Windows only see's 127GB of 500GB!!

[Parker]

Hey, so I just finished getting everything setup on my new rig, spec's in sig.
I wen to "My Computer" right clicked on the drive went to "Properties" and it says that my HD is a 127GB drive, it's really a 500GB 7200.11 Seagate drive.
Any ideas why it's reading wrong? And how can I fix this?

Any help would be much appreciated!

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Well, I bet you're using a pre-SP1 version of XP. It had a 127GB cap or something retarded like that. Update to SP3.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by wtcnbrwndo4u

Well, I bet you're using a pre-SP1 version of XP. It had a 127GB cap or something retarded like that. Update to SP3.

I'm using SP2.
Do you really think I should upgrade to SP3? Isn't it still a Beta version?

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Oh... and no, I forgot it's still a beta.

Wait, then that doubles back to your motherboard's IDE controller or BIOS. I doubt there's a BIOS option for 48-bit LBA. Have you completely installed all drivers for your chipset and mobo?

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by Parker

Any help would be much appreciated!

THIS link may be of interest to you, Parker.

[Parker]

Thanks Garet.

Ok, my dad showed me were to find the rest of the drive, in Disc Management there was the 127GB and the rest (323GB or something like that) was "Unallocated Space" so we "Allocated" the space and turned it into another drive so now I have to partitions on the 500Gb drive.
But is there a way to merge two partitions together?

[theburan]

I'm pretty sure the disk manager in vista will let you merge partitions, not sure if xp will though. You might just want to get a live boot of ubuntu or knoppix or some linux distro, and run the gparted program, and merge the partitions that way.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by theburan

I'm pretty sure the disk manager in vista will let you merge partitions, not sure if xp will though. You might just want to get a live boot of ubuntu or knoppix or some linux distro, and run the gparted program, and merge the partitions that way.

Oh cool, where do I get a Live boot?
Do I make the disc myself?

[theburan]

Actually, on second thought, go here: GParted -- Welcome, and just get the gparted livecd. Should be a much quicker download than a whole linux distro, and it should work.

If you're having trouble though (my laptop didnt like that gparted cd) go to ubuntu.com or knoppix.com and download the iso from there (knoppix will probably be a smaller and faster download, but not 100% sure on that).

[screwballl]

I myself prefer having 2 separate partitions anyways so that the save files and windows backups can go in the separate partition. This way if windows ever gets nailed with a virus or gets screwed up, you always have some backups and no need to format the whole thing, only the small windows portion.
for example I have my older XP3000+ system with a 160GB drive and i have ti split in half, one for windows and one for backup, it is especially nice with that system because I also use it for work and backups are essential if something happens. With larger drives (200+) I always place the first 80-100GB for Windows and the rest for backup and storage.