HD in xp shows 31 gb instead of 80 gb can it be fixed?

malchika · 05-14-2006, 11:17 PM

hi
we got a new hard drive with 80 gb capacity and not knowing how- formatted it at 31. that said and done, is there any way to fix it or is that forever?
we seitched from ntfs to fat32 and back to ntfs if that's relevant
Thanks,
Keren

**linderman** · 05-15-2006, 05:41 AM

Hello:

One thing you may wish to check first/ check to be sure the drive's jumper for 32gig capacity limit is not activated >>>> read your drive manual carefully

the file system is VERY relevant. If you choose fat32 the drive will be limited to 32gigs as microsoft tries hard to discourage the adoption of Fat32 for reasons I wont bore you with.

You will need to convert your drive to NTFS
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=214579

then use windows disk mangement to partition and format the balance of the drive with another drive letter (if you dont want another drive letter and you desire one big chunk "C" drive; then its gets more involved and you will need to either reformat your drive completely or use a partition sliding program such as Partition Magic or Boot It NG but thats kinda involved for the average user ??? I dont know your level of computer experience; so we will leave it at that.

You can easily assign the remainder of your hard drive a drive letter so you can use it by right clicking on my computer (desktop) select manage from the upper part of the drop down menu / then select disk mangement from the left pane of the console that will appear / then in the right hand side of the disk mangement console you should see a descritpion named unallocated
right click on the unallocated entry >>> that will automatically take you into the partition & formatting tools you can only select the tools in the correct order ... so from there its a cake walk.

please dont hesitate to ask more questions as necessary.

05-14-2006, 11:17 PM	#1 (permalink)
malchika Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 1 OS: xp	HD in xp shows 31 gb instead of 80 gb can it be fixed? hi we got a new hard drive with 80 gb capacity and not knowing how- formatted it at 31. that said and done, is there any way to fix it or is that forever? we seitched from ntfs to fat32 and back to ntfs if that's relevant Thanks, Keren Last edited by malchika : 05-14-2006 at 11:19 PM. Reason: more info

05-15-2006, 05:41 AM	#2 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 14,909 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Hello: One thing you may wish to check first/ check to be sure the drive's jumper for 32gig capacity limit is not activated >>>> read your drive manual carefully the file system is VERY relevant. If you choose fat32 the drive will be limited to 32gigs as microsoft tries hard to discourage the adoption of Fat32 for reasons I wont bore you with. You will need to convert your drive to NTFS http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=214579 then use windows disk mangement to partition and format the balance of the drive with another drive letter (if you dont want another drive letter and you desire one big chunk "C" drive; then its gets more involved and you will need to either reformat your drive completely or use a partition sliding program such as Partition Magic or Boot It NG but thats kinda involved for the average user ??? I dont know your level of computer experience; so we will leave it at that. You can easily assign the remainder of your hard drive a drive letter so you can use it by right clicking on my computer (desktop) select manage from the upper part of the drop down menu / then select disk mangement from the left pane of the console that will appear / then in the right hand side of the disk mangement console you should see a descritpion named unallocated right click on the unallocated entry >>> that will automatically take you into the partition & formatting tools you can only select the tools in the correct order ... so from there its a cake walk. please dont hesitate to ask more questions as necessary. __________________ If you cant be polite and friendly; then please be silent. Power Supply Selection Last edited by linderman : 05-15-2006 at 05:45 AM.