500gb drive displayed as 128gb on Optiplex GX270

[hulabear]

Hello:

I have installed a Western Digital 500gb internal hard drive as a secondary in my Dell

Optiplex GX270 tower. It shows up on MY COMPUTER as only 127gb total space. I am

running Windows 2000 with all updates. How can I get the operating system to use

and display the entire 500gb on this drive? Thanks!

----HulaBear

[Synapse]

Have a look at this article, although I am not 100% sure it applies as SP4 should include it.

 

48-Bit LBA Support for ATAPI Disk Drives in Windows 2000

 

The other possibility is your BIOS, if you have an older motherboard it may not be able to see the full 500GB. Check with the board manufacturers website for any updates to fix it.

[hulabear]

Howdy! I tried that link earlier, but no joy. How can I check the make/model of my motherboard? Where

do I go for a BIOS update and how is that done? Thanks!

---HulaBear

[Synapse]

Go to the Dell website, and then to Service and Support, use your Dell service tag number to pick out all of the updates for your machine.

 

Hopefully there will be BIOS info there. If you get stuck post your service tag here and someone should be able to check for you.

[TerrryBatDell]

Hulabear

 

That model of system should be able to detect and use 500gb drives fine. I would check the drive in the system bios (boot the system and tap F2) and see what the drive was detected there. If it detected as a 500gb drive then the drive was likely preformated by the manufacturer.

[hulabear]

Hello:

I should add that this 500gb Western Digital drive was once used as secondary storage in a Dell Optiplex

GX260 without any problems (NTFS format); had some problems with that system (would not recognize

that it had any hard drives, though booting with Knoppix rescue CD allowed me to use both drives), so

decided to use the 500gb drive in the Dell Optiplex GX270. I will try the suggestions in the last 2 posts

and see if that helps. Thanks!

---HulaBear

[hulabear]

OK, I have downloaded and installed the latest BIOS (version A07 to replace A06) for the GX270.

Clicked F2 and found that the secondary drive now shows 500gb capacity. MY COMPUTER still

shows only 127gb. Read the microsoft support :

 

To enable 48-bit LBA large-disk support in the registry:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
   
2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters
   
3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value: Value name: EnableBigLba
   Data type: REG_DWORD
   Value data: 0x1
   
4. Quit Registry Editor.
   

 

Have followed those directions and reformatted the 500gb drive; still only shows 127gb. Now what?

[hulabear]

PS: Have restarted the GX270 a few times and have found that when regedit

Value name: EnableBigLba

Data type: REG_DWORD

Value data: 0x1

 

then the 500gb drive shows on MY COMPUTER without attributes & can't be formatted or accessed.

 

When regedit

Value name: EnableBigLba

Data type: REG_DWORD

Value data: 0x0

 

the 500gb drive shows on MY COMPUTER as 127gb and can be formatted.

[Dalo Harkin]

Have you looked in Disk Management that the second drive is actually not partitioned, it will show some of the disk as BLUE and some as BLACK. If that is the case then you need to reformat and then activate the disk

[hulabear]

Dalo Harkin:

Hello. Already tried doing a reformat (twice) and disk management still shows that drive as 128gb.

Please note that an external 500gb drive is correctly shown as being 465gb. I suppose that I could

pop the internal 500gb drive into an external housing, but I'd rather not waste money on that if I

can get it working properly in the tower; this drive showed the correct size in the Dell Optiplex GX260

when I booted using the Knoppix rescue CD and could be accessed. What now? Thanks!

---HulaBear

[Dalo Harkin]

Try http://support.microsoft.com/defau [...] -us;305098

 

Or read below:

 

To enable 48-bit LBA large-disk support in the registry:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).

2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\Parameters

3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:

Value name: EnableBigLba

Data type: REG_DWORD

Value data: 0x1

4. Quit Registry Editor.

 

Restart the PC.

[Jelly Bean]

This is an older computer and older operating system.

 

This to me often shows the computer is not capable of running a larger hard drive such as a 500 gig as a main drive.

 

EXAMPLES:

 

I usaly advise when an origonal hard drive upon purchase is 40 gig I say max upgrade is around 120 gig.

 

If origonal hard drive was lets say 120 gig I would say average max drive to be fitted would be 250 gig..

 

I did a search on your computer and the origonal HDD was 40 gig,that your computer could replace its HDD upto 120 gig HDDs.But I personaly would say upto a 250 gig.

 

I have found no evidence were it states this older computer can run a 500 gig hard drive if you can point me to were you found this information I could take a read.

 

Also 32 bit OS such as XP often has trouble reconising a larger HDD such as 500 gig.

 

I would test the HDD in the external case just to prove it is not a fault with the hard drive.If the HDD shows full 500 gig then the HDD is not at fault.

 

My sugestion here is to split the drive into two seprate partitions,this then would possibly cure the low gig reading.

