lost half of my hard drive space :-(

[ArTiFaX]

hey everybody, I just formatted my hard drive, and made a partition of half my hd size of 40gb's. I then proceeded to load win xp onto my comp, then my other drivers. Well, curiously I went into my computer to check the size of my drive and it said 39gb's. So i thought something might have gone wrong on the format. I then, formatted the drive again, loaded windows, then my drivers. Now i only have 30gb's of space. :-( Can somebody please help me out, half of my drive must be hiding somewhere on me or something. thanx for ANY and ALL help.

[JTanczos]

You have to remember that when it gets formated the OS generates a file table so 39gig sounds good on a 40 gig partition.

If you are only getting 30 tho you might have more than one partition on the drive some how. Go into the disk mangement by right click "My Computer" going to "Manage". Hit the + at "Storage" then go to "Disk Management"

See how your drives are partitioned in there.

JT

[ArTiFaX]

ok, i just tried that, and it said that "the service data base is locked". I have an 80gb hd, so i'm wondering how to recover the missing 50gbs? :-( thanx

[JTanczos]

You doing this on the MB listed in your Sig? If it is then it shouldnt be a bios problem. If it isnt then you might have to flash it.

You might want to try to remove all partitions again and reinstall letting the setup auto configure the partitions.

JT

[ArTiFaX]

ya, its the mobo in my sig. I was using a program called "maxblast 3" and it takes 6 hours to format the drive, is there a way i can quickly remove my partitions and reinstall win xp?

[Timothy730]

i use partition magic it works really fast and can partition without needing to reinstall windows

[ArTiFaX]

i d/led that program, but i'm not exactly sure how i would go about getting my full hd's capacity back using it..?

[JTanczos]

Boot into windows XP setup. Go into Install XP option. When it asks you were you want to install there should be a list of partitions. Hit D to delete then hit L (I think). The parition should be gone. Should list the drive as unalocated space or something like that. Im not sure as I havent done it in a while. Select the 80 gig drive and tell it to quick format using NTFS.

It should partition 100% of the drive and format it in about 15 seconds.

JT

[ArTiFaX]

ok, i'm gonna give it a shot, thanx JT. I will post back with the results as soon as i finish.

[Rilian]

yeah JT mentioned the easiest way with XP setup, another way is to download fdisk.exe to floppy disk.

[MLMIB]

shouldn't partition magic be able to clear most of this up? or just the manage feature in windows xp? he'd have had to deal with a D drive, but eh

[ArTiFaX]

hey JT, I just tried your solution to no avail. There was only 1 partition of 30gb's. So i deleted it, then reinstalled win xp. I still have 30gb's of space. I must have another 50 gb's somewhere that is hidden. I have partition magic, but i'm not sure if theres anything in there to fix this problem? thanx

[MLMIB]

well the only issue should be that you partitioned off quite a bit of your space, partition magic should see that space and let ya do what ya want with it. or you can right click my computer>manage, disk and storage 'n another drive should be listed thats not formated. that should be again your remaining space(it may be in 2 pieces because of your story)

[ArTiFaX]

well the only issue should be that you partitioned off quite a bit of your space, partition magic should see that space and let ya do what ya want with it. or you can right click my computer>manage, disk and storage 'n another drive should be listed thats not formated. that should be again your remaining space(it may be in 2 pieces because of your story)

I tried my computer/manage/storage/disk management but I don't see any other drives besides my 30gb C drive :(. How would i go about using partition magic to recover my lost gb's? I am starting ot get real frusterated, as i can't seem to find any ways to recover lost hd space. People are having the same kind of problems, but all i seen suggested was to update your bios, and make sure your jumper is in the correct position as some drives can't read drives larger then 32gb's or something liek that. I know this is not the case tho, as it was reading my 80gb drive just fine prior to my format. I must have another drive somewhere that I cannot seem to locate, PLEASE somebody help me find this hidden drive?

[JTanczos]

If you can, try moving the drive to a different computer and try to partition it using that OS.

