(I swear I just posted this...but it didn't take the first time )

My 180 GB drive is my slave. It is recognized as the full size after SP1 was installed and some piece of software from the manufacturer. Now I want to reformat my master. I want the 180 to act as a backup during the reformat. I realize it won't recognize 180 GB upon fresh install...so I will only back up under 120 GB. Will my 180 GB drive with <120 GB on it be perfectly recognized after a format? I don't want my drive to hide some data in a sector that will be hidden to a fresh install of Win XP before SP1 will be added. Any info?

Thanks.

That's a toughie. Being retired I haven't actually gotten to work with any drives over 120gb yet. That said, I would consider it unlikely the drive would be recognized if you had to install special software to make it recognized by Windows the first time. However, you didn't say what the software was. If the software was a 'BIOS overlay', (a 'trick' to make systems recognize disks that are beyond what was supported when it was built), that overlay is on the drive, and gets loaded at bootup automatically. If THIS is the case, then Windows will recognize the drive.

I hope I've been clear and helpful.

Hmm

The drive was recognized right away by Win XP. It was just recognized as 120 GB only (large hard drive limit). I did make the software adjustments to recognize the full 180. So will all my data be on the 120 that Win XP will natively recognize?

Thanks.

As long as you don't install to the drive, and you make the 'adjustment' as you put it so Windows can recognize the full size before you do anything to the drive, it shouldn't change/delete/or remove anything, if that's what you're asking.