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    INspiron 1520 not recognizing full capacity of ext. hd?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by jlcool007, Sep 11, 2007.

  1. jlcool007

    jlcool007 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, i have Vista Home Premium 32-bit and when i connect my 320gb ext hd (a new 320gb hd in a ext. enclosure) via usb, windows sees it as a new disk, but just doesn't see it's full sotrage capacity. It caps it off at 127gb.

    long story short, last night, i tried to install partition magic 8 and upon starting it up, i got the blue screen of death, now the comp wont start due to windows thinking the drive (C:\ ...os) is unallocated space (new hd from dell coming in 3 days)

    is there any way to get windows to recognize the capacity without going through this again.

    -jl
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2015
    jlcool007, Sep 11, 2007
    #1
  2. knightingmagic

    knightingmagic Notebook Deity

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    I thought BIOS updates and Windows XP SP2 fixed the 127GB limit.
     
    knightingmagic, Sep 11, 2007
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  3. Mimino

    Mimino Notebook Communist

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    jut do a clean install to be sure it's not the windows problem
     
    Mimino, Sep 11, 2007
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  4. jlcool007

    jlcool007 Notebook Enthusiast

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    well, i jsut tried and the hd in the lappy wont accept a reformat or a new partition, so i'm gonna have to wait for dell on this one.

    also, can't i just extend the partition on another system? and then put it back into the ext. enc.?
     
    jlcool007, Sep 11, 2007
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  5. Jarrod

    Jarrod Notebook Evangelist

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    format it into ntfs
     
    Jarrod, Sep 11, 2007
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  6. lambchops468

    lambchops468 Notebook Evangelist

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    I have a 320 too and it came with FAT32, which did use all of the 320 Gigs.

    troubleshooting: maybe the hard drive has errors, or is not formatted properly

    solutions:
    1. Download system rescue cd 3.8.0 from this link. This is a linux live CD, with the best parition magic clone ever. DOES NOT REQUIRE INSTALLATION!!! When you burn it, select from image or image writer or something like that.

    so here are the commands if you aren't 1337 it linux.

    assuming that this is a new HDD and it shouldn't be borked/errors/other wierd stuff:

    after it loads up, type these commands:

    startx
    [then hit enter] -- after it all loads up, on the right hand side there is a toolbar, and select gparted (or just right click on the blank desktop and select gparted). This is the partitioner.

    edit, drag, or whatever to the partitions on your hard drive.

    if this doesn't work, say so and i'll post more.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2015
    lambchops468, Sep 11, 2007
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  7. jlcool007

    jlcool007 Notebook Enthusiast

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    so i used partition magic on my xp machine (at home) and extended the partitions. I plugged them into the lappy and voila! 289gigs x2 (for two drives)


    also, anyone know of some good reliable backup programs?
     
    jlcool007, Sep 13, 2007
    #7