I dont know how you lost so much space. Could you take a screenshot of your XP disk management window? If you dont know the easiest way it print screen button and MS Paint.

JT

[shadowdr]

Unless you have been using this drive before, check the jumpers.It may be that you have limited the drive to 32 gigs.There are limiting pin settings on the drive that will do this.If you used Maxblast software,do you remember anything saying "Install D.D.O"? It is possible that you may have done this without knowing.This is a software limiter.If it isn't the jumpers it is the maxblast.Reinsert disk and "remove D.D.O..

[ArTiFaX]

ok JT i will take a screenshot when i get home, i'm at work right now. I will also try the maxblast cd to see if i accidently installed the D.D.O(whatever that is) LOL I will report back to you guys around 11:30 or so. thanx for all the help. i REALLY appreciate it, I am starting to think I will never get this problem fixed, i hope soembody gets the solution sooner then later. :p

[shadowdr]

DDO is dynamic disk overlay wich allows the drive to make your bios think it is only a 32 gig drive that was the limit of older mobo's.

[ArTiFaX]

I was gonna put a screenie on here, but i'm not sure how :s. I know how to take the screenie, i've already done that. But how do i paste it in here?

[JTanczos]

Hit "Go advanced" or "Post Reply" instead of using a quick message. At the bottom there should be an attachment section.

JT

[ArTiFaX]

ok, i just went to attack the file and it gave me an error saying its too large, it needs to be in 640x640, but i had it in 800x600. how can i change it to 640x640? i'm sorry about the noobness, but i'm not the greatest with computers.

[ArTiFaX]

ok, here the screenie, i finally figured it out. keep in mind. This is suppose to be an 80gb hard drive, that worked perfectly fine b4 i formatted the drive.

[JTanczos]

Well if your jumper settings are correct and the drive did function correctly before the format then im out of ideas. The screen appears to show that everything is normal. Basic disk partition but it shouldnt fill 100% of the disk.

Is it a new drive?

Unless someone else has a better suggestion and you are SURE it was showing 80 gig before the format you might have a faulty drive. Ide tripple check the jumpers tho. If its showing lower then 80gb in the bois then its either faulty or the jumper. Heck just remove all jumpers as that would set it to be a single master and see if that helps.

JT

[ArTiFaX]

i can't see it being a faulty drive, as its not even a year old. I havn't changed any of my jumper settings since i first installed the drive, therefore they should be ok. how do i check the size of the drive in the bios?

[ArTiFaX]

ok, i just checked my bios and this is what i got: Base memory= 640k, Extended Memory= 523264k, and Total Memory= 524288k. Does this mean i need a bios update?

EDIT: I think this is my system ram. Considering i do have 512mb, i guess my stick has a little more then its rated. sweet deal.

[ArTiFaX]

can somebody please help me? I am going to throw the drive in the garbage if i don't figure this out pretty soon. thanx

[ArTiFaX]

Well if your jumper settings are correct and the drive did function correctly before the format then im out of ideas. The screen appears to show that everything is normal. Basic disk partition but it shouldnt fill 100% of the disk.

Is it a new drive?

Unless someone else has a better suggestion and you are SURE it was showing 80 gig before the format you might have a faulty drive. Ide tripple check the jumpers tho. If its showing lower then 80gb in the bois then its either faulty or the jumper. Heck just remove all jumpers as that would set it to be a single master and see if that helps.

JT

I truly appreciate all the help you've given, but i just tried removing the jumper and it did absolutely nothing. I am at a total loss on what to do? If any hard drive guru has any more suggestions i would be willing to try just about ANYTHING now. I havn't been able to game or load all my proggys back onto the drive, as I don't know if i will have to format, delete partitions, reinstall win xp, or all 3 of these to fix my problem. I just don't understand how my drive was working perfect prior to my format. All i did was make a 40 gb partition, and now i've lost 50 gb of space, it just doesn't make any sense to me?

[Sjaak]

The jumper setting is incorrect. On many drives there is the option 'limit capacity to 32GB' (for compatibility with older motherboards). It looks like he has that jumper 'on'. Find that jumper and remove it...

