Computer not recognizing full size of harddrive

I just purchased a new Seagate 250gb harddrive and installed it into my computer, installed windows, everthing went smoothly enough but when I went into My Computer it tells me that my harddrive is only 127gb. The windows installation disk I have is old but not so old that it doesn't have service pack 1. I updated it to service pack 3 still no go.

I checked the jumper in the back, it is on the correct position. I realize that the harddrive may not actually have exactly 250gb like the sellers description suggests because of a different counting system but to go from 250 to 127, that really does not seem like a small discrepency in counting. I used the NTFS file system. I have reinstalled windows like 3 times now. I have followed all the advice that I have found (and can understand). I checked on BIOS to see what it was reporting and it says that the max capacity is 65gb.


The gateway website says that the listing there is for looks only and it shouldn't effect anything, but I read on a different site that whatever the BIOS reads the computer reads, and if I exceed the limits set by BIOS it will cause the data to become corrupt. There is an update for BIOS for my particular motherboard but I have read quite a few horror stories about updating and then having a computer that is worthless. Is there anything that I can do before having to attempt something that could potentially ruin my system? All of your help is greatly appretiated


I have a old Gateway Performance 550 with an intel 3 550mhz proccessor.
I am running Windows XP home edition.
The harddrive is Seagate 250gb 7200.10 IDE ATA

If you need anymore information just let me know

 

Concerning LBA

Thanks for the warm welcome and info.

My LBA states that it is enabled; however, I cannot find information to guide me as to how to determine if the LBA supports the 48-bit. Direction would be appreciated.

Also, I re-installed windows and deleted the partition it was on. I re-made a new partition, but it would not allow me to use the full unallocated gigabytes. The beginning installation of windows says I only have 131 on the harddrive-and that was at the point that I had deleted the first partition created, so I was thinking the full amount would have shown.

Any instruction here, as to how to create the second partition, without causing harm/damage, would be greatly appreciated. I do plan on getting a bios upgrade, as one is reported to be available. Still afraid to use it after reading many stories of ruined systems after installing.

What is your take/idea regarding bios upgrades? And again, many thanks.

 

Hi Tasha

This is not really a problem!

Pete's first advice to create a second partition is the best solution even if the Bios did support the drive.

I would never dedicate the entire capacity of a drive to Windows.

Virus's and malware can affect Windows and more easily lead to data loss. Something can happen to the booting of Windows.

Create the 2nd drive and keep Photos, Downloads and other data there away from the operating system. After it is created you can move the My Documents folder there also. A speed tweak would be to move the Windows Swap file (pagefile.sys) to the 2nd drive.

Other benifits, faster defrag of the OS (Windows) drive. Smaller Windows drive for backing up. Vius scanning the OS would be much faster.

You can use a drive imaging program and image to the other drive then use CD burning via Windows to copy to CD but leave the image on the drive. Allowing fast restore of the OS drive if it gets blown.

Lets say you wished to upgrade c: by reformating and re-installing windows or going to another OS. Then you could put all you want to save on the second drive while doing this then quickly back when ready.

The above could be done with CD/DVD's but doing it this way is much less hassle.

I can think of no good reason not to split the drive.

With a drive this size I would actually only dedicate 60g to C: for windows and split the rest of the space equally into 3 drives. D: E: F: and deicate each for a dedicated use.

Mike