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I Need Desperate Help With My Hdd!!

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A

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
I have installed WinXP, and when I first booted, my Seagate st320420a 20 G was recognized only as a 8G disk. The bios detects even the model, but WinXP does'nt. I have formatted the drive with Disk Manager (from Seagate), with a 20 G partition for WinXP (I've tried both Fat 32 and NTFS), but WinXP then sees a "unrecognizable format" on a disk of... 8 G!!!
Any idea?
 
D

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#2 ·
Interesting! Rather than use Seagates Disk Manager or their Seatools......try using a Windows 98 Startup floppy to format this Hard Drive. Win98 3.5" startup disk will work with WinXP! My first and formost attempt would be to see if doing it this way, it will recogize my 20GB HDD as a 20GB HDD. Something else I would check would be to see if there are any "Bad Sectors" on this HDD. BIOS/CMOS may recogize your 20GB HDD...but during formatting using the above method, it will advise you if there are.
Is this a new Seagate HDD?
Hope this helps alittle.
 
JAMMAN

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#3 ·
The "8 gig barrier" was a limitation in the bios on some older motherboards, has nothing to do with OS. What mobo and processor do you have? I had an old intel with a P200 soc7 that wouldn't see my 20 gig IBM over 8 gigs. Partition magic couldn't even figure it out. Flash your bios if possible.
I put a 2 gig WD in it and gave it to my 5 year old. He plays "Dino defender" and "Danger zone" on it.:D :D :D
 
G

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#4 ·
Ahura MAzda Welcome to the forum

Do you know the Motherboard manufacturer?

Does the bios see the drive as the full 20 gig. if that is what it is?

If so and you want to do a clean install select boot to CD-Rom in the bios.

It will reach a section that will ask if you want to load Windows or delete partitions.

You should delete all partitions, Then you will be able to create a full partition followed by a full format.

After the format is done you will be able to load windows and it will recognize the full HDD size...:D

Just take your time and read the prompts and you'll be OK...;)

Don't forget to change the boot sequence back...
 
A

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Discussion Starter · #10 ·
The F****** problem was the Atapi.sys driver from WinXP. After flashing the bios (unnecessary) and a clean install, my problem was solved with a Miniport driver from Soltek, that winXP said were incompatible.

Life can be funny, if you have enough patience.

Thanks for your help.
 
G

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#12 ·
Ahh puddle jumper it is a humble man who admits to his blunder...:D

I am also at fault and must repent for the errors of my ways...;)

I will force myself to read Windows 3.1 for dummies 5 times, Followed by a trip to the monastery to pick up a hot habachi with my bare forearms...:evil fire
 
Valiant

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#13 ·
Deep speedo.. really deep ;)
Atleast they had the courage to give it a shot, which is more than I can say for myself. Personally I thought it was XP's fault, but I wasn't sure how to put it in comprehensible gibberish ( as opposed to the incomprehensible gibberish I normally speak) So good job guys! I'll have to try that catching the fly with the chopsticks thingy later.
 
G

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#14 ·
Ah Yes to catch the fry with chopsticks is truly an art of the chosen few...

But to catch the fry with chopsticks while blindfolded and riding on rickshaw is the art of master !!!
 
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Riskyone101
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