OT: how to properly install / format new HD

PossibilityX wrote on 9/4/2005, 7:51 AM
I stuck a new WD 300 gig hard drive in a new ADS Pyro box.

Problem is, the drive is only recognized as being 137 gig or 128 gig, depending on whether you want go by what Windows says, or by what WD's Data Lifeguard program says.

In any case, I'd kinda like to have the entire 300 gig available to me!

I'm running XP, SP2, all updated as of yesterday.

So how do I reformat / reinstall the drive so that my system understands it's a 300 gig drive?

---John

Comments

p@mast3rs wrote on 9/4/2005, 8:39 AM
Does the ADS box support drives up to 300GB? I found this out the hard way when I threw a 250GB drive in my old firewire case and had the same problem. Possible that ADS has new firmware to enable recognition as well.
johnmeyer wrote on 9/4/2005, 9:33 AM
A lot of cases won't support more than a certain size drive. Either partition into two drives (and then format each partition), or get a new enclosure.

If you are hard set on getting it to work as one partition in your existing drive, you might try one of the applications that ships with drives. I think you can download them from Western Digital, Seagate, and Maxtor's sites. They put a boot loader onto the hard drive and perform some sort of translation magic. However, I have always been leery of these, because I wasn't sure whether the results would be compatible with all applications.
PossibilityX wrote on 9/4/2005, 9:37 AM
::: Does the ADS box support drives up to 300GB?:::

Before buying the ADS box, I asked the same question and was told there'd be no problem:

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=4&MessageID=408175

I had the same problem (computer not recognizing the actual HD size) a couple of years ago when I installed 2 WD 160 gig drives. Called their customer support and a very nice Australian lady walked me through the workaround in about 3 minutes. Problem is, now I can't remember what the hell she told me to do!

Also---and this is the ONLY reason I downloaded it---SP2 was supposed to correct the problem of Windows not recognizing drives larger than 128 or so gig.

I can call WD customer support Tuesday AM (they're closed holidays) but kinda wanted to get the drive up and running today so I can start loading & transferring files.

Any tips or help is much appreciated!
p@mast3rs wrote on 9/4/2005, 9:42 AM
What I did was install my HD in my desktop, format from there and then switched back over to the firewire case and thankfully, everything worked out well.
busterkeaton wrote on 9/4/2005, 3:46 PM
It's possible your BIOS doesn't support more than 137 gig. I think Western Digital should have tools on their site for dealing with this.
busterkeaton wrote on 9/4/2005, 3:49 PM
From Western Digital

There are three common reasons why a hard drive would be detected as 137GB (128GB Binary) during Windows installation:


If the Windows installation CD does not contain Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or Windows XP Service Pack 1, the initial installation of Windows will not support drives larger than 137GB. During installation of Windows, the hard drive will be limited to a 137GB (or less) partition. After Windows installation as been completed and Service Pack 1 (for Windows XP) or Service Pack 3 (for Windows 2000) have been installed, the remaining empty area of the hard drive can be partitioned and formatted from the directions in Answer ID 330.


The system does not have a 48-bit LBA-compatible Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) installed. This includes EIDE controller card BIOSs. Please contact your motherboard or controller card manufacturer to determine if your hardware supports 48-bit LBA addressing. Please see Answer ID 936 for information pertaining to this issue.


Drivers for the motherboard IDE controller or controller card are not installed. Some motherboards and controller cards require drivers to be installed (during Windows installation) to support hard drives over 137GB. Please contact your motherboard or controller card manufacturer for installation instructions and driver availability for this issue.

***********************

The Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD will allow you to partition and format an internal hard drive larger than 137GB. To set up your hard drive using the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD, please follow the steps below:

Please Note: You may need to set your BIOS to boot to your CD-ROM drive first (before your hard drive).


Boot your computer and insert the Data Lifeguard Tools 11 CD into the CD-ROM drive.


You will be presented with a menu, choose option 1 which is Run Data Life Guard.


Left-click on I Agree to accept the License Agreement.


You may see a message telling you that the drive is not set up for use in your system. If you receive this message left-click on the YES button.


On the next screen select the operating system you plan to install and left-click on Next.


Select Advanced Installation and left-click on Next.


Read the warning messages and select I'm certain my system supports drives larger than 137 GB. and left-click on Next.


Left-click on the Add button.


Select the partition size you want. If you wish to use the whole drive for one large partition, leave the partition size at 100%.


If you wish to make a smaller boot partition then adjust the partition size accordingly.


Once you have set the partition size the way you want it, left-click on OK.


Left-click onNext.


You will see a window showing how the drive will be set up, left-click on Next.


Data Lifeguard will partition and format the drive based on your previous selections. When it has finished left-click on the Done button.


Left-click on the Exit option.


Select choice 4 which is Quit.


Remove the CD from the CD-ROM drive and press any button to continue.


The drive should now be ready for you to install your operating system.

PossibilityX wrote on 9/7/2005, 9:50 AM
Buster, thanks for the info. Haven't tried it yet but will soon, despite this response I got from ADS tech support:

"With that model drive kit there is a size limitation on it it only see
128gb, and there isnt any updates for that drive kit it was just how the kit
was made."

This is annoying as hell. Nowhere on its website does ADS tell you their box effectively LIMITS the size of the hard drive you can use. I bought the box new from B&H, and assumed (perhaps wrongly?) that they were selling the latest version of the box, not something that had been sitting on the shelf for a couple of years.

I'm also curious as to why others on this forum can get their ADS box to recognize drives larger than 128gb, and I can't. Far as I know, it's the same box!

Or is the ADS tech out of his mind?

---
EDIT: I checked the B&H website and sure enough, it says there's a size limit. My bad. Anyone else thinking of buying an ADS box, be sure you get the Dual Link Drive kit or the Pyro 1394b drive kit if you want to install drives bigger than 128gb. This, according to the ADS tech support guy. The $79.95 firewire box WON'T work on drives larger than 128gb.
---

---John