Discrepancies in reported HDD Size

Hi All,
I recently purchased a new hdd (still factory sealed) for a laptop I am rebuilding
HDD : Samsung HM160HC 160GB (reported using SIW: 137GB, Everest: 127GB)
Laptop : Acer Extensa 2300 (Extensa 2303WLM)
O/S: XP Home SP3

The hdd has 3 partitions
c: 30349mb e: 71068mb f: 51207mb Total: 149GB (reported using Everest)

When I first installed the drive using Acronis to partition the drive & clone the Seagate 40gb drive that I installed when I bought the laptop, it only showed as 149GB when I got in to Disk manager 128GB, it actually changed after I deleted the 3rd partition & re-enabled it, back to 149GB?

Drive F has inconsistancies which requires running Check Disc every few days and I have had to re-image c drive a couple of times for some reason (Shows as no O/S installed or it hangs & will not boot at all)

After Running ES-Tool (Samsung Utility) hdd shows
Current size 131071MB
Native size 152627Mb
I recovered the disk to Native size but still shows as previous in Everest & SIW
Samsung as other manufacturers report 1GB as 1000Mb, ie: 160Gb = 160,000MB, using the windows standard of 1 = 1024, the native size is still down, 160 = 156.25, but the native size is correct for the 149GB reported

Any help would be appreciated
Jac

 

The BIOS might have a size limitation of 150MB. You could try upgrading the BIOS, but a lot of system manufacturer's are not willing to include HDD maximum size upgrades.

6-7GB, me, I wouldn't worry about it. If you get down to that amount of space left Windows won't work very well anyway.

Matt

 

Thanks Matt,
Bios is latest available from Acer so this maybe the cause, even though Samsungs ES-Tool will read the drive at 152627mb instead of their claimed 160000mb?
I'm running the c partition for boot & essential programs, e for My Docs & the f for everything else, so I should have time to do an upgrade before it gets to bad
Thanks for the help
Jac

 

Hi jacrabbit,

The way the mfg. measures the drive size, Microsoft measures it differently. I posted about why this is. No matter what size the mfg. says the drive is, MS will always report it as being smaller.

 

Hi JP

I know microsoft measures hdd differently to manufacuters,(read previous).
I spoke to my supplier (comp Store) yesterday and they suggested running 3 partions was not a good Idea!? especially on a laptop? so I went home, backed up the info on the 2 secondary partitions & then deleted them, & I lost 21GB?????? after wiping the drive & re-partitioning the drive in to 2 drives the 2nd as logical; I re-imaged my c drive, I'm yet to see the end results, apart from; using acronis I regained the lost 21GB?

Anyway I appreciate all feedback to my posts & yours is welcome.

Regards Jac

 

Hi jacrabbit,

OK, I'm really curious as to why having 3 partitions wasn't a good idea??? Did they give an explanation?

 

You have made the partitions with Acronis, right [wrong, see below]? I wonder if it could be different if you had made the partitions with the Samsung tool? Did you image/backup the old HDD and "restore" it on the new one?

Are there any "hidden" partitions? Some utilities can see hidden partitions, some can't.

Now I see

Acronis may not have been able to clone it to the full size of the drive. Usually, I expect clones to work well, but I don't question their size settings.

If you are hot to find a reason, I suggest you ask Acronis about the size discrepancy (go to their website and check the FAQs). If you didn't clone, that is, you used a Samsung or Windows system to make the partitions, then install Windows afresh, you may have a different resullt. If you use a cloning utility, I wouldn't complain if there are a few discrepancies.

Number of partitions on a laptop HDD...I haven't tested. I would agree with the other suggestions.

Matt

 

Ok I will try and get a qualifying answer to the question!
I've run multiple partitions (generally 3) for ages & on drives from 80 to 200gb+ without problems, I'm not a fan of the manufacturer of my HDD for the laptop, I have a preference for Seagate, only problem I have had was when I copped a near by lightning strike, which did damage to some of the Case, but mostly the hdd, luckily I had backups, but you by what you need when you need it, especially when you are in a hurry
A question to both Pete & JP,
"When setting up a drive how many of the partitions installed should or could you set as primary? and can this cause a problem if all partitions are set that way? "
Regards Jac

 

Hi Matt,
I've now re-done the drive as 2 partitions, and set it up running Win7, again I used Acronis to partition the drive & it reads as 149GB, my dilemma still seems to be the claimed to the actual, using ES-Tool (Samsung) the native size? (must google that) 152627MB is not 160000MB as claimed (See#1), on the laptop in Windows XP it reads in disk management as 128GB unless I set up the partitions using Acronis which some how adds in the missing 21GB that XP won't?
When I first set up (Partitioned) the 160GB? I cloned the 40Gb to it using Acronis, as I was copying from a seagate drive & I have had minimal dramas using it, after I ran updates and made sure that all programs I wanted where installed at the time, I then copied the Image, since that first image, I have re-copied the Image as I do more installs, so I have an up to date Image.
I have followed this procedure numerous times when setting up the computers I have in the house and until I purchased this HDD & another Samsung (750Gb Sata) I haven't had dramas.
As for the ES-Tool, yes it will allow me to partition the drive but not clone as the Seagate version of Acronis will, and Acronis will want to delete & reset the partitions anyway, so a no win on that score?
Regards Jac