reckon it'll be ok to download it from a third party??
 
You can just install SP 2/3 , then Partition/format the rest of your drive, but you will have 2 partitions. Can use a 3rd. party program and merge the 2 together.

Or just Slipstream using nLite SP2/3 your your XP cd and do a fresh/clean install and it will see and partition the whole drive size.
 
Thanks, don't mind havin 2 partitions to be honest - that's fine.

I'm confused as to why you can't just update from scratch with SP3 (SP1 is a prerequesite apparently) - MS says that SP3 includes all previous updates but obviously that's not true if it won't let me run the update.
 
lukeshep said:
Thanks, don't mind havin 2 partitions to be honest - that's fine.

I'm confused as to why you can't just update from scratch with SP3 (SP1 is a prerequesite apparently) - MS says that SP3 includes all previous updates but obviously that's not true if it won't let me run the update.
Click to expand...

Not really for sure. You can install SP2 without SP1 (pretty sure). SP3 might need a folder that is created by SP1 or 2. I have heard that before.

I have slipstreamed SP3 to a non SP XP pro CD. Not suppost to be able to do that either, but I have. Beats me:confused:
 
Last edited:
StrangleHold said:
Not really for sure. You can install SP2 without SP1 (pretty sure). SP3 might need a folder that is created by SP1 or 2. I have heard that before.
Click to expand...

That might well explain it - didn't think of trying just sp2, then sp3. You'd think that if it was something as simple as a folder, they'd have sorted that out but nevermind!! Oh well, it's updating with SP1 as I type this, then I'll try SP3, I'll post when it's finished and let you know what happened.

Thanks again for your posts - very kind of you and they've been a great help!

Happy New Year everyone.
 
Last edited:
Ok, ran SP1 update, then SP3 and *touch wood* everything seems to have updated perfectly.

As for the extra, unrecognised, disk space, everything happened as mentioned above - disk management showed an unformatted section which is currently formatting to form a new partition.

Can't thank you guys enough - without your help I would've been really stuck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top