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November 11th, 2003, 07:20 PM
#1
Registered User
HP/Compaq HDD Capacity Lock
Curious question:
I RMA'd a Compaq 10 Gig Drive, they sent me back a Western Digital 40gig drive that comes up a a 10gig drive in Bios and other HDD check utilities. They somehow locked the capicity to 10 gig instead of 40 which is what the drive is. Is there any way to unlock the capacity to take advantage of the full storage capicity of the drive?
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If all fails....Use a sledgehammer !!
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November 11th, 2003, 09:00 PM
#2
Banned
Originally Posted by TheCardMan
Curious question:
I RMA'd a Compaq 10 Gig Drive, they sent me back a Western Digital 40gig drive that comes up a a 10gig drive in Bios and other HDD check utilities. They somehow locked the capicity to 10 gig instead of 40 which is what the drive is. Is there any way to unlock the capacity to take advantage of the full storage capicity of the drive?
Compaq didn't lock the capacity.
What model Comcrap and what OS?
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November 11th, 2003, 10:01 PM
#3
Registered User
I believe it is a Deskpro EN 933Mhz P3. We use Win XP Pro.
Doesn't matter what machine it's in, it always comes up as a 10gig drive. I tried it in a Dell as well as a custom built machine I have. Fdisk sees it as 10 gig only, no partitions, etc.
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If all fails....Use a sledgehammer !!
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November 11th, 2003, 10:32 PM
#4
Registered User
Most drives have a GB limitation jumper.....check it out.
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November 12th, 2003, 02:15 AM
#5
Intel Mod
It is possible it could be an exchange drive that has been "refurbished" by having faulty platters excluded with a firmware patch. I have a Fujitsu MPC3043 4.3GB drive this appears to have been done to - by all diagnosis it resolutely appears as 2.1G (there is no 2.1GB model in the series). If you force the correct parameters in the BIOS and try to LLF the drive etc, there is 100% failure reported beyond 2.1G.
Ruslan would probably be the best one to comment on this, but if this is what has been done, I would think even though technically it could be reversed with a re-flash of standard firmware, it would probably yield a faulty drive.
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November 12th, 2003, 03:42 AM
#6
Senior Member
Got a picture of the drive from top, connection side and controller?
Just thinking, 40gig drives, even with the limitation jumper usually only limit down to 32gig don't they? Oh, if you have the model number handy, please post also.
All sorts of wonderful things in life.
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November 12th, 2003, 03:55 AM
#7
Intel Mod
Originally Posted by Garak
the limitation jumper usually only limit down to 32gig don't they?
That's what you'd expect. 10G doesn't seem to be a very helpful size for a limit jumper, as the major size limit below 32G is of course the 8.4G CHS translation limit. I guess anything's possible though.
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November 12th, 2003, 04:15 AM
#8
Senior Member
Compaqs "nothing for nothing" policy
All sorts of wonderful things in life.
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November 12th, 2003, 06:57 AM
#9
Banned
Originally Posted by Platypus
It is possible it could be an exchange drive that has been "refurbished" by having faulty platters excluded with a firmware patch. I have a Fujitsu MPC3043 4.3GB drive this appears to have been done to - by all diagnosis it resolutely appears as 2.1G (there is no 2.1GB model in the series). If you force the correct parameters in the BIOS and try to LLF the drive etc, there is 100% failure reported beyond 2.1G.
Wow, is that something.
So is this what Compaq and others are doing now?
Compaq didn't lock the capacity.
What model Comcrap and what OS?
I stand corrected.
Who would have thunk such a thing.
Compaq never fails to surprise or disappoint.
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November 12th, 2003, 08:27 PM
#10
Registered User
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November 12th, 2003, 09:17 PM
#11
Banned
I stand corrected.
Who would have thunk such a thing.
Compaq never fails to surprise or disappoint.
I already said as much Ruslan.
