new HD help please

[cardude03]

okay guys, i just got my new hard drive in the mail today (thanks newegg). its a Western Digital 160gig Serial ATA (WD1600JD). i hooked it all up, turned on the computer, went into the bios, everything was recognized properly. started up windows, and the drive is not showing up in My Computer, or even when i try to save a document.. i also have a 74gig raptor that i put in a week ago, and its showing up fine. the motherboard is an ECS 755-A2. im pretty sure i didnt install any drivers when i got the raptor, and i dont even think its a driver issue. so what should i do so that i can finally see it..?

[starhawk]

did you partition the drive?

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=828116

[Ice Czar]

Start > Run > (type) diskmgmt.msc > Rightclick unallocated space > Partition and format ;)

[cardude03]

okay, cool, thanks guys, now its showing up, but.... its showing only 128gigs, and its a 160gig harddrive. i think i read about this in some other thread, so im gonna go do a lil searchin, but if anyone is feelin generous, they can just help me out in this thread :D :D

[starhawk]

rma the drive?

[Ice Czar]

rma the drive?

LOL you might want to hold off just a little bit yet :p

yes the thread you seek is > http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026129864#post1026129864
you can also find it under the NAKED GIRLS sticky Thread :p

[starhawk]

you can also find it under the NAKED GIRLS sticky Thread :p

lol... does this exist? where?

[Ice Czar]

indeed
its at the top of the board

however its just a big tease to trick members into looking :p

[starhawk]

give me a link... i don't believe you.

[Ice Czar]

Disk Storage Systems (http://hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29) > First thread (Sticky) :p

its just titled NAKED GIRLS
its a trick ;)

[cardude03]

hey Ice Czar, thanks for the link, but..........as you can tell from my status, im just a newbie, and i got lost after like the third paragraph, is ther maybe a possibility that you can simplify all that information into lamen terms so i can understand it?

[Ice Czar]

well assuming XP
you need to install service pack 1 or better (2)
and have a mobo that is modern enough to employ a 48bit LBA capable BIOS
(Large Block Addressing)
which is pretty common for the last year or so, even if its older a BIOS upgrade may be available

Id assume you just need to install the service pack and the rest will show up in disk management, and can then be partitioned and formatted

what mobo do you have?
or more useful how old is it?

[cardude03]

well the MOBO is an ECS 755-A2, i got it in a combo at Fry's about two-three weeks ago. the OS kinda worries me, its XP professional. do you think it would have SP1 on it? and i havent updated to SP2 because i have only heard bad things.

[Ice Czar]

OK I read that, and then edited it to conform to the rules
if you get my drift

to solve the immediate problem
Start > Run > (type) regedit (enter)
navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Atapi\P arameters\
then on the left double click the > EnableBigLba
and set the value to 1

but you likely have bigger problems than the immediate issue
how are you hooked up to the internet?
directly to a cable modem or regular phone modem?
or are you attached to a router? for instance to share a single internet connection between multiple computers?

Im going to be away for about 20 minutes here
off to get some food but will be right back ;)

[cardude03]

okay, well, i followed those steps, i got up to Parameters, and then i got kind of lost when u said on the left, cuz from the available options, EnableBigLba wasnt one of them.

well, right now im on my old computer which is Cable modem, no router. the new computer isnt hooked up to the internet cuz i havnet bought a router yet, if for some reason i DO need the internet, i can always just pop the ethernet wire out, and put it into the new comp.

[cardude03]

okay guys, i got it allll sorted out, for those who are interested, keep reading.

first of all, i asked my friend about that windows XP cd that he gave me, and he said it didnt have SP1 on it, so i went to the microsoft website, and i couldnt find it :confused: . then i googled it and found it right away :D . so i installed SP1, then i downloaded that Data Life thingie majig from WD, ran it, and no problemo anymore. but.... its showing up now as 149 gigs, so is this about right for a 160gig HD?

[starhawk]

:rolleyes: umm... no.

winxp is about 1 gig, and i have never, ever heard of a program that takes up 10 gig...

is there anything else on this drive?

[Ice Czar]

its showing up now as 149 gigs, so is this about right for a 160gig HD?

yes you loose approximately 10% when converting from Decimal to binary measurement (http://www.pcguide.com/intro/fun/bindec-c.html) and with the filesystem overhead

keep that box patched, I was going to point out that its very likely that even before a person is able to install SP1 or 2 and assorted hotpatches over the internet, youd fall victim to either MSBlaster ot the sasser worm, both of which are direct exploits

I generally advise to burn the patches to CD first then install them on a new box before hooking up the internet, if you where behind a router, it would likely have a NAT (Network Address Translation) Hardware Firewall and would provide at least a direct exploit protection

you might want to review this thread ;)
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=768776

Im not sure exactly what occured with that Western Digital Install application
but its likely it installed a Dynamic Drive Overlay, not the approach I would have suggested
if EnableBigLba wasnt a key there, you can add it sorry I failed to point that out

but if its working for you now, have at it

[cardude03]

umm... no.

winxp is about 1 gig, and i have never, ever heard of a program that takes up 10 gig...

is there anything else on this drive?

well actually, there is nothing on this drive at all, the OS is on my other drive (74gig raptor)

well Ice Czar, when i googled it, i went to this website...

http://www.theeldergeek.com/service_pack_1.htm

then it linked me to the microsoft website, so i dont think its a virus, and what did u mean by keeping the box "patched"?