2 Questions...

[deadman_uk]

I have 2 hard drives install, 1 is a 160gb Western Digital and the other is a 40gb Maxtor.

Windows doesnt recognize all of my 160gb hard drive, it only reads 127gb of it , the only way I can use the rest of the hard drive is to partition it separately which is what i did.
The 127gb is C Drive and the remaining is E drive.

Question 1) How would i merge these 2 together to form just 1 160gb hard drive, instead of having them as 2 seperate drives?

Question 2) Why does my 40gb Maxtor hard drive (J Drive) keep uninstalling itself? Sometimes i load windows and its there, sometimes windows cannot find it (same goes for the BIOS too!) At the moment its there but a while ago it wasnt.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Clockworks]

1) update the BIOS
2) check the cables
3) windows xp can't rean a hard drive that is more than 137 gb, you need SP1 or 2 (stick with SP1)

 

[Atrye]

If it's not even coming up in the BIOS then you probably have a loose cable.

 

[Xyrax]

After installing SP1, get Partition Magic. Allows you to create/merge/delete/resize partitions without having to reinstall your OS.

http://www.powerquest.com

 

[deadman_uk]

if it's not even coming up in the BIOS then you probably have a loose cable

I will check up on that but it just comes and goes at random, i really dont think its a loose cable, i mean im not knocking the tower or anything.

1) update the BIOS

I got the latest BIOS for my motherboard, installed it 2 weeks ago, this was one of the first things i done when i had this problem.

3) windows xp can't rean a hard drive that is more than 137 gb, you need SP1 or 2 (stick with SP1)

I have SP1 installed already.

get Partition Magic. Allows you to create/merge/delete/resize partitions without having to reinstall your OS.

hmmm interesting, i didnt know such program exsisted... I have data on both partitions, if i merge them, would i be at risk of losing data?

 

[MrWoot]

check cable and jumper settings

 

[deadman_uk]

My 160gb Hard drivr with Windows Xp on it is set to PRIMARY MASTER and my 40gb Maxtor is set to PRIMARY SLAVE. My dvd and cd burners are set on SECONDARY MASTER and SLAVE.

Does this seem ok?

 

[Xyrax]

hmmm interesting, i didnt know such program exsisted... I have data on both partitions, if i merge them, would i be at risk of losing data?

Theres always a risk. But, I've used partition magic extensivly over the course of 8 years and have NEVER had a problem. That doesn't mean I never will. Whenever messing around with partitions, it's always a good idea to backup any important data as a "just in case".

Also, if you do use it. Try to have a fully charged UPS. If durring the partition manipulation process you lose power and the computer shuts off, you're screwed. So if you're OCing, drop the clock speeds down to stock before using it. It's better to be safe then sorry.

 

[Atrye]

My 160gb Hard drivr with Windows Xp on it is set to PRIMARY MASTER and my 40gb Maxtor is set to PRIMARY SLAVE. My dvd and cd burners are set on SECONDARY MASTER and SLAVE.

Does this seem ok?

Yup. That's the way to do it.

 

[deadman_uk]

I want to tell windows to manage the paging file from my other hard drive but what happens if the hard drive suddenly stops being detected, what sort of effect would this have on my system?

So this is a loose cable then? it cant be anything else i can think of

 

[Brandon Weir]

I would replace the IDE cable or swap the CD/DVD ROM IDE cable and the HD IDE cable and see if the problem moves over to the CD/DVD ROMs. If so you problem is solved. But if it were me, I would have a HD and a CD/DVD drive on a controller and then the other HD and CD/DVD drive on a controller. I wouldn't put 2 drives on the same IDE controller unless I have to, but that's just me.

 

[Phoenix86]

Wow, not one correct response... Well, clockwork is closes, the others are just ways around the problem using 3rd party software that isn't needed. Simply put, there is no simple answer.

Breaking the 137GB barrier

As far as page files goes, I would setup a 200MB PF (set min and max=200) on your faster drive. Do not spread the PF across the drives, pick a spot for you PF and leave it alone. You might be able to run sans PF, but a small PF will do just fine.

edit: oh, question 2 is either a bad: drive, cable, mobo. There's an outside chance it's the power supply. I would replace the cable, then test the drive in another PC.

 

[deadman_uk]

thanks for your comments, ill read the "break the 137gb" link soon.

I dont overclock so thats not it, the same thing happened with my LiteOn cd burner last week but this is the first time it ever happened and i got it back by going to device manager and clicking on "scan for hardware changes" and it bought it back on.

My hard drive i use to use on its own with my old pc so i doubt its that actually drive thats the problem. Likely reason is the cable, ill check this out.

Do not spread the PF across the drives

I really dont understand page filing i just know my ut2004 game uses up to 500mb of my RAM on the Onslaught mode and it keeps freezing, i was told increasing the PF would help.
Why cant i just disable PF on this drive and just let my maxtor drive do all the PF for me?

 

[Phoenix86]

My hard drive i use to use on its own with my old pc so i doubt its that actually drive thats the problem. Likely reason is the cable, ill check this out.

I really dont understand page filing i just know my ut2004 game uses up to 500mb of my RAM on the Onslaught mode and it keeps freezing, i was told increasing the PF would help.
Why cant i just disable PF on this drive and just let my maxtor drive do all the PF for me?

If the cable doesn't do it, try putting that drive on the other IDE channel (remove whatever is on that channel). You may have a bad IDE channel on the mobo.

Heh, your PF question inspired me to rewrite something I lost when the forums went down. Anyways I posted it in the OS forum, enjoy.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026743324