160gig HD. can't partition above 31.2gig

[netfisher]

Hi to you good folks..firstly can I say I'm not very technically minded so if anyone can help will you please keep it simple..thankyou...... running XP pro. just put a second hard drive in as a slave for storage...went to disk management..storage and tried to make a single partition (fat32) but it only gave me 31.2gig. Can anyone please tell me how to patition and format to the full 160gig or as close as possible. A friend said I need to use NTFS but I dont have a clue what he's on about,,,niether does he I don't think.....many thanks for any help offered... Andy. ps. is there a freeware prog. that might do it. thankyou again...Andy

[nameless1der]

Hello Andy. I saw this and was intrigued. I had to join to reply.

I don't know what operating system (OS) you are running or if you had upgraded from a previous OS but I will bet that it is not a problem with FAT 32. FAT 32 will theoretically support hard drives up to 2 terabytes. These are not even made yet. Still, I would recommend upgrading to NTFS if your OS supports it.

Now, why won't your pc recognize the 160 GB hard drive. It is likely your BIOS. In order for FAT 32 to create a partition larger than 32,XXX MB (32 GB), it must use 64 sectors per cluster. Your BIOS may only support up to 32 sectors per cluster which ends at 32,768 MB. Once you subtract the recycle bin and page file reserves, you might end up with the 31.2GB as you have.

Short of upgrading your BIOS (assuming it's flashable), you are left with a 32 GB limit for your partitions. I wouldn't be upset if I had a 32 GB hard drive.
You may be able to create logical drives by going to Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Disk Management.
Flashing the BIOS is risky. I wouldn't attempt it unless I was absolutely sure of what I was doing. Don't forget to BACKUP if you try.

Good luck.

Hi to you good folks..firstly can I say I'm not very technically minded so if anyone can help will you please keep it simple..thankyou...... running XP pro. just put a second hard drive in as a slave for storage...went to disk management..storage and tried to make a single partition (fat32) but it only gave me 31.2gig. Can anyone please tell me how to patition and format to the full 160gig or as close as possible. A friend said I need to use NTFS but I dont have a clue what he's on about,,,niether does he I don't think.....many thanks for any help offered... Andy. ps. is there a freeware prog. that might do it. thankyou again...Andy

[DMR]

netfisher,

Check the jumpers on the drive itself. Many larger drives have a "32GB clip" setting which forces the drive to report itself as being only 32G in size to accomodate the 32G limit present in some BIOSes. If you know that your BIOS can handle drives larger than 32G, set the clip jumper to "off". Check your drive's documentation if the jumper settings aren't printed directly on the drive.

[netfisher]

Thanks very much so far guys. Yes the operating system was upgraded from ME. Not to sure what this NTFS is, how do I try to upgrade to it, is it risky or dificult. Yes I will remove the drive and have another look at the jumpers to see if there's a 32gig clip. Thanks once again....Andy

[Catweazle]

Start over, is your best shot. Remove the existing partition(s) and create new ones using NTFS file system. Windows XP won't allow you to create FAT32 partitions any larger than 32Gb.

Start -> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management.

(There's quicker ways to get there but that'll do!)

Click on the 'Disk Management' section, and you can perform the job from there. Use the 'Help' function for Instructions to Remove the partition, create a new partition, and to Format it ready for use.

[DMR]

Windows XP won't allow you to create FAT32 partitions any larger than 32Gb.

Right- I forgot about that, but it is true.

netfisher,

There you have it- the 3 places where you could hit the 32G limit are:

1. The BIOS
2. The 32G clip on the drive
3. The fact that XP won't create a FAT32 partition >32G. XP can handle FAT32 partitions >32G, it just won't let you create them (the max size of a FAT32 partition is 2TB).

Some of the differences between the FAT32 and NTFS filesystems are outlined here.

[netfisher]

OK Guys....a huge thankyou. I'm prety sure I'll get it sorted out now......Andy