Hi there everyone,

I recently carried out a formatting of my non OS (basically storage) HDD. Afterwards, I only had about ~127Gb of a possible 200Gb that my disk should have (it is a Maxtor 6B200P0).

When I go to disk manager it tells me that I have a partition of 127Gb. I have tried using the manager again to create a full size partition, but it still reads 127Gb. There definately was 189Gb of space on the disk before I did anything, and I have formatted it many times before without this ever happening.

What have I done to cause this and can it be repaired?

Many thanks in advance for any assistance you guys can offer.

Welcome to D-A-L.

I suggest trying an independant (Non-Windows) partition manager. there are many free programs available. Gparted and Ranish being two of the most popular ones.

free partition manager win XP - Google Search

Thanks for the reply Dan,

I have just tried Partition Magic v8.0 on the defective HDD, but it only recognises the 127Gb partition, I can't find the full amount of avaliable space still. I know the memory space is there - but I can't find it!

So you are deleting all partitions and creating a new single partition, (then formatting)?

Does the machines bios recognize the entire disk capacity? (This can sometimes be seen in the machines POST screen along with the disks model number.)

This sounds like the old 127Gb barrier issue. You must be using FAT32. What operating system are you using. If XP, format using NTFS. Otherwise, split the drive into partitions.

Microsoft - Limitations of FAT32 File System

Seagate - Why can I only see 127 to 137 GB of my 160+ GB drive in Windows 98 SE?

That's why I asked this question;

Does the machines bios recognize the entire disk capacity?

Thanks for the advice guys, but please remember I'm not 100% on computer parlance, what is ......"the machines POST screen".... and how can I access it?

I'm running XP service pack 3.

The drive was formatted with NTFS, originally to 120Gb and ~69Gb partitions.

I formatted (NTFS) the 120Gb partition using Partition Magic. After that I noticed that there was a 127Gb partition and the rest of the space was gone. I then tried using the disk manager but it couldn't find the rest of the drive space (the missing ~62Gb).

Does this shed any further light?

POST (Power On Self Test)
The first screen you see (with a warmed up monitor) gives you the bios and motherboard information, you'll sometimes see the RAM being checked, and the key to press to enter the bios utility (also known as SETUP) ie; "Press DEL to enter SETUP"

The next screen is your POST screen. This usually identifies your hard disk(s), CD/DVD_ROM. The hard disk recognized capacity is sometimes also shown.

(This can sometimes be seen in the machines POST screen along with the disks model number.)

If it isn't shown, you'll have to enter the bios and see what is reported for the hard disk(s) size.

If in the past the entire disk was recognized then the 137 GB barrier isn't an issue. (After re-reading your post I see this is the case.) If your motherboard supports LBA addressing, 200 GB is supported.

So you are deleting all partitions and creating a new single partition, (then formatting)?

I would use Disk Manager as opposed to Partition Magic.

Is this an external drive by chance?

If neither PM or Disk Manager doesn't satisfy, you could use a bootable CD with partitioning tools or wiping tools. Ultimate Boot CD is one; Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

OK then,

The drive is an internal device.

I tried the POST thing - no joy! It was too quick every time!

Went into the BIOS/CMOS thing and it said the disk contains 137,436,168,192 bytes.

Is there anything that can be done (i.e. Step by Step) using Disk Manager before I try another piece of software?

I guess I'm just another one of those idiots that try and do computer stuff and go on to mess it up - but I hope I'm supplying some sort of challenge!

is There Anything That Can Be Done (i.e. Step By Step) Using Disk Manager Before I Try Another Piece Of Software?

As I asked previously (twice)

quote:
So You Are Deleting All Partitions And Creating A New Single Partition, (then Formatting)?