[ArTiFaX]

The jumper setting is incorrect. On many drives there is the option 'limit capacity to 32GB' (for compatibility with older motherboards). It looks like he has that jumper 'on'. Find that jumper and remove it...

hey, and thanx for the reply, but it can't have anything to do with the jumper, as my drive was working perfect with all 80gb's prior to the format. I didn't change anything on the drive, all i did was make a partition of 40gb's. Next thing you know, my drives down to 33gb"S or so. :(

[Rilian]

you should look inside your comp and verify it says its an 80 gig HD... do you have brothers/sisters/kids people that may think that if they replaced your HD with half the space you wouldnt notice?

[shadowdr]

I am pretty sure it is the Maxblast software.Which version did you use? Is there a screen at boot that says EZ-bios initializing? I have had issues in the past using their software.If it is installed it must be removed before you will regain the lost space.

[ArTiFaX]

you should look inside your comp and verify it says its an 80 gig HD... do you have brothers/sisters/kids people that may think that if they replaced your HD with half the space you wouldnt notice?

LOL, i have no brothers or sisters. I know 100% sure it is an 80gb hard drive. There's just a missing partition that i cannot locate of about 50gb's.

[ArTiFaX]

I am pretty sure it is the Maxblast software.Which version did you use? Is there a screen at boot that says EZ-bios initializing? I have had issues in the past using their software.If it is installed it must be removed before you will regain the lost space.

I'm not sure about the screen at boot that says EZ-bios initializing, and i'm at work right now so i can't check. It's maxblast 3, i had itinstalled on my first format, but when i realized i only had half my hd space. I tried another format to fix this problem, and thats when i lost even more space, this time i didn't install maxblast, i just ran the program from the cd. Any more ideas people? I am determined to fix this problem and I would love it if i had the help of the great people from the ocforums :p

[JTanczos]

Ide suggest trying it on a different computer and partitioning it from a working OS. Or even try partitioning it using a Windows ME boot disk with fdisk. Ive never seen a drive lose half the space after formating. Trying running scan disk on the drive. Dbl click my computer. Right click C and hit properties. Click tools then "Error Checking". Then check "Scan and try to fix bad sectors" or sometihng like that. See if the drives comes up with bad sectors.

Might have to try a low level format but those are kinda risky.

What brand name is it? You could try going to the manuf. website and download any testing programs they have. I know Western digital has a drive testing program. Maybe the drive is going bad.

JT

[ArTiFaX]

Ide suggest trying it on a different computer and partitioning it from a working OS. Or even try partitioning it using a Windows ME boot disk with fdisk. Ive never seen a drive lose half the space after formating. Trying running scan disk on the drive. Dbl click my computer. Right click C and hit properties. Click tools then "Error Checking". Then check "Scan and try to fix bad sectors" or sometihng like that. See if the drives comes up with bad sectors.

Might have to try a low level format but those are kinda risky.

What brand name is it? You could try going to the manuf. website and download any testing programs they have. I know Western digital has a drive testing program. Maybe the drive is going bad.

JT

hey JT unfortunately I don't have another computer to try the drive on. I am currently running "error checking" in windows, when it is done i will post back. Its an 80gb cicero drive.thanx again for the suggestions. Nothing came up on the error checking.

[Sjaak]

The drives firmware reports as 32GB...if it would be 80gb total, with 50 gb 'lost space' windows XP would surely recognize it as an 80gb one.

there is either something wrong with the drive, your bios or your windows xp install but you can pretty much rule out the latter since you already did a reinstall. Try booting from the XP cd, then delete all existing partitions. Reboot, then run setup again, and see how much free, unpartitioned space it sees.

