wrong reported disk size

[Legalegl]

I installed a new Maxtor drive and formatted it with the cd-rom it came with to 138 gb. I then copied files over from the old 1.5 gb disk. And then did a repair install on the new drive to get it to boot. Everything works fine..both disks are FAT 32 and the os in win xp with sp1.
In windows volume info on the new disk it shows 138 gb, however with chkcks from cmd and right clicking on the icon in system it shows the same size disk as the one I copied from ie 1.5 gb. How do I get windows to recognize the full disk size. Do I change over to ntfs ???thanks

[Platypus]

How was the installation copied across to the new drive? Usually with cloning software unless you specify an option to re-size the partition, it will be copied across at the same size. Also, I have the suspicion that with an original drive that small, Windows has to do a compact installation, if that is so, I'm not sure if a subsequent repair install reverts to a full install. I may be wrong in thinking that, & if it's so it may have nothing to do with your situation.
Do I change over to ntfs ?
NTFS is widely preferred for its superior features, and I wouldn't suggest having a full 138GB drive as a single FAT32 partition. Personally I like to have a modest FAT32 partition for the system, 16GB or less, and the remainder of the drive as NTFS. A small FAT32 system partition makes some aspects of drive maintenance, backup imaging and prospective data recovery a simpler proposition.

A trap when converting FAT32 to NTFS is if the drive hasn't been prepared with the correct offset so the NTFS filesystem can utilise 4K cluster boundaries correctly, you will end up with a very inefficient 512 byte cluster setup. Hopefully the Maxtor setup utility will have allowed for this in partitioning and formatting the drive.

However, the current discrepancy should be sorted out before trying any conversions.

[Platypus]

both disks are FAT 32

Hang on a minute... are both drives still in the system? You're not just running chkdsk etc on the old drive by mistake are you?

Win XP can boot from any volume - if both drives are still connected and you've just changed the boot order in the BIOS, the old drive can still be the C: drive...

[Legalegl]

It is a full install, both drives are connected, I change the order of operation in bios. Maybe they are the same drive. I'll try a ribbon cable and connect them both as masters..I have the new one as C: and the old one as D:...because I had only 18" cables, I can use a longer ribbon on the old one and make it a master as well. Thanks for the ideas.

[Gabriel]

.... I then copied files over from the old 1.5 gb disk. And then did a repair install on the new drive to get it to boot....
.....
the icon in system it shows the same size disk as the one I copied from ie 1.5 gb. How do I get windows to recognize the full disk size. Do I change over to ntfs ???thanks
Did you Image the old drive (using an Imaging tool, similar to Ghost, PQI Etc.)?
If so you might have copied the partition properies into the new drive - Use Disk Administrator inside Windows to verify this Status.
If you want the Partition to utilize the whole Size (though I recommend on three partitions) - you have to use partition manipulation tool in order to "resize" the partition (System Commander, Partition Magic, Partition Star, Ranish). This cannot be done from within the "OS level".

-REMARK-
The other thing that came into my mind is that your system BIOS cannot support large drive and this is another story.


Cheers,
Gabriel

[Legalegl]

I didn't use an imaging tool, I used the software that came from Maxtor..but you may be correct, I will see it manana. Repair it with partition magic etc ...excellent idea.

[Gabriel]

...manana...
Typo or slang?

just curious,
Gabriel

BTW - did you use MAXBLAST (http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Support/Software%20Downloads/Top%20Downloads&downloadID=19)?

if YES - it defenitly doing IMAGE (I have used it couple of times myself).

[confus-ed]

btw no typo's in Legalegl's post - he means mañana (as in spanish for 'later/whenever' ).

Should've used backup for this one again & not an imaging tool ! :rolleyes: (I'm forever saying this ! :sad:, I wish folks would stop thinking imaging tools are for this, they aren't, their real use is for when you want to move a setup from one disk to another, manipulating it on the way, isn't a part of the deal .. if it needs changing then you wanted another approach)

You've made this far harder work than it needed to be .. so far we've imaged what might not get converted right anyway ('convert' isn't only bad for cluster size, permissions don't get transfered or applied correctly, as there aren't any in 9x & converts 'guesses'), then we ran a repair install, & now we are having to fix the mess we made with partition magic (which mightn't fix matters at all btw, only appear to, due to various considerations about offset cylinder boundaries).

[Legalegl]

Think I'll start over and do a new version of ghost...thanks