160GB Hard Drive.. windows xp says 127GB Wheres 33GB gone?

[Genesis2k]

as the subject says.... got a Hard Drive from a local dealer... says on the tin 160gb.. format it. bios says 160, windows says 30 gb

take it out and format it in my brothers computer.. now says 127GB??

am i doing something wrong or have i picked up a dud hard disc??


Cheers

Chris

 

[wanleg]

What version of windows are you running ?

Where and with what utility/software was the partition created ?

What type of partition is it (assuming only 1) FAT32, NTFS ?

If your running XP post a pic to show 'Disk Management' screen (Control Panel, Admin Tools, Computer Management)

 

[Hooo]

I saw this a lot when drives over 120GB first came out, I think it was due to older BIOS versions that wouldn't recognise drives over 127GB. How old was the machine you formatted it in? Anything less than 3 years old should format it fine.

 

[Richard C]

I saw this a lot when drives over 120GB first came out, I think it was due to older BIOS versions that wouldn't recognise drives over 127GB. How old was the machine you formatted it in? Anything less than 3 years old should format it fine.

Not necessarily; if trying to install original XP (or earlier) without service pack 2 on a large capacity HDD you’ll get the same result, even with a new MB & current bios; OS install wont recognise anything larger. You can get around it by installing XP on a small logical partition, upgrade to SP2 (if you have it on a separate disk) & then use disk manager or Partition Magic to format the rest of the disc; however if you have SP2 on disc, it’s best to make your self a ‘slipstream’ OS disc which will work from scratch.

 

[diddodonna]

if its the hard drive that came with your pc it will have something which is called a recovery partition which hold a copy of your o/s and if you want to get rid of that partition i would advise that you go and and create ecovery cd's and then you can format your partition in anyway and if your pc crashes then you have the disc to install your o/s

 

[mr chris]

Not necessarily; if trying to install original XP (or earlier) without service pack 2 on a large capacity HDD you’ll get the same result.

Agreed, have SP2 slipstreamed onto a recovery disc. Google for 'Winlite' for DIY slipstreaming recovery discs which allows you to reinstall Windows with many settings personalised so you don't have to start over.

 

[emphasis303]

hi

he reason you lose about 33gb is bcos manufactures determine a gigabye as 1000mb not 1024 and the same with kb mb etc. where as the computer is working on he proper and correct size. Were being conned out of so much. On your box or somewhere on the packaging of any new hard drive it will say for example 1gb is 1000mb.

hope this makes sense

 

[Kes]

hi

he reason you lose about 33gb is bcos manufactures determine a gigabye as 1000mb not 1024 and the same with kb mb etc. where as the computer is working on he proper and correct size. Were being conned out of so much. On your box or somewhere on the packaging of any new hard drive it will say for example 1gb is 1000mb.

hope this makes sense

No it doesn't. The difference is 2.4%, so 160 gb at 1000 mb to a gb is 156.25 gb at 1024. The loss is minimal.

Rgds.

PS My '160 gb' drive shows as 145 gb on the PC. I'm not too bothered.