New HDD - 250 GB - registering at 128GB

J

Jamin43

banned
I just installed a new HDD into my old PC - that I'm planning on installing Ubuntu in to make a server.

Before I call up CompUSA - is there any reason besides the HDD that could be causing this? My PC is an old P4 Dimension 4500. It came OEM with a 20GB HDD - and I added a 160GB slave drive a while back. Right now - I have only 1 drive connected as a Master and did a clean Windows XP install.

The Drive is a WD Caviar 250GB - THD250AAJB SY. I installed Windows XP in it - to make sure everything was working fine. But it's about half the size it should be.

I did move the Jumper to the middle 2 pins to make it a Master HDD - but I followed the directions of the manual I picked up online. Not sure if that could be an cause - but I doubt it.

Besides the HDD - is there anything else that could be causing this? Or do I need to call CompUSA and get a new drive?

Thanks
 
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If you're using a Windows XP SP1 and/or your motherboard's BIOS does not support 48-bit LBA, your hard drive size will max out at 137GB.
 
PohTayToez said:
If you're using a Windows XP SP1 and/or your motherboard's BIOS does not support 48-bit LBA, your hard drive size will max out at 137GB.
Click to expand...

It is XP sp1 - I'll be updating the service packs once I get connected to the internet

Will updating Windows Service Pack open up the rest of the drive to be used?

When I had the 160GB Slave drive - it was fully recognized.( I was sp3 though )
 
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It should, yes, but since it's an older computer you might be limited by the motherboard as well. I doubt there is anything wrong with the hard drive.
 
PohTayToez said:
It should, yes, but since it's an older computer you might be limited by the motherboard as well. I doubt there is anything wrong with the hard drive.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to sift out which drivers I need to download from Dell's site. Then I'll get the service pack updates. About halfway done - and I'll know soon enough.
 
You might need to repartition the hard drive after the service pack up date if you want one complete large partition. Otherwise you'll end up with a 128GB partition and another like 120GB partition.
 
diduknowthat said:
You might need to repartition the hard drive after the service pack up date if you want one complete large partition. Otherwise you'll end up with a 128GB partition and another like 120GB partition.
Click to expand...

I'm going to put Ubuntu on this PC eventually - I just wanted to make sure everything works ok - while I'm in my 14 day return window. I'll see what I can do with the partitions though. I thought you could only partition a drive when were installing the O/S.
 
I just finished installing sp2 - and It's still only showing 128 GB of HDD for my local C: drive. There is no D or E drive.
 
Well, that's too be expected. The partition in the hard drive is 128GB, it's not going to automatically expand when you install SP2. You need to go Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Disc Management and you should be able to see C drive and the non-partitioned space in it. You will be able to partition the remaining space into a D: drive.
 
Well, you'll have to have some sort of partitioning tool in order to make it all one drive, or install Windows XP SP2 again from the ground up. GParted is a good tool that you can use to make it all one drive.
 
PohTayToez said:
Well, you'll have to have some sort of partitioning tool in order to make it all one drive, or install Windows XP SP2 again from the ground up. GParted is a good tool that you can use to make it all one drive.
Click to expand...

Yeah - my install disk is sp1 though. I don't have a way to get sp2 on my PC without first installing sp1.
 
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