SATA hard drive problems

hey guys,
i recently bought a new computer set up, and i got a sata hard drive for it. The hard drive capacity is 250gb but when i went to format it it would only allow me to format half. even after windows was installed and i went back and looked at it with partition magic it would still only see half of the hard drive. so now i have a 250gb hard drive that i can only use 127gb of.

any clues as to how to fix it?

-thanks

 

Could be Windows. Did you download and install all updates for it after you installed it, or do you know if it had Service Pack 2?
Windows versions prior to service pack 2 could only format and see 128GB of a hard drive, after service pack 2 it could.

 

yea, ill give it a shot, but the thing is that the windows version i have is sp1, but i have an update that makes it sp2. but since i formated it with sp1 it can still only see 127. i cant go back now and reformat it because if i do it will end up being sp1 again. how should i do.

also i tried usins partition magic, donno if any of you have used it before, but its the same result

 

it doesn't matter what program you use, until you update your version of Windows to SP2 it will not see the extra space. After you update you have 2 choices.
1. if you do not have information on it the just reformat the hard drive.
2. if this is your boot drive or has information, just use partition magic to format the remaining space, it will split it and give you 2 drive letters (like C: and D: )
Option 2 is how i have mine set up because i made the same mistake when building the new system. But i am fine with an extra drive letter as long as my space is there. Now that i have 5 hard drives running space is not a real big issue for me.

 

You could try sliptreaming sp2 into xp which would also solve your problem but would require a reformat of your disk. You can also add in drivers for your hardware if you like. Try this site http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/winxp-sp2-bootcd.html or just google slipstreaming sp2 into windows xp. If your feeling adventuresome.

 

oh, i get what your saying. why didnt i think of that.

so just install windows onto a smaller hd then plug in my 250 one and format it right.

 

I like the ghost idea. If you decide to reformat your hd and install SP2, make sure you don't choose the quick format option, and dl and install SP2 from Microsofts website. Don't install SP2 from a disc or another hd cause it's not recommended.

 

Sorry I forgot to mention i'm asumming your formating with xps os disc.

 

alight, thanks guys.

where could i get something the would work like ghost?

 

Iv'e never used this program but I here it works well. Check it out if you like; http://www.symantec.com/themes/ghost/index.jsp Good Luck

 

alright, ill check it out.

-thanks guys.