hard drive related questions

[Dresden]

After building my new rig, I soon discovered two odd things about my hds. Firstly I ordered 300 gb ones yet they only operate at 127. At first I decided it was a shipping error Newegg made. But then i read the label and it stated clear as day they were 300 gb hds. Whats happening? How do i have them operate at 300 gbs? Also the internal architecture of my case prevents them from being installed at a distance from each other for heat purposes. The plug to my video card would block them otherwise. Is it safe to have them side by side? Theres a slot for a fan in my hd bay if that helps.


Thank you-

Norton

 

[KimB]

You've run into the Windows 2000/XP 137GB barrier. Updated versions of both operating systems have fixed the problem, but the original versions do not.

Anyway, here's a .pdf from Seagate that goes into great detail about how to fix the problem:
http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/tp/137gb.pdf

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Basic Windows XP can't access more than a 130 gig drive. It should work correctly if you install with a SP2 slipstreamed installed disc.

Alternatively, other disc apps (such as Seagate's Discwizard) will automatically fix your OS to recognise larger discs.


As for your discs, as long as they run cool, and have sufficient airflow around them, it's not a problem. If they come up hot, then you should put the fan in to help them cool down. HDTune is a free utility that will tell you how hot they are running.

 

[Dresden]

So essentially upon installing service pack 2, the problem should be resolved? (Sorry Chal, I don't have Reader.) Unfortunately since I'm using the same version of XP as my old computer was, it won't let me register, therefore I can't download updates. Or can I?

Thanks guys.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

So essentially upon installing service pack 2, the problem should be resolved? (Sorry Chal, I don't have Reader.) Unfortunately since I'm using the same version of XP as my old computer was, it won't let me register, therefore I can' download updates. Or can I?

Thanks guys.

Can't you just activate the new version? The patches give you access to higher then 137 GB disks, but yours are already formatted at 1.37 GB. You will either have to make extra partitions, or reformat the discs.

You probably have to reformat the discs under a patched OS to make them work. If your second disk is empty, I'd use a disk utility like Diskwizard to format the second disc to the larger size, copy the contents to the second disc via image copy, format the first disk to full size, then copy the contents of the second disc back to the boot disk.

There are some disk utilities that can move/merge/extend partitions, but I've never really used them so I don't know how well they work. It would be nice if you could point at a disk and just make the exisiting partition bigger.

 

[Dresden]

Can't you just activate the new version? The patches give you access to higher then 137 GB disks, but yours are already formatted at 1.37 GB. You will either have to make extra partitions, or reformat the discs.

You probably have to reformat the discs under a patched OS to make them work. If your second disk is empty, I'd use a disk utility like Diskwizard to format the second disc to the larger size, copy the contents to the second disc via image copy, format the first disk to full size, then copy the contents of the second disc back to the boot disk.

There are some disk utilities that can move/merge/extend partitions, but I've never really used them so I don't know how well they work. It would be nice if you could point at a disk and just make the exisiting partition bigger.

I don't mind reformatting them if that will resolve the issue. While it won't be done until monday, I still have some time to enjoy the 3 programs I have currently installed. After the installation of them, I left the second one un-partitioned, therefore it's not even being recognized, but thats a 25 minute fix. I could by all means raid them, but I'm unfamiliar as of how to. I also don't mind having 2 seperate hds. Keep my OS on one and put additional programs on the other.

 

[Ty]

I don't mind reformatting them if that will resolve the issue. While it won't be done until monday, I still have some time to enjoy the 3 programs I have currently installed. After the installation of them, I left the second one un-partitioned, therefore it's not even being recognized, but thats a 25 minute fix. I could by all means raid them, but I'm unfamiliar as of how to. I also don't mind having 2 seperate hds. Keep my OS on one and put additional programs on the other.

You may actually need to repartition and then reformat it.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

I don't mind reformatting them if that will resolve the issue. While it won't be done until monday, I still have some time to enjoy the 3 programs I have currently installed. After the installation of them, I left the second one un-partitioned, therefore it's not even being recognized, but thats a 25 minute fix. I could by all means raid them, but I'm unfamiliar as of how to. I also don't mind having 2 seperate hds. Keep my OS on one and put additional programs on the other.

It will if you reformat with a patched OS, or use one of the utilities that can do it by themselves. IIRC, Discwizard will work on non-Seagate drives, and most manufacturers supply their own version of the same kind of utility.

 

[KimB]

If you reformat the drive, you cannot install the default version of Windows XP (or 2000), or you will have problems. You need to get an updated version. Do a google search for how to "slipstream" your current install CD to one that will install with Service Pack 2 from the start.

Edit:
To qualify the above statement, I'm assuming that you're installing your operating system on the 300GB drive. If you're just using it as a storage drive, installing it after installing Windows is no problem. It may also be possible to add a second partition that includes the rest of the drive's space, but that's hardly an ideal solution.

 

[karlotta]

So essentially upon installing service pack 2, the problem should be resolved? (Sorry Chal, I don't have Reader.) Unfortunately since I'm using the same version of XP as my old computer was, it won't let me register, therefore I can't download updates. Or can I? Some links for all that.
Thanks guys.

Some links for all that.

http://www.thehotfix.net/forums/index.php?showforum=4
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=89
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showforum=88
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...BE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...cb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&DisplayLang=en

 

[LunchBox]

Also check the jumpers on the Hard Drive. You might have misplaced them to disable the other disks, I goofed on my 100GB before. And don't use FAT32 to reformat it