Re: Win 2000 can't see large Disk... (but used to)...?
On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:46:40 -0700, Andy <1@2.3> wrote:
>Disk Management showing the drive capacity as only 128GB is sufficient
>proof that your Windows 2000 installation is not properly configured
>to support 48-bit LBA.
Hi again Andy,
I should say something more...
We agree. It certainly would appear that I have a problem
with LBA.
But, there are a few aspects of the situation that remain
confusing to me, and I can't see an appropriate next step:
As I mentioned, I had a large disk in the box working
properly.
Also, I have looked at the LBA reg key, and it appears as it
should.
Despite that, I have removed, and re-created that key.
Also, I have run tools that "test" to see if the key is
good, and they say that it is.
Finally, I have checked, and am running 2000 Pro SP4.
With all that, what might you suggest as next steps?
Re: Win 2000 can't see large Disk... (but used to)...?
On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:16:50 GMT, Grinder
<grinder@no.spam.maam.com> wrote:
>>>> I have partitioned and formatted the disk.
>
>>> Using what software?
>
>> I have tried three different approaches:
>>
>> Windows itself, the Western Digital Installation software,
>> and Acronis Disk Director. All of these run under Windows,
>> and all see the disk as 137 gig.
>
>You can produce a boot disc with Acronis. I would curious to see if
>Disk Director would be as short-sighted when booted free of Windows.
Hi Grinder,
I just created the Disk Director boot disk and fired it up
on the problem system.
It showed the 500 gig disk as having one partition of 127
gig, and the rest unallocated.
I created a partition in that unallocated space, and then
enlarged the 127 partition to its maximum (nearly all of the
available 500.)
Then, with hope in my heart, I booted into Windows...
It saw the disk as having only 127 gig, as before.
Sooooo, the best I can describe the situation as of now, the
registry has the proper LBA key, but somehow Windows doesn't
"believe" it.
In about 40 minutes, I will talk with a grown-up Western
Digital tech to see what might work to fix this.
Re: Win 2000 can't see large Disk... (but used to)...?
On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:51:39 -0400, Kenneth
<usenet@soleSPAMLESSassociates.com> wrote:
>
>Hi Andy,
>
>Please see my comments inline below...
>
>
>
>On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:46:40 -0700, Andy <1@2.3> wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:43:32 -0400, Kenneth
>
>><usenet@soleSPAMLESSassociates.com> wrote:
>>
>>>On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:05:43 -0700, Andy <1@2.3> wrote:
>>>
>>>Hi Andy,
>>>
>>>Please see my responses to your comments inline below...
>>>
>>>
>>>>On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:19:22 -0400, Kenneth
>>>><usenet@soleSPAMLESSassociates.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Howdy,
>>>>>
>>>>>I run Win 2000 Pro SP4 on one of my systems, and had in it a
>>>>>250 gig Western Digital disk that failed.
>>>>>
>>>>>I replaced it with a 500 gig drive, but Windows can only see
>>>>>127 gig on that disk.
>>>>
>>>>What part of Windows are you talking about? Windows Explorer? Disk
>>>>Management? Windows setup?
>>>>
>>>
>>>Disk Management does not "see" the full capacity of the
>>>drive.
>>>
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Here are the things I am sure of:
>>>>>
>>>>>The bios (the most recent available) sees the disk as 500
>>>>>gig.
>>>>>
>>>>>The registry has the appropriate 48-Bit LBA Support for
>>>>>ATAPI Disk Drives. I have checked that both by simply
>>>>>viewing the appropriate registry key, and also by running a
>>>>>tool that looks in the registry to see if the key is set
>>>>>correctly.
>>>>
>>>>Does Disk Management show the correct capacity for the drive?
>>>>Caveat: if the drive is fully partitioned, Disk Management will show
>>>>its full capacity even though Windows 2000 may not be configured to
>>>>access past 137GB.
>>>
>>>No, the BIOS does show the drive as 500 gig, but Disk
>>>Management has it as 137 gig.
>>
>>Disk Management showing the drive capacity as only 128GB is sufficient
>>proof that your Windows 2000 installation is not properly configured
>>to support 48-bit LBA.
