[teh_moleman]

I'm really needing to reformat and reinstall Windows XP. I have 2 hard drives, a 60 GB one that's partitioned into 10 and 50 GB, then a 200 GB one that's for storage. Windows is installed in the 10 GB partition.

However, my main concern is about something that happened to a friend who had the same setup that I do. When he was reinstalling, Windows did not recognize the bigger hard drive right away. When it finally did, he got the message "this hard drive has been wiped of all data and is ready to use" So he lost over 100 GB of his personal files. And of course, after that it still only allowed a maximum of 137 GB, so he had to reformat that hard drive again to get back to the maximum amount.

So now I'm in the same position. My 200 GB hard drive is more than half full, and I need to reformat. So did my friend just do something totally wrong? or is that like a common problem when reinstalling Windows with 2 hard drives present?

We both use Windows XP Pro w/ SP1. SP1 is supposed to have full support for larger hard drives, so I don't see why these problems would happen.

I have to do this this weekend, cause after that I'll be going back to a dial up net connection which will make updates a nightmare.

Thanks in advance for any advice

[bake15]

i've never had any problems like that.
but if your a bit worried about doing it just unplug the drive when you reformat.

[Yousaif]

I have a Maxtor 250GB drive that was originally recognized as only 137GB. I had to run the Maxblast4 utility from a bootable CD for it to recognize the correct size. I would imagine that the problem your friend had was that he didn't run the utility, so the machine couldn't recognize the correct size of the drive.

Since yours is a slave drive, disconnect it until you have Windows installed and running. Then follow the instructions here: http://maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor...&downloadID=57 if you have a Maxtor drive. If it is a different brand then you'll have to look it up on that mfrs web site.

-Yousaif

[Tipstaff]

In your friends case it could have been an initial problem with Windows recognizing the drive. I've had instances of this happening when someone had formated/created the partition as a Volume, rather than a standard partition.

Here's what I recommend: Unplug the drive you won't be installing your OS onto. This is always a recommended habit. This way there is only 1 drive that Windows can install to, and reduces the likelyhood of something like you mentioned happening. After you install XP you would then change the drive letter for all your optical drives (say from E to F), shutdown the PC, then plug back in your other drive.

Also, not only that, but unplug any memory card readers too. If you don't you might find that your memory card readers will be labeled C to whatever, and your hard drive would be the next letter. I've had this happen specifically on systems that use an SATA controller.

Again, unplug the other hard drive before you install XP. That will save you a lot of hassle.

-Tip

[Dyre Straits]

I have one computer that has 4 Hard drives on it and two CD device drives. For some inexplicable reason, the E drive sometimes fails to be properly recognized on a first boot. If I try to access that drive, Windows says it's ready to format. Nothing doing! No way! No How!

What I do is simply reboot again and, voila! the drive is recognized and everything's available again.

But, YES, to the above suggestions to unplug any drive that is not the one you wish to install Windows on.

[teh_moleman]

Alright, guess I'll have to try that then.

BTW, the 200 GB hard drive is a Seagate Barracuda drive.

But what if after Windows is reinstalled and running, I plug the other hard drive back in and then Windows makes it's max size 137 GB instead of the full 186? That's what happened when I first installed this hard drive. It was set to 137, so Windows forced me to reformat it again to get to the full amount.

I know I'm being really paranoid about this, but it's almost 100 gigs of data at risk here. My friend, who now has an empty hard drive as a result of all this, offered to keep some of my files, or I could get 100 cd's to make backups of it all. But the whole point of me getting a new hard drive, making partitions and all that stuff was to avoid having to worry about all this stuff.

Thanks for the help so far

[PangingJr]

Windows XP SP1 includes 48-bit LBA support for ATAPI disk drives. With this support, you can use HDDs that are larger than 128 GB (in binary measure or 137 decimal).
By default, support is enabled in XP SP1. also, by default, the original release version of Windows XP Home Edition and of Windows XP Professional do not have 48-bit LBA support. see more info in this article - http://support.microsoft.com/default...en-us%3B303013

if you have to install Windows XP first and then install the SP1 afterwards, then you'll need to disconnect the 200 GB HDD from the system before you install the XP.

the drive letter C of Windows partition problem that occurs after the Windows installation can still be found on a one HDD system, this problem is depend on HDD/partition configurations and the Windows setup program...

if only one Primary partition... which's the partition that previously contains the XP,
in most system and typically, this partition is the first partition on the main HDD
and the rest of all the partitions available in the HDDs are the Extended partitions (and Logical partitions.) then, you most likely won't have drive letter C problem after the Windows installation. But if more than one Primary partitions exists and no matter where they are located on the HDDs, then the problem about the drive C may be occurred.

there are some steps that you can do to make sure that "every time" you install Windows you'll get drive C for your XP partition. in some cases, the open your computer case and remove/disconnect the other HDDs methods is the 2nd option and sometimes cannot be used as i mention eariler that the problem can be occurred on a one HDD system.
i'll have to continue on this part later, i don't know how to make it in a short message because of my english and probadly causing some confusions. or make it sounds so hard for you to do it when it's actually very easy to be done and without having to open your computer case at all. later.

about HDD partitions types...
there are three kinds of partitions... Primary, Extended, and Logical.

Primary and Extended partitions are the main disk divisions,
one hard disk may contain up to four primary partitions,
or three primary partitions and one extended partition.
the extended partition can then be further divided into any number of logical partitions.

[>GSXR<mrbusa]

Originally Posted by teh_moleman

Alright, guess I'll have to try that then.

BTW, the 200 GB hard drive is a Seagate Barracuda drive.

But what if after Windows is reinstalled and running, I plug the other hard drive back in and then Windows makes it's max size 137 GB instead of the full 186? That's what happened when I first installed this hard drive. It was set to 137, so Windows forced me to reformat it again to get to the full amount.

I know I'm being really paranoid about this, but it's almost 100 gigs of data at risk here. My friend, who now has an empty hard drive as a result of all this, offered to keep some of my files, or I could get 100 cd's to make backups of it all. But the whole point of me getting a new hard drive, making partitions and all that stuff was to avoid having to worry about all this stuff.

Thanks for the help so far

as long as you install sp1 prior to plugging the drive back in then there wont be an issue.you could even be really safe and install all windows updates before you plug the drive back in.i have done this a dozen times with drives over 140gb and never had a problem.

[teh_moleman]

I got the reinstall done with no problems I unplugged the bigger hard drive, then reinstalled everything. After I plugged it back in, Windows recognized it at full size right away.

I did install Service Pack 2 this time around though, so that may have helped avoid any problems.

Thanks for the help.

[>GSXR<mrbusa]

Originally Posted by teh_moleman

I got the reinstall done with no problems I unplugged the bigger hard drive, then reinstalled everything. After I plugged it back in, Windows recognized it at full size right away.

I did install Service Pack 2 this time around though, so that may have helped avoid any problems.

Thanks for the help.

good job,
glad all went well for ya.

peace out

[997C2S]

Hm, good it is done now, but I''ve never had such problems. Probably try a slipstreamed SP?

[997C2S]

Sorry of course I mean slipstream CD