HELP half of my hard drive has gone missing after a fresh install!

harris1986 · 15 Jun 2006 at 22:58

Guys i just got my new Sata2 Seagate 7200.10 250gb hard drive installed windows and checked my hard disk space and i now only have 121gb of freespace after sp2 install but it says that i have only used 6gb? so where is my other 120gb?

HELP

chris06 · 15 Jun 2006 at 23:05

Right click my comp, then manage then disk management.

Does it show up in there?

harris1986 · 15 Jun 2006 at 23:13

is says disk 0 basic 232.88gb online, then to the right it says (c

127.99gb NTFS Healthy (system), and far right it says 104.89gb unallocated.

so i have no idea what this means lol? that help?

chris06 · 15 Jun 2006 at 23:20

If you right click on the unallocated part it should let you format it.

Then you will be able to use it

harris1986 · 15 Jun 2006 at 23:22

i right clicked on it and the only options i have is new partition/properties/help
do i want any of these?

chris06 · 15 Jun 2006 at 23:31

hmmmm... When I righ click on mine I get an option to formt.

You could create a partition and then you would have to format that but I'm not sure how you would add that on to the rest of the drive?

Messiah Khan · 15 Jun 2006 at 23:32

Install service pack 2 for XP.. that should sort you out.
Edit; Nevermind, I should read the OP properly

harris1986 · 15 Jun 2006 at 23:34

messiah buddy i have already installed sp2, to no avail! chris yeah i got to the stage where i can format a new partition i decided not to create a partition

PhilthyPhil · 16 Jun 2006 at 07:38

If you want to use the unallocated space then you will have to create a partition in it and format it. You could then use something like partition magic to join your two partitions to create one 250GB one if you like, or just leave it as two seperate partitions. I assume you installed old XP then installed SP2 afterwards? I think in order for it to use the full space initially you need a slipstreamed XP with SP2 install.

Dutch Guy · 16 Jun 2006 at 08:39

PhilthyPhil said:
If you want to use the unallocated space then you will have to create a partition in it and format it. You could then use something like partition magic to join your two partitions to create one 250GB one if you like, or just leave it as two seperate partitions. I assume you installed old XP then installed SP2 afterwards? I think in order for it to use the full space initially you need a slipstreamed XP with SP2 install.

PhiltyPhil is correct, you need to make a new partition out of the Unallocated space and, if you wish, you can merge them later on but for that you need a separate program as Windows cannot do it.

harris1986 · 16 Jun 2006 at 08:40

ahh kk yeah i had to slipstream a windows xp install as i needed the sata drivers for my hard drive as i don't have a floppy. I'l try slipstreaming sp2 onto xp tonite and try a reformatt see if that works failing that it's 2 partitions for me and will just have to try and use partition magic as you said

thanks for the help phil. I'l post back and let you know how i get on

SiriusB · 17 Jun 2006 at 02:04

Would make more sense to have multiple partitions though. In the very least keep Windows install separate from the rest of your data. That way you can reinstall Windows without worrying about your data gettin nuked and it is easier to keep the Windows installation tidy in regards to disk cleanup and defragging.

SiriusB

harris1986 · 20 Jun 2006 at 11:19

ok i'm really having some problems now. Every so often i can finally get windows to install without it blue screening and displaying lots of error's! However when windows does install properly i also managed to install sp2 aswell then tried installing my motherboard drivers and half way through my comp just restarted and i got a error something to do with system32 drivers nvsata.

Dutch Guy · 20 Jun 2006 at 11:54

Are there any entries in the Event Viewer?

harris1986 · 20 Jun 2006 at 12:24

i can't get to the event viewer, just reinstalled windows and every time i try to install sp2 my comp just reboots and i get the error UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME and i can't get into windows! this is really annoying me now i'm seriously considering selling my comp just fed up with all the headaches and hassle

Dutch Guy · 20 Jun 2006 at 12:33

So the problem starts when you try to install SP2, not before that?

Where did you get SP2 from?

Have you thought about slipstreaming SP2 so that you can install Windows with SP2 already applied ....?.... I used this guide to do that: http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd.htm

harris1986 · 20 Jun 2006 at 12:57

i got sp2 directly from microsoft, yes it genuinely happens when i try to install sp2 but sometimes i can't even fully install windows it gets to about 2 mins to go then blue screens displaying different messages each time! and occasionally i have installed sp2 fine then try to install mobo drivers and then it restarts. i have tried to do a slipstream using nlite of sp2 and windows xp pro but it goes over 700mb and at the minute the largest cd i have is a 700mb disk! i'l take a look at that link

Dutch Guy · 20 Jun 2006 at 13:24

harris1986 said:
i have tried to do a slipstream using nlite of sp2 and windows xp pro but it goes over 700mb and at the minute the largest cd i have is a 700mb disk! i'l take a look at that link

Strange, when I slipstreamed my XP Pro Corp with SP2 it just updated the files instead of adding files so it fit fine on a 700Mb CD.

If you get lots of BSOD's I would run MemTest (Windows) and/or Memtest86+ (Bootable Floppy/CD) first to test the memory, both ot these programs should run indefinately without giving one error but a few hours at least.

I would do the bootable one first as your Windows install might be flakey at best.

harris1986 · 20 Jun 2006 at 13:27

kk mite give it a try

for reference windows and sp2 have just installed fine and after the sp2 install got back to desktop and i got a message saying windows has just recovered from a serious error :S

Dutch Guy · 20 Jun 2006 at 13:35

Have you checked your CPU (and memory) overclock with a stress tester like Prime95/MemTest86+ ??