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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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