What I mean is I am really disappointed by Compaq...as always, only it's getting worse.
RMA a 10- gig drive, and of course they don't have any anymore, so give the dupe a 40 gig which is failing, and hide the bad parts and hope the warranty runs out before it fails completely.
This is what they are doing, is it not?
It's a damn shame, too.
I don't care what you want to do to a failing hard drive, what utilities you want to use, in my xp once it starts going bad, it is on it's way out.
There are times when you will find a bad section of a hard drive which was caused by power failure or whatever just when the head was writing to a particular sector, and then are marked as unusable, and the drive will last, but, is this what Compcrap is doing now?
No, they receive bad drives and give them back as RMA replacements with the bad parts hidden and unusable.
An absolutely horrible business practice, if you ask me.
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November 12th, 2003, 09:37 PM
#12
Registered User
My initial thought was that 10gig drives were no longer available so they instaed use 40gig drives at probably the same price point as the 10gigs were and lock out the size somehow. It would bother me that they would do such a stunt as your saying with used faulty drives. I am going to see if there is a date stamp on the original WD label on the replacement drive. I know the model said WD400.
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If all fails....Use a sledgehammer !!
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November 12th, 2003, 09:41 PM
#13
Banned
Originally Posted by TheCardMan
My initial thought was that 10gig drives were no longer available so they instaed use 40gig drives at probably the same price point as the 10gigs were and lock out the size somehow. It would bother me that they would do such a stunt as your saying with used faulty drives. I am going to see if there is a date stamp on the original WD label on the replacement drive. I know the model said WD400.
Yeah, there will be, and let us know.
Really really disappointing.
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November 12th, 2003, 10:24 PM
#14
Registered User
WD400 is actually 40 Gig harddrive... I would check this drive with another, "standard" (i.e. custom buit) system surely supporting large harddrives... Besides, make sure you're using fresh enough version of fdisk - older versions (from win95, for example) could work incorrectly with large drives...
And probably worth to check this drive also with DLGDIAG utility from Western Digital - it should show the size of the drive...
If it factory (WD) repaired drive, don't blame just only Compaq for doing that - almost every major PC manufacturer do it as well... (IBM, for example)... If you will try to RMA an old drive to Maxtor, for example, you will receive (most likely) factory repaired drive with just a bit extented warranty (it is Maxtor's policy)... I did RMA recently to Maxtor 60 gig HDD and received back "re-certified to Maxtor's specifications" drive... another time I RMAed another 30gig Maxtor drive and received brand new 40 gig drive instead... So, you never know...
But every HDD manufacturer has something to do with drives coming back...
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November 12th, 2003, 10:33 PM
#15
Banned
Originally Posted by Ruslan
WD400 is actually 40 Gig harddrive... I would check this drive with another, "standard" (i.e. custom buit) system surely supporting large harddrives... Besides, make sure you're using fresh enough version of fdisk - older versions (from win95, for example) could work incorrectly with large drives...
And probably worth to check this drive also with DLGDIAG utility from Western Digital - it should show the size of the drive...
If it factory (WD) repaired drive, don't blame just only Compaq for doing that - almost every major PC manufacturer do it as well... (IBM, for example)... If you will try to RMA an old drive to Maxtor, for example, you will receive (most likely) factory repaired drive with just a bit extented warranty (it is Maxtor's policy)... I did RMA recently to Maxtor 60 gig HDD and received back "re-certified to Maxtor's specifications" drive... another time I RMAed another 30gig Maxtor drive and received brand new 40 gig drive instead... So, you never know...
But every HDD manufacturer has something to do with drives coming back...
Yeah but.
I have been in this business for years, too, Rus.
And, I have never experienced that:
bad drives with hidden platters/sections as a replacement!!!
Come on now.
If that is there "policy" I will take my business elsewhere thank you.
I am sorry, but this is the first I have heard of or seen this "practice" in action...and it is horrible.
And, almost against the law.
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