Author Topic: Hard Drive Problems (Read 6503 times)

Big_Boss · « **on:** November 18, 2002, 20:55 »

Ok heres a problem for you technologically minded folks:

You may remember from a few weeks back. I was thinking about getting a new hard drive. Anyway, it arrived today and i connected it up. The hard drive is a Western Digital 80GB 7200 rpm 8MB cache.

I loaded up my XP disk and used it to boot to the setup. It said that it had to format the drive and started formatting to NTFS which it completed fine. Then it copied over the windows files fine and said it had to restart. It did and then when it was just leaving the BIOS it gave the error "error loading OS". I couldnt get any further, so i had to format again. Same thing.

So this time i entered my old win 98 disc and formatted to FAT 32. It copied over the files fine and completed everything ok. Then when windows starts it says that i only have 11.5 GB of space when i should have 80GB.

It said i have full volume when it formatted to NTFS so i dont know what has went wrong.

Anyone have any ideas?

Big_Boss

Simon · « **Reply #1 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:00 »

Don't know a lot about this, Dave, but it sounds like a partitioning problem on installing the OS.

When you tried to install XP, did it ask you if you wanted to partition your hard drive?

I'm just guessing at the moment - Adept will have more of a clue than me, I dare say!!

Big_Boss · « **Reply #2 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:02 »

Yeah it did and i thought i said to use 100% of the drive. Maybe thats where the error has occurred.

Im still stumped though.

Big_Boss

Big_Boss · « **Reply #3 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:04 »

Also dont have a clue why it gave that error. The disc has worked fine before, howevere, not from a completely new drive. I first used it to upgrade from Windows 98.

Big_Boss

Rodders · « **Reply #4 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:06 »

BB: Check the BIOS settings on your motherboard to see whether it's recognizing your H/D.

Simon · « **Reply #5 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:06 »

When I installed XP, I really didn't have a clue about partitions, and I don't honestly remember being asked. I just said 'yes' to everything, I think, and it installed on the whole drive with no partitions. Perhaps you could try installing XP again, and pay particular attention if it asks about partitioning?

As I said, I'm shooting in the dark really, and a little knowledge can be dangerous! You might want to hang on till somebody intelligent comes along!

Sandra · « **Reply #6 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:11 »

Quote from Simon "You might want to hang on till somebody intelligent comes along!"

Not that I claim to have more intelligence Simon,but I have more hair than you

I seem to remember being told to avoid NTFS like the plague for win 2K as its hard to get it back to FAT 32 later

I assume it would be similar for any other OS too.
When you formatted it,did you just format or do a "Fill with zeroes " thing first ?
I know with 80 gig it will take forever but I would suggest trying that then formatting again and seeing if it will "see" it all in FAT 32 afterwards

As an afterthought,although I dont think it will apply in your case,I recently saw a post somewhere saying that someone put a larger drive in than their PC could cope with.I think it saw 7.5 gigs of 20 gig

They got around it by using Partition Magic to partition into nothing bigger that 7.5 gig ones.
Hope this helps

Big_Boss · « **Reply #7 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:18 »

When i first tried to install XP it said it had to format to NTFS so i just let it get on with it.

an yes, it did take forever. But i think ill have to wait till Thursday night to have a good stab at it. I havent got a lot of time the now.

Something has happened when it formatted from NTFS to FAT. Not quite sure what though. I have a gut feeling that formatting again (FAT 32) might fix the problem because then i could format to XP after that and not have to format to NTFS (wierd how that works

)

And anyway if i have to wait till Thursday, it gives you lot more time to think of a solution.

Simon · « **Reply #8 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:19 »

Well, I had understood NTFS to be a much more stable and secure file system then FAT32. :-

It could actually work to your advantage, Dave, having already installed 98 on a small part of your hard drive. You could theoretically now use the remaining space for XP, and have both, with a dual boot, could you not? :-";"xx

Big_Boss · « **Reply #9 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:21 »

I see what you mean Simon.
However, i just restarted and used a floppy boot disk to load FDISK. It said that i was using 100%

of the space available, so somehthing has gone badly wrong.

Big_Boss

Adept · « **Reply #10 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:22 »

Rodders is right Guys & Gals

Big_Boss, almost certainly your BIOS hasn't recognised the drive correctly.

There are two remedies to this; either update your BIOS with one that supports drives greater than 32GB or download a utility that will fool your PC into seeing the 80GB drive.

You'll find such a utility here

Big_Boss · « **Reply #11 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:24 »

Sorry for me being a bit thick, but which program is it i download?

Big_Boss

Sandra · « **Reply #12 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:26 »

That would be Ok Simon if he really needs a dual OS on his PC but a friend who has done that seems to have more problems than it is worth

He would still have to format it again though to be able to SEE the second partition required to put XP on,although Partition Magic may do it without reformatting again and wiping his 98 OS

Simon · « **Reply #13 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:28 »

Well, anyway, it seems we're on the wrong track Sandra. Best quit before we wreck his machine completely for him!!

Adept · « **Reply #14 on:** November 18, 2002, 21:31 »

Quote from: Big_Boss on November 18, 2002, 21:24

Sorry for me being a bit thick, but which program is it i download?

Sorry BB. You need the Data Lifeguard Tools v.10