[ArTiFaX]

The drives firmware reports as 32GB...if it would be 80gb total, with 50 gb 'lost space' windows XP would surely recognize it as an 80gb one.

there is either something wrong with the drive, your bios or your windows xp install but you can pretty much rule out the latter since you already did a reinstall. Try booting from the XP cd, then delete all existing partitions. Reboot, then run setup again, and see how much free, unpartitioned space it sees.

hey sjaak, i appreciate the help. I tried that about 10 times now (no joke) it says the same amount of space everytime. It must be a bios problem, or something wrong with the drive. I'm losing over 50% of my space, it really sucks :(

[Sjaak]

the only possible solution i see then is to put the drive in a different system, and see what it does then.


If its still bad it must be damaged, if not its your current setup (mobo / bios)

[ArTiFaX]

the only possible solution i see then is to put the drive in a different system, and see what it does then.


If its still bad it must be damaged, if not its your current setup (mobo / bios)

well, the only other computer i could TRY and put it in is an intel celeron 366mhz and the thing is SLOW AS MOLASSES! i don't even know if it would support the 80gb size of the drive anyhow. lol

[Ascii2]

First ArTiFaX mentions that he has a "hd size of 40gb's". Then he mentions that he has "an 80gb hd".

my hd size of 40gb's.

I have an 80gb hd

[Ascii2]

State the model and manufacturer of the hardisk.

[Ascii2]

ya, its the mobo in my sig. I was using a program called "maxblast 3" and it takes 6 hours to format the drive, is there a way i can quickly remove my partitions and reinstall win xp?
Write zeros to the entire disk and then use Maxblast to create partition.

[Ascii2]

Boot into windows XP setup. Go into Install XP option. When it asks you were you want to install there should be a list of partitions. Hit D to delete then hit L (I think). The parition should be gone. Should list the drive as unalocated space or something like that. Im not sure as I havent done it in a while. Select the 80 gig drive and tell it to quick format using NTFS.

It should partition 100% of the drive and format it in about 15 seconds.
100% of the drive would not be partitioned. Windows XP installation would partition 100% of drive space less the drive cache size.

[Ascii2]

ok, i just checked my bios and this is what i got: Base memory= 640k, Extended Memory= 523264k, and Total Memory= 524288k. Does this mean i need a bios update?No. Use CPU-Z (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php) in Windows to attain information about the BIOS.

[Ascii2]

you should look inside your comp and verify it says its an 80 gig HD... do you have brothers/sisters/kids people that may think that if they replaced your HD with half the space you wouldnt notice?I was also thinking that. Someone may have swapped the hard disk while ArTiFaX was not looking.

[Ascii2]

Anyways, write zeros to the entire disk and then Format using Maxblast 3. Then report back.

[matttaylor]

I've had this problem before. The only way to correct it was to low level format the drive, which did take almost six hours, and then set up the partition(s) to what i wanted. Even Fdisk couldn't help me. Make sure you have the newest version of maxblast and get started.

[ArTiFaX]

First ArTiFaX mentions that he has a "hd size of 40gb's". Then he mentions that he has "an 80gb hd".

Its an 80gb hard drive listing as a 40 gb one. Then i did another format/install of windows, and lost another 7-8gb's. It is a maxtor 6Y080L0.

[ArTiFaX]

Write zeros to the entire disk and then use Maxblast to create partition.

I originally used maxblast 3 to write zeros to the disc, and then created a 40gb partition. installed windows/all my drivers, then checked that ym space was only 39gb. So i thought i did something wrong, formatted again, reinstalled windows and all my drivers, and it went down to 31 gb's this time. I tried writing zeros to the drive twice, and got the same result.

[ArTiFaX]

Anyways, write zeros to the entire disk and then Format using Maxblast 3. Then report back.

Done that twice already, to no avail. :(

[ArTiFaX]

I've had this problem before. The only way to correct it was to low level format the drive, which did take almost six hours, and then set up the partition(s) to what i wanted. Even Fdisk couldn't help me. Make sure you have the newest version of maxblast and get started.

