Loaded XP and hard drive only show 130G instead of 500G

miloman33 · External Since: Nov 03, 2009 Posts: 1

My hard drive crashed and I had to purchase a new hard drive. I bought a
500G drive, but after loading XP it only show 130G. How do I get XP to see
the full 500G?

Mark Adams · External Since: Jan 26, 2009 Posts: 72

"miloman33" wrote:

> My hard drive crashed and I had to purchase a new hard drive. I bought a
> 500G drive, but after loading XP it only show 130G. How do I get XP to see
> the full 500G?

The easiest way is to install all of the XP service packs, then use Disk
Management to create a partition from the unallocated space and then format
it NTFS. You'll have a second partition D:

If you want all one partition, the easiest way would be to reformat the
drive NTFS using the formatting tools supplied by the maker of the hard drive
and install XP again without using the XP disk to delete the partition; just
install it on the partition the drive tools created. When you install the
Service Packs, XP will recognize the whole drive.

Kemptonian · External Since: Nov 03, 2009 Posts: 1

"miloman33" wrote:

> My hard drive crashed and I had to purchase a new hard drive. I bought a
> 500G drive, but after loading XP it only show 130G. How do I get XP to see
> the full 500G?

Mark brings up some valid points just something else to check is go to
computer management in admin tools under control panel and using disk
management tool check is the whole drive there i.e Disk0 should give you a
size is this 500Gb or not? If not there is a whole range of questions if yes
just create another partition and carry on I find it's better having two
partitions in any case - one for OS and progs and the other for all my
docs/data/videos/game data/music etc... as if you have to reload for whatever
reason you have your docs safe and saves you time in the long run.

Hope this helps.

Bob I · External Since: Jun 14, 2004 Posts: 8885

How to enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing support for ATAPI disk
drives in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303013

miloman33 wrote:

> My hard drive crashed and I had to purchase a new hard drive. I bought a
> 500G drive, but after loading XP it only show 130G. How do I get XP to see
> the full 500G?

John John - MVP · External Since: Mar 06, 2009 Posts: 24

You need to install at least Service Pack 1 (SP1), you will then be able
to use the Disk Management tool (diskmgmt.msc) to create a new partition
out of the unallocated space.

If you want to install Windows XP on one single large partition
encompassing the whole disk you need to use an XP install CD that
includes SP1 or better.

John

miloman33 wrote:
> My hard drive crashed and I had to purchase a new hard drive. I bought a
> 500G drive, but after loading XP it only show 130G. How do I get XP to see
> the full 500G?

John John - MVP · External Since: Mar 06, 2009 Posts: 24

Mark Adams wrote:

> If you want all one partition, the easiest way would be to reformat the
> drive NTFS using the formatting tools supplied by the maker of the hard drive
> and install XP again without using the XP disk to delete the partition; just
> install it on the partition the drive tools created. When you install the
> Service Packs, XP will recognize the whole drive.

Are you sure about this? I haven't tried this with XP but as I
understand it unless the Windows XP installation CD includes SP1 or
better the disk will still be lopped off at 137GB (digital) (or 127.99GB
binary) and the remainder of the disk will be unallocated.

John

Mark Adams · External Since: Jan 26, 2009 Posts: 72

"John John - MVP" wrote:

> Mark Adams wrote:
>
> > If you want all one partition, the easiest way would be to reformat the
> > drive NTFS using the formatting tools supplied by the maker of the hard drive
> > and install XP again without using the XP disk to delete the partition; just
> > install it on the partition the drive tools created. When you install the
> > Service Packs, XP will recognize the whole drive.
>
> Are you sure about this? I haven't tried this with XP but as I
> understand it unless the Windows XP installation CD includes SP1 or
> better the disk will still be lopped off at 137GB (digital) (or 127.99GB
> binary) and the remainder of the disk will be unallocated.
>
> John
> .
>

XP Gold can't create or recognize partitions larger than 137 GB. But it will
install on a larger partition; it just won't recognize all of it until
updated with Service Packs.