 

Did you try deleteing the partition during install and increase the size?

 

Reading your post this HDD was removed from a computer that had issues.There for test it in the external case.

[Dalo Harkin]

Regardless of the OS or hardware, either a BIOS update or a windows update will allow the use of more modern drives. But as Jelly has said windows 2000 is very dated.

 

Worst case screnario is that you install an add in PCI card that can handle the additional IDE/SATA drives (providing they supply windows 2000 drivers)

[hulabear]

Greetings! Thanks for the feedback. Dalo: I tried the regedit instructions you linked to earlier without

luck. Jelly Bean: This 500gb drive was used as secondary storage on a Dell Optiplex GX260 and was

completely available, so don't think that the age of the computer is the issue. However, that machine

was running Windows XP with all service packs and updates. I don't have the system restore discs for

the Optiplex GX270 that's using Windows 2000, so have been hesitant to upgrade to Windows XP.

Does anyone know of some good freeware that will image the primary drive so that it can be restored

if the upgrade to Windows XP goes wrong? I have an external drive which could be used as backup.

I appreciate the assistance. 'Bye!

---HulaBear

[Dalo Harkin]

This problem normally happens when an older OS partitions or formats the drive not a newer one.

 

If it was recognised as 500GB on the XP system then it is ONLY the OS that is causing the issue, as for imaging software Acronis is highly recommended

[Jelly Bean]

Thankyou Dalo.Thats what I was trying to say,the older OS is possible issue.

 

I was not saying upgrade to XP I was only giving an example hularbear.....Your using an older OS and it is possible it refuses to reconise the larger HDD.

[Synapse]

I agree too, on both counts. You may not have a choice, mixing older and newer technology sometimes just will not work. XP is your best option.

 

I give another vote for Acronis as a commercial product. Easeus Disk Copy is a great freeware tool.

 

EASEUS Disk Copy: Free Disk Copy, Disk Clone, Partition Copy Software. Sector by Sector for hard drive backup freeware.

 

I'd run a clone of a drive and then test it before wiping the original. Makes sure there are no problems and you are sure you have followed the procedure correctly.

[Dalo Harkin]

Hulabear just to double check this 500GB drive is SATA yes?

[hulabear]

The drive is WD5000AAJB-00YRA0 Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 7200RPM ATA-100 IDE 8MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive Mfr P/N WD5000AAJB-00YRA0 .

[Dalo Harkin]

That's your issue ATA 100 can only recognise up to 137GB (as can the controllers)

ATA 133 can recognise much more -

 

You need to use an ATA 133 controller and cable (take it your optical drive is connected via a 133?) and it 'should' pick it up as 500GB

If you do not have one onboard then buy an add in PCI card and attach it to that.

Edited October 11, 2010 by Dalo Harkin

[hulabear]

Dalo Harkin:

Hmmm . . . As previously noted this 500gb drive was successfully used in a Dell Optiplex GX260; that

PC was bought from a techie at work (has since moved away to unknown location) who installed the

500gb hard drive as a secondary. If he put in an ATA 133 controller and cable that later went bad,

would that explain why that system no longer detects its primary & secondary hard drives at boot?

I can access those drives in the GX260 if I boot from an Ubuntu Lucid Lynx CD (or other rescue disk).

Have even been able to copy files from the primary drive, but the secondary 500gb hard drive is not

detected (even though that drive is found when installed in the GC270). When I look in the Device

Manager on the GX270 under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers I see the following entries:

 

Intel® 8280 1EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers

Intel® 8280 1EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers

Primary IDE Channel

Secondary IDE Channel

 

How do I determine if the system is using an ATA 100 controller or an ATA 133 controller? Thanks!

 

------HulaBear

[Dalo Harkin]

Have you looked inside the system at the drive itself?

There could be an issue with the controller as thats not uncommon, this controller came on MOBOs but was also available as an add in card. So is the HDD attached to the MOBO or an add in card?

 

Are there any adapters on the back of the drive too? as SCSI drives (hotswap ones) were often converted over to IDE

[RandyL]

2000 is old so the computer is old too. I'm thinking that even with sp3 or sp4 installed the mobo and bios just won't recognize it. Most did not support it back then.

 

Just because the other computer which was newer and had a newer OS saw the full size does not mean this relic will ever see it. Even if it did had the proper mobo and the sp updates (possibly a regedit too) it will in my opinion never see more than 137Gb.

 

Honestly, write it off or get newer.

[Jelly Bean]

I agree with RandyL,wich is what I was trying to say earlier in the thread................

[Dalo Harkin]

I don't agree.

 

Bear in mind that companies still use NT4 and use older drives than these.

Its not the OS thats causing the issue, its the OS support for it

 

Much like XP does not natively support SATA, the drivers need loading at the F6 stage, this is no different whatsoever