Installed Windows on 250GB hard drive, detects only half that space

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pukmok

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#1 pukmok
Member since 2008 • 775 Posts

After reformatting and installing Windows I looked at my hard drive space from my computerand it says 120GB are already used. How do I recover that space?

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JigglyWiggly_

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#2 JigglyWiggly_
Member since 2009 • 24625 Posts
Is this a pre sp1 patch or sp2 patch? It needs the x48 drivers that sp1 or sp2 have. I think if you update to sp1 or sp2, go to start > right click my computer > manage > disk management > and setup that remaining space will do it for you. But it will act as another partition.
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drkstorm37

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#3 drkstorm37
Member since 2009 • 135 Posts
I had this same problem when I upgraded both my hard drives, one being a 320gb and the other is a 1tb. both only showed as 137gb, it depends on what service pack your original instalation disc has on it, at that time I was using xp profesional and it was an old disc before sp1 to recognize over the 137gb cap and downloading the sp from microsoft did not solve my problem, I had to slipstream sp2 and my xp installation disc together and make a new bootable xp disc, I am not sure if this is your problem but here is a link that might help with it... http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/winxp-sp2-bootcd.html
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pukmok

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#4 pukmok
Member since 2008 • 775 Posts

I got the disk when XP came out. Installing SP3 right now. If that doesnt fix the problem I'll do the slipstreaming disk but does that mean I have to wipe my hard drive because I am really tired of reinstalling.

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JigglyWiggly_

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#5 JigglyWiggly_
Member since 2009 • 24625 Posts

You won't have to reformat. Just use disk management to get the rest of the partition. I think norton ghost will let you combine the two partitions, someone should verify this.

If you do slipstream sp3, then you will have to reformat.

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pukmok

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#6 pukmok
Member since 2008 • 775 Posts

You won't have to reformat. Just use disk management to get the rest of the partition. I think norton ghost will let you combine the two partitions, someone should verify this.

If you do slipstream sp3, then you will have to reformat.

JigglyWiggly_

Tried using Partition Magic to get the rest of the hard drive open but it also says it is used. I'll try norton ghost since I really dont want to reformat.

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JigglyWiggly_

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#7 JigglyWiggly_
Member since 2009 • 24625 Posts
Go to disk management is the 2nd partition initialized with a file system, and is it assigned a drive letter?
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CellAnimation

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#8 CellAnimation
Member since 2007 • 6116 Posts
If you formated the drive and afterwards you only have 120GB I'm going to say you formated it as FAT32 not NTFS. FAT32 has a maximum partition size of 120GB. You can convert that partition to NTFS and then merge the other 1 to get a full 250GB partition. You can convert it from the command line using the following command: CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS You will be asked if you want to do this on the next reboot. Hit Y and reboot. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881 - more info
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joseph_mach

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#9 joseph_mach
Member since 2003 • 3898 Posts

If you still have a problem with it after following everyones advice here, another possiblility to check into would be that you might have to flash your BIOS to have Windows recongnize the other half of the Hard Drive. Check with your motherboard maker and see if it is required for the drive you have. It's a problem that sometimes happens with drives over 300GBs, but again, it could be what is causing your problem as well.

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JigglyWiggly_

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#10 JigglyWiggly_
Member since 2009 • 24625 Posts

If you formated the drive and afterwards you only have 120GB I'm going to say you formated it as FAT32 not NTFS. FAT32 has a maximum partition size of 120GB. You can convert that partition to NTFS and then merge the other 1 to get a full 250GB partition. You can convert it from the command line using the following command: CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS You will be asked if you want to do this on the next reboot. Hit Y and reboot. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881 - more infoCellAnimation
Nope that's not the problem, pre sp1 xp didn't have x48 drivers for hard drives larger than 120 gigabytes. It's a ntfs drive, go to disk management to check. (Also fat32 can be larger than 120 gigs, it just loses performance exponentially)