This may be one of the only things i havn't tried yet. How do i do a low level format? Is it just using the write zero(fill) with maxblast 3, because that took about 6 hours each time i did it, and it still didn't recognize my full drives capacity. :(

[matttaylor]

Try downloading DFT (drive fitness test) and run the full test. DFT is a small program that fits on a floppy. It will tell you if everything is ok or the drive is dying. It's causing you to many problems to be something simple, so verify that the drive is healthy before banging your head anymore.

[ArTiFaX]

Try downloading DFT (drive fitness test) and run the full test. DFT is a small program that fits on a floppy. It will tell you if everything is ok or the drive is dying. It's causing you to many problems to be something simple, so verify that the drive is healthy before banging your head anymore.

Thats a good idea, thanks for the suggestion, but its only for x86 based processors(do i have one of these)? I wa sjust about to try the test, and it said something about "all data will be lost" :-/ Is this going to erase everything on windows, or is it talking about the data on the floppy? sorry, i ain't too good with comps

[matttaylor]

yes you do. Also if your cpu is overclocked while you're doing the format, try dropping back to stock and then format and reinstall. Overclocks can cause some wierd things on installs and formats.

[matttaylor]

it's talking about the floppy, if youre installing it to the floppy.

[ArTiFaX]

yes you do. Also if your cpu is overclocked while you're doing the format, try dropping back to stock and then format and reinstall. Overclocks can cause some wierd things on installs and formats.

ok,thanks again. I will give it a shot and post back with my results.

[ArTiFaX]

ok, It recognized my drive at 33.4gb's. It then asked me to enter my hard drives seial number, but i didn't have it handy, so i exited. Do i need to enter my serial number in order to get a full out scan?

[ArTiFaX]

any other suggestions before i throw this hd out?

[ArTiFaX]

any other suggestions before i burn this hd to hell and back?

[xlafalotx]

I would suggest entering the serial code if you haven't. Maybe you have.

And maybe I'm being way to obvious here.


This is my first post and I must say, you guys here at ocforums are really helpful and try to fix everyone's problems. I applaud you all. :thup:

[ArTiFaX]

we sure are a great bunch of people :) WELCOME TO THE FORUMS! we are always happy to see new members. Too bad nobody from the group could help me solve my problem? ah well, they tried and thats all that matters. To be completely honest tho, i havn't seen too many problems that never got solved on this forums. I am one of a few i believe.

[JTanczos]

100% of the drive would not be partitioned. Windows XP installation would partition 100% of drive space less the drive cache size.
:rolleyes:

Well for all purposes its close to 100% and it seems the space used for the FAT is trivial. That is until you loose 50+ gig on a terrabyte raid array. And its best to reply to all posts in one reply. Otherwise it looks like you are farming posts to get to 100.


Important drive information (servo, sector layout, and defect management, etc.) is stored in the low-level format at the factory. This information is designed to last the life of the drive and therefore it is not possible to low level the drive outside the factory. Although some drive manufactures and BIOS provided so-called "low level format utilities", they actually perform a write-read verify of the drive’s user data sectors, and do not actually perform a low-level format. In the event of a corrupted master boot record or boot block virus, use FDISK /MBR command to restore the master boot record. If you need to low level format your hard drive then check the drive manufacturer and download such an utility from its website. Every drive manufacturer provides just such a utility. Below is a list of hard drive manufacturers with a links to low level format utilities.

Note: If normal (high level) hard disk formatting is required, you can use DOS FDISK command to first erase and create partitions and then use FORMAT. It is also a good idea when you hard disk becomes inaccessible to see if it is just the system files that are corrupted. Most of the time, it is the case. SYS will do the job of replacing system files. Therefore, low level format is always of LAST RESORT when you encounter HDD problems.

You are going to have to get the low level format program from your drives manuf website and be sure to read EVERYTHING and understand it before trying it. This is definitly one of those things that if you screw up the drive could be shot.


*edit* Could it just be the MBR??
Go into the Recovery console and type help. Then look for a command like fixmbr. See if that helps first. If not then I still think the Low level format is the last resort.

JT

[ArTiFaX]

ok, I will give that a shot. Thanx for all your help JT, and good luck in the future with whatever you do!