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I have partitioned and formatted the disk.
>>>>
>>>>Using what software?
>>>
>>>I have tried three different approaches:
>>>
>>>Windows itself, the Western Digital Installation software,
>>>and Acronis Disk Director. All of these run under Windows,
>>>and all see the disk as 137 gig.
>>
>>This means that your Windows 2000 installation is limited to 28-bit
>>LBA.
>
>Well yes, that would appear to be correct, but...
>
>The appropriate LBA reg key is where it should be, and also,
>prior to putting in this large disk, I had another (250 gig)
>in the bay working fine.
So the failure of the 250GB drive was hardware in nature, such as the
disks stopped spinning or you could no longer communicate with the
drive, rather than corruption of data on the drive?
One thing you haven't mentioned is the identity of the interface that
the drive is connected to. Is it a standard southbridge chipset disk
interface? That's the only one that SP4 and EnableBigLba apply to.
What version ot atapi.sys do you have? Mine is 5.00.2195.6699.
>
>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I have tried to add another partition, but (beyond the 127
>>>>>gigs) there is no extra space available for such a
>>>>>modification. I made this attempt using the Western Digital
>>>>>supplied tools, and also using Acronis Disk Director. The
>>>>>results were the same.
>>>>>
>>>>>Also, after too many calls to Western Digital Tech "Support"
>>>>>I thought that the disk itself may be defective.
>>>>>
>>>>>I replaced it with another, and the results are exactly the
>>>>>same.
>>>>>
>>>>>Might you have some suggestions about an appropriate next
>>>>>step?
>>>>
>>>>Partitioning or recognition of disk capacity during Windows 2000
>>>>setup: regardless of BIOS capability or Service Pack level incorported
>>>>in the Windows 2000 CD, only 131,000 MB will be recognized.
>>>>
>>>>Once Windows 2000 has been installed on the hard drive: in order for
>>>>Windows 2000 to see past 137GB on the disk, Service Pack 3 or 4 must
>>>>be installed, and EnableBigLba = 1 has to be added to the registry.
>>>>
>>>>The proper way to install Windows 2000 on a large disk is to start
>>>>with an unpartitioned disk. Create a single partition during Windows
>>>>setup, and install Windows. Once Windows 2000 is installed, apply SP4
>>>>and EnableBigLba in the registry. Then use Disk Management to create
>>>>additional partition(s) on the disk.
>>>>
>>>>Once the 500GB disk is fully partitioned, Windows 2000 setup won't
>>>>work properly, because it can't correctly recognize the partition(s)
>>>>on the disk. With a 250GB disk, it typically isn't a problem.
>>>
>>>Of course, I should have made this clear in my original
>>>post, but I am NOT trying to install Windows to the large
>>>disk. I have Windows installed on a small (20 gig) drive,
>>>and it is running fine.
>>>
>>>The large disk if for data only.
>>>
>>>Thanks again for any further thoughts,
>
>
>All the best,
Re: Win 2000 can't see large Disk... (but used to)...?
On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:52:20 -0400, Kenneth
<usenet@soleSPAMLESSassociates.com> wrote:
Hello again,
I eventually spoke with a grown-up tech at Western
Digital...
He listened to my detailed description and then said:
"I'd suggest that you look for a driver update for your ATA
controller."
I did that and am now formatting all of the 500 gig drive.
(I still don't understand how I was successfully using the
250 gig drive that I had in the box last week, but that is
not the important thing right now.)
Re: Win 2000 can't see large Disk... (but used to)...?
On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 07:14:52 -0700, Andy <1@2.3> wrote:
>So the failure of the 250GB drive was hardware in nature, such as the
>disks stopped spinning or you could no longer communicate with the
>drive, rather than corruption of data on the drive?
>
>One thing you haven't mentioned is the identity of the interface that
>the drive is connected to. Is it a standard southbridge chipset disk
>interface? That's the only one that SP4 and EnableBigLba apply to.
>
>What version ot atapi.sys do you have? Mine is 5.00.2195.6699.
Hi Andy,
You may have seen the resolution already (our posts crossed)
but...
I don't know how to characterize the "failure" of the 250
gig drive properly:
It ran fine for about two years.
Then, about two months ago, Windows displayed an error
message telling me (in essence) that the drive was not
accessible because the file system was corrupt. The message
suggested that I run CHKDSK, and I did that.
After that test process, I could still read nothing on the
drive.
I decided to re-format it.
For the next few months it seemed to work properly, but
then, a few days ago, the problem I have just described
happened again.
With that, I read up on the situation a bit more. I learned
of a process (using DISKPROBE) that would allow me to
replace the corrupt file system with another copy that NTFS
maintains. I tried that, but it did not work.
With that, I bought the 500 gig drive, and you know the
rest.
In any case, all is well now, and I very much appreciate
your help,
--
Kenneth
Re: Win 2000 can't see large Disk... (but used to)...?
On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:38:53 -0400, Kenneth
<usenet@soleSPAMLESSassociates.com> wrote:
>On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:52:20 -0400, Kenneth
><usenet@soleSPAMLESSassociates.com> wrote:
>
>
>Hello again,
>
>I eventually spoke with a grown-up tech at Western
>Digital...
>
>He listened to my detailed description and then said:
>
>"I'd suggest that you look for a driver update for your ATA
>controller."
>
>I did that and am now formatting all of the 500 gig drive.
>
>(I still don't understand how I was successfully using the
>250 gig drive that I had in the box last week, but that is
>not the important thing right now.)
The point is you were not successfully using the 250GB hard drive. The
reason for the corruption in the file system was your Windows 2000
installation was limited to 28-bit LBA access. Therefore when access
past 137GB was attempted, access wrapped around to the beginning of
the disk, overwriting the beginning of the disk where the partition
table and directory is located.
This happens when, instead of Windows Disk Management, a utility from
the drive manufacturer is used partition and format the drive. Because
the utility runs under some flavor of DOS, all access to the drive is
performed via the BIOS, which supports 48-bit LBA, and thus is able to
access the entire drive.
Re: Win 2000 can't see large Disk... (but used to)...?
On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:44:42 -0700, Andy <1@2.3> wrote:
>On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:38:53 -0400, Kenneth
><usenet@soleSPAMLESSassociates.com> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:52:20 -0400, Kenneth
>><usenet@soleSPAMLESSassociates.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>Hello again,
>>
>>I eventually spoke with a grown-up tech at Western
>>Digital...
>>
>>He listened to my detailed description and then said:
>>
>>"I'd suggest that you look for a driver update for your ATA
>>controller."
>>
>>I did that and am now formatting all of the 500 gig drive.
>>
>>(I still don't understand how I was successfully using the
>>250 gig drive that I had in the box last week, but that is
>>not the important thing right now.)
>
>The point is you were not successfully using the 250GB hard drive. The
>reason for the corruption in the file system was your Windows 2000
>installation was limited to 28-bit LBA access. Therefore when access
>past 137GB was attempted, access wrapped around to the beginning of
>the disk, overwriting the beginning of the disk where the partition
>table and directory is located.
>
>This happens when, instead of Windows Disk Management, a utility from
>the drive manufacturer is used partition and format the drive. Because
>the utility runs under some flavor of DOS, all access to the drive is
>performed via the BIOS, which supports 48-bit LBA, and thus is able to
>access the entire drive.
>
>>
>>Thanks to all who helped,
Hi Andy,
Your comments are interesting, and make sense, but they
raise a question:
Given what you have said, how would it be possible for the
former disk to display in Windows as 250 gig? (I surely
would have noticed that a 250 gig disk was listed as 130,
just as I did with the 500.)
I have a different take on all of this:
The particular system is used by my 9 year old son (on the
bootable disk), and also holds images from our 6 office
systems (on the larger disk.)
Because of my son's use of the system, I periodically return
it to a former state by restoring one of the images I made
as I "built" the software on the system.
I suspect that one (or more) of the earlier images that I
restore, had an earlier version of the ATA driver, and that
was the source of the problem.
Re: Win 2000 can't see large Disk... (but used to)...? 
Linear Mode
