Hard Drive Problem

[ULTl2AMAN]

I'm sorry if this is a simple problem but after going to friends and continually searching the internet, I still don't have a solution to my problem. If anyone could help me out on this, I'd be really grateful.

A while ago my friend reformatted my computer for me because it kept bugging out on me (he called it a hard format and had to d/l something from this site http://www.hgst.com). Since that time I've been missing a lot of space from my hard drive (this is the model http://www.hgst.com/hdd/desk/ds60gxp.htm and i run windows xp). The sticker on the hard drive says it has a capacity of 41 gigs, yet I'm only getting 31 gigs out of it. I realize that there should be some space missing, so maybe it's normal (in which case someone could just tell me and I'll be on my way), but it seems to me that missing 1/4 of your hard drive is a little much. I've tried reformatting the normal way and setup tells me my hard drive is only 338xx MB. Is there any way in which I can get some more space out of my hard drive?

 

[rezurrectme]

what is your motherboard? Can you list your complete specs? Some motherboards cannot handle larger drives in which case, they use only that portion of hard drive that they could support. Flashing the Motherboard will the latest BIOS is the solution other than getting a new motherboard. In any case, pls post your complete specs so that more learned users and geeks can have a say. My two cents worth.

 

[ULTl2AMAN]

Thanks for responding

These are the specs my bro gave me (he built it)

Asus K7M Rev 1.04
550 athlon slot A
256 pc100 sdram
40 gig western digital hd
ata66
tnt2 ultra
vid card
32megs

 

[rezurrectme]

The first thing to try is flashing the BIOS with latest release from ASUS. Download the latest bios from their website. Also, here is a link to the manual for this mobo, it should help you http://www.asus.com/pub/asus/mb/slota/k7m/k7m-104.pdf

The manual will explain how to flash your bios.

 

[ekÆsine]

right click on the drive in my computer and tell me what the total disk space is. where did you see "338xx MB"?

also click start button> run and type "diskmgmt.msc" into run box. if you see unallocated space it means you have space available for partitioning and formatting.

 

[ULTl2AMAN]

The x's in "338xx MB" are just variables because I could not remember the exact number. I saw this number in windows setup when the computer was being reformatted.

right-clicking My Computer shows that I have a capacity of 31.4 GB.

Running "diskmgmt.msc" shows that I have dont have any unallocated space. Does it matter if the file system is NTFS or FATsomething? Mines is NTFS.

 

[ULTl2AMAN]

So yeh I flashed my bios the other day, but it didn't work. Are there any other probably solutions for this problem?

 

[Imaxle]

bad news, I think your friend did a low level format. For those of you who don't know what that means, that means: Your harddrive is made up of clusters, sectors, and tracks. Each of these hold a certian amount information. When you format your HD, all the data is destroyed. When you low-level format it goes in and destroys all the clusters, tracks, and sectors. If you don't put it back correctly you will lose HD space.

In short your friend low-leveled formatted you and couldn't put it back to where it was.

Imaxle