Hi.
I have recently restarted my computer (for the simple reason that I felt like it I like the nice and new feel ) But i was looking at the hard disk memory and  apparently the total space, which is supposed to be 200 GB was 127 GB. Why is this? My guess is that the remaining is unpartioned space, but if that is the case, why does windows do this and how could I merge it so I have the full 200 GB of HHD?

Yea i had that problem with a 250GB HD, WIndows only could *see* 127GB of it.  Its a windows problem or something, but if you have SP2, (im guessing you have XP) then i think theres an updae or something thats supposed to fix it.

mmm ok, well i have SP2 and I'm all updated from Windows/Microsoft Update so does anyone know what this update is and where I can get it? Thanks

Some links that might help

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Q_21208091.html
http://www.devhardware.com/forums/t12557/s.html
http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/137_winxp.html
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

Hi.
Sorry but I still cant seem to find a solution to this problem
The microsft link says SP1 fixes this but i have SP2 for xp and everything is up to date from Microsoft Update

Just to make sure, are you sure that 127GB is total HDD space, and not available space?

er ye, here's what it says:

[Edit] Maybe if someone could give me a link to the individual update within MicrosofT XP Service Pack 1 that is supposed to fix this and I could try downloading and installing it seperately

quote:

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Originally posted by ProblemWv Authority
[Edit] Maybe if someone could give me a link to the individual update within MicrosofT XP Service Pack 1 that is supposed to fix this and I could try downloading and installing it seperately

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if there is no data on the drive you should be able to partition it into 2 drives of 125gb each? no?

How do I check my system BIOS?

CookieRevised's reply to Opening window for BIOS

be extremely carefull to not change anything in your bios, you only will go there atm to check if the harddisk is detected correctly (you'll find this in the first menu option in your bios).

After checking, press ESC to quit the basic menu in the bios and return to the main page, then select "exit bios without saving".

Okay, thanks.

The main stuff my System BIOS said about my Hard Drive in the first option bit was:

IDE Channel 0 Master    [Maxtor 6Y200P0]
IDE Channel 0 Slave    [None]

System Memory    524288K
Total Memory    524288K

Is that what I was looking for? 'Cause that seems like quite a random number My HDD is supposed to be 200GB

In Windows, go in Control Panel\Administrative Tools\Computer Management. There, select Storage\Disk Management (in the list on the left). It will display your hard disk as seen by Windows physically.

In the Disk 0 line, if you only see one partition using the complete space, then it means you should either update your Windows or your bios. If you see several blocks in the line, it probably means that you have unpartitioned disk space. In that case, either create a partition in the remaining space or use something like Partition Magic to increase the size of the current partition (and if you do, make make sure you backup your important data first on a cdr or something equivalent).

Ah ye, there is a 61.93 GB Unallocated partion. Ok, i know what to do now then, thanks alot Patchou and Cookie

I received my new pc yesterday with a 160GB HDD and I knew about the "only 127GB" problem, so I wondered if it would happen to me too, but it didn't.
I guess if you install Windows XP with SP1 of SP2 SLIPSTREAMED (or integrated SP2 of course if you have a new Win XP ) you don't have the problem during the windows installation and/or in windows.

You get a partition manager such as Partition Magic 8 and resize the existing partition to take up the whole physical disk. Rember that hark disks are measured in "japanese gigs" (with 1000 being the multiplier used in calculation rather than the correct 1024), so even when it is done properly, Windows will report 186 GB.