Sony VGN-S260 maximum hard drive capacity?

The hdd in my S260 failed so I replaced it with a 160gb Seagate Momentus 5400.3. It is only reporting the drive as 137gb in the BIOS. I checked for BIOS updates and none of them mention increasing the supported drive size.

So, is 137gb the largest capacity the S260 can support? is there a workaround?

Thanks!

 

bump

Anyone?

 

The VGN-S260 has a Bios limitation at 137GB.
This is a LBA issue.
You can make use of the full 160GB by making a split partition. You can use partition magic, or Gpart to make a separate partition so you can use the remaining 23gb of the harddrive.

K-TRON

 

Awesome, thanks! So, I can easily take PartitionMagic and, without having to reformat or anything, simply create a new partition?

Thanks again!

 

Yes, you can create a partition without reinstalling the operating system.
It is fairly easy.
But if you have any issues, report back and we can help you out

K-TRON

 

Awesome thanks man. I am familiar with Partition Magic, creating and managing partitions etc. I'm about to split up my drive now. Should PM automatically see the full hdd even though it is only 137gb in the BIOS? I haven't used PM in several years but I'm guessing that not a lot has changed.

 

Oh, as a side question, while I'm messing with the partitions, is it worth the bother to set up a separate partition for the swapfile in WinXP? I haven't bothered since using Win98, as in Win2k and XP I figured the file system management was better.

 

Well PM will read the capacity from the model of the drive. So yes it should see the full 160gb. Unfortunately you cannot resize the 137gb partition to 160gb because of the Bios limit. You need to just create a second partition to 23gb. Or you can modify both partitions and split the 160gb any way you want.

Second thing:
You can set up a separate parttion for swap files, but a second partition of 23gb is a huge swap space.
You can make a partition of 20gb and another partition of 3gb and use the 3gb partition as swap space.

Are you using the NTFS file system or FAT?

K-TRON

 

NTFS

What I was figuring was say, 10gb-25gb for my system files and programs. 1.5gb for the swapfile (it's set at 1000mb, fixed) and the rest left open for music, videos and other large type files.

Basically 3 partitions.

C: (system)
D: (media)
E: (swapfile)

 

That should be fine.
1Gb swap space is fine.
The only downfall of the VGN-S260 was the unconventional sony microdimm memory. They are so expensive. If you have less than 512mb of memory a 1-2gb swap space will greatly speed up the system.

EDIT:

Just make the operating system the first partition.
than make the swap space second
and tons of files into the last partition.

Setting the operating system and programs on the first partition will use the outermost part of the harddrive platter where read/write speeds are the fastest. That will insure faster loading times.
swapspace is like virtual memory so you want that to be easily accessed for more speed

K-TRON

 

Roger. Working on the partitions now. Minimum partition for the system is around 40gb, so that's what it'll be.

Yeah, I only have 512mb. I really wish I'd have gotten a full 1gb, but back when I got it 512 was adequate. I run a 1gb swap and am thinking about going up just a bit, so may set up a 2.5gb partition for the swap file.

Does having a separate partition for the swapfile really make any difference on WinXP?

 

My VGN-S260 only has 256mb

If your programs are using a lot of virtual memory, the swap space will be very beneficial for loading and such.
On a lot of older systems, having a swap space on a decently fast drive was like creating more memory for the system.

K-TRON

 

Ok, one more last question for ya.

PM is showing 152gb available for C:

For convenience, I prefer running a single partition.

Will I actually be able to run a single partition or will this cause problems? Would it be safer to go ahead and set up separate partitions?

Thanks again, you've been great and super helpful!

 

If you set up a 152Gb partition, I am not sure what the system will do.
Since your system has a Bios reading limit at 137Gb, I am not sure that it will see the drive if you make it a 152gb drive.

You can test. It would be awesome if your system could see it as a 152gb drive, but if it does not the only other option is to create multiple partitions.

K-TRON

 

Ok, I'm going to be safe and separate the drive out. I just don't feel like having to reformat, reinstall etc. if running a >137gb partition. If the BIOS won't see it, I'm not going to force the issue. I'm just happy to get full usage out of my hdd.

Thanks again mate, you've been a great help. No one anywhere else had the answer to this question.

 

Well good luck with the system.

I am glad I was able to help.

I just got my VGN-S260 like three days ago.
Unfortunately mine is missing critical pieces to work. I dont have a power adaptor, battery or that flexible ide ribbon cable for the harddrive.
If I cant find the parts, I will most likely part the system out.

I must say that it is by far the lightest laptop I have ever used. Its so thin too

K-TRON

 

Well, I tried to resize the primary partition and on reboot PM said the drive couldn't be found in boot mode so it failed to change the partition. bleh

 

can you still boot windows through safe mode?

What partition sizes did you go with?

K-TRON

 

All I did was change the size of the primary partition. It is currently 131gb and I went to set it to 40gb. It wouldn't change it. I didn't try to add any other partitions or allocate the unused space. Windows is booting fine normally. PM didn't actually do a thing.

 

Before reboot PM was seeing the unallocated part of the drive. Now it is only reporting like 7.8mb as unallocated. bleh this is irritating

 

hmm,
how much data do you have on the drive?
If you have more than 40gb of data on the drive, and you try to make a 40gb partition PM will fail.

EDIT:
You may have to go into disc management and format the partitions made. From their they can be seen by the operating system.

To get to disc management:
go to control panel, select "Administrative tools"
than select "Computer management"
than click "storage"
In the new window, lick "disc management"

K-TRON

 

I have about 37gb of data, thus the 40gb size. I was going to do that, partition out a second drive, move the data off of C: that I didn't want and change the C: partition a bit smaller again, to 20gb-25gb.

 

If PM keeps failing in your laptop, you may want to take the harddrive out of your VGN-S260 and connect it to a desktop via a enclosure/adaptor. From their you should be able to use the other system to change the partition size. You may be having problems doing partitions on the laptop because of the size limitation

K-TRON

 

Well, nothing can seem to see the 22gb of unallocated space anymore. I tried Acronis Disk Director and it doesn't see it either. Bleh where did it go?

 

You see only 137GB.
How much is it in Windows ? 137GB or 128GB ? And which Windows and SP have you got ?

It is an IDE drive ? (It should be ) Have you tried updating the BIOS to the latest version, or check for an option in the BIOS which enables 48-bit LBA or large LBA, etc.

Check out this tool.

Also, if possible....download and run CPU-Z and upload a screenshot of the Mainboard page as an attachment.

Also, load GParted LiveCD, and see if the whole 160GB is detected or not.

 

WinXP Pro SP3

Windows says the drive capacity is:
137,427,943,424 bytes 127gb in drive properties

That is what Windows has always reported. PartitionMagic saw a 152gb (give or take a gig) drive, and I had about 20gb unallocated. When I tried to make use of that space I got a report that PM couldn't do anything with it and now nothing sees the missing space.

Yes, it's an IDE drive.

I have CPU-Z. No screenie, but I can give you the info easily enough.

Manufacturer: blank (it's a Sony VGN-S260)
Model: blank
Chipset: Intel i855PM, rev. A3
Southbridge: Intel 82801DB (ICH4-M)

BIOS
Phoenix, of course, version R0072G4, 12/23/2004 (this is the latest BIOS I could find)


I looked for drivers specific to the southbridge but could not find any. In fact the drivers on Sony's site haven't been updated since 2004 (some of the drivers are from 2001) and I can't find any newer drivers anywhere for the machine.

I couldn't get GParted LiveCD to work right the last time I tried it. I'll give it one more shot though.

 

Oh and the bigLBAtool said I passed.

 

bigLBAtool basically just saw XP SP3, and said 48-bit LBA PASSED !!

Anyway, see if you can find any HDD-related options in the BIOS. And, GParted is extremely easy to use. Have a look at its documentation.

You can try updating the chipset driver, but I don't think its gonna help.

Also, if you can download HD Tune, and upload a screenshot of the INFO Page (Alt+PrtScr), that'll be helpful as well.

 

There are no hdd options in the BIOS. I have the latest version available.

I didn't realize you had to boot into GParted. I'll burn a copy and boot from it in the next couple of days. I just installed a ton of .NET developer tools and would hate to have to lose information due to an error while trying to get the unallocated space.

I have tried the chipset driver Intel offers. Nothing changed. I don't think it even installed correctly.

Speaking of drivers, where the can I get some newer drivers for this laptop? Some of them date back to 2001.

I'll check out HDTune tonight and see what's up.

Thanks!

 

Alright, I checked out HD Tune. I'm goign to guess you want the drive info.

Firmware: 3.ALE
Serial: 5MACVJY6
Capacity: 128.0GB (~137.4 GB)
Buffer: 8192KB

It sees it as having 48bit addressing.

 

Standard: Supported & Active ?

The HDD supports 48-bit addressing, but the BIOS or chipset does not.

Have you tried partitioning in GParted ?

 

