View Full Version : Can only 4gb of 280gb drive


Angie Ragan
06-14-2006, 11:53 PM
Help. I have reloaded this server 4 times and I am unable to see more than
4gb of the 280gb hard drive. I have checked and double checked the array
settings with the vendor. It is not a hardware issue. It is defianetly a
software issue, but I can not figure out how to correct it. I have loaded
all of the latest patches etc., still makes no difference. Disk Manager
shows a Simple Dynamic NTFS Healthy 4gb C partition on top and down below it
shows Disk 0 273.8gb NTFS Healty System. The Disk 0 was a Basic disk, I
converted to dynamic hoping to be able to access the rest of the drive space.
I have even upgraded from Win2k to Win2k3 to see if that made any
difference. I need some ideas.....

Brian Cryer
06-16-2006, 09:07 AM
"Angie Ragan" <AngieRagan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C69039CD-DE5E-45B4-92F9-374EDE190CF6@microsoft.com...
> Help. I have reloaded this server 4 times and I am unable to see more
> than
> 4gb of the 280gb hard drive. I have checked and double checked the array
> settings with the vendor. It is not a hardware issue. It is defianetly a
> software issue, but I can not figure out how to correct it. I have loaded
> all of the latest patches etc., still makes no difference. Disk Manager
> shows a Simple Dynamic NTFS Healthy 4gb C partition on top and down below
> it
> shows Disk 0 273.8gb NTFS Healty System. The Disk 0 was a Basic disk, I
> converted to dynamic hoping to be able to access the rest of the drive
> space.
> I have even upgraded from Win2k to Win2k3 to see if that made any
> difference. I need some ideas.....

If it can only see a 4gb partition - who created that partition and with
what software? Can you delete the partition so nothing is on it and then
create a new single partition? alternately if disk manager can show 273.8gb
of unused space then does it allow you to create a second partition in that
space?

or have I misunderstood?
--
Brian Cryer
www.cryer.co.uk/brian

Angie Ragan
06-19-2006, 04:20 PM
We used HP SmartStart software. If I delete the partition in disk manage,
then I start all over again, to wind up with 4gb partition again. SmartStart
sees all of the 280gb, in fact when you goto load Win2k we select maxmimum
partition size of 280gb, but when it is all done, it shows 4gb, with a Disk 0
of 273gb, but you can not do anything with it. If there is a way to attach
files, I could show you what I am talking about. It does not allow me to
create a 2nd partition.

"Brian Cryer" wrote:

> "Angie Ragan" <AngieRagan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C69039CD-DE5E-45B4-92F9-374EDE190CF6@microsoft.com...
> > Help. I have reloaded this server 4 times and I am unable to see more
> > than
> > 4gb of the 280gb hard drive. I have checked and double checked the array
> > settings with the vendor. It is not a hardware issue. It is defianetly a
> > software issue, but I can not figure out how to correct it. I have loaded
> > all of the latest patches etc., still makes no difference. Disk Manager
> > shows a Simple Dynamic NTFS Healthy 4gb C partition on top and down below
> > it
> > shows Disk 0 273.8gb NTFS Healty System. The Disk 0 was a Basic disk, I
> > converted to dynamic hoping to be able to access the rest of the drive
> > space.
> > I have even upgraded from Win2k to Win2k3 to see if that made any
> > difference. I need some ideas.....
>
> If it can only see a 4gb partition - who created that partition and with
> what software? Can you delete the partition so nothing is on it and then
> create a new single partition? alternately if disk manager can show 273.8gb
> of unused space then does it allow you to create a second partition in that
> space?
>
> or have I misunderstood?
> --
> Brian Cryer
> www.cryer.co.uk/brian
>
>
>
>

Brian Cryer
06-21-2006, 11:12 AM
"Angie Ragan" <AngieRagan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:49EE3790-3777-4763-94C4-E14616BB29E8@microsoft.com...
> We used HP SmartStart software. If I delete the partition in disk manage,
> then I start all over again, to wind up with 4gb partition again.
> SmartStart
> sees all of the 280gb, in fact when you goto load Win2k we select maxmimum
> partition size of 280gb, but when it is all done, it shows 4gb, with a
> Disk 0
> of 273gb, but you can not do anything with it. If there is a way to
> attach
> files, I could show you what I am talking about. It does not allow me to
> create a 2nd partition.

I have found an old posting (2003!!) which indicated that SmartStart had a
bug in it which prevented it from creating partitions greater than 4GB. I
would have thought that by now HP would have fixed it. I know nothing about
HP SmartStart, but its worth checking whether HP have released a later
version.

Another thought, is there a good reason why you are using HP SmartStart at
all? Have you tried loading windows using just the windows cd and letting
the normal windows install create the partition?
--
Brian Cryer
www.cryer.co.uk/brian

Steve Williamson
06-29-2006, 07:56 PM
It's probably a SCSI disk therefore would need customized partitioning and
array creating software prior to window being installed.


"Brian Cryer" <brianc@127.0.0.1.activesol.co.uk> wrote in message
news:OZ6QrsRlGHA.1340@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> "Angie Ragan" <AngieRagan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:49EE3790-3777-4763-94C4-E14616BB29E8@microsoft.com...
>> We used HP SmartStart software. If I delete the partition in disk
>> manage,
>> then I start all over again, to wind up with 4gb partition again.
>> SmartStart
>> sees all of the 280gb, in fact when you goto load Win2k we select
>> maxmimum
>> partition size of 280gb, but when it is all done, it shows 4gb, with a
>> Disk 0
>> of 273gb, but you can not do anything with it. If there is a way to
>> attach
>> files, I could show you what I am talking about. It does not allow me to
>> create a 2nd partition.
>
> I have found an old posting (2003!!) which indicated that SmartStart had a
> bug in it which prevented it from creating partitions greater than 4GB. I
> would have thought that by now HP would have fixed it. I know nothing
> about HP SmartStart, but its worth checking whether HP have released a
> later version.
>
> Another thought, is there a good reason why you are using HP SmartStart at
> all? Have you tried loading windows using just the windows cd and letting
> the normal windows install create the partition?
> --
> Brian Cryer
> www.cryer.co.uk/brian
>
>

Cameron Dorrough
06-30-2006, 12:07 AM
"Steve Williamson" <plzkthx@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:Ohc$w26mGHA.3928@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> It's probably a SCSI disk therefore would need customized partitioning and
> array creating software prior to window being installed.

Even if so, you should still be able to load the SCSI Card drivers at the
start of W2k setup and use the normal windows install to create the
partition.

Our HP's allowed us to set the partitions from a BIOS boot loader program.

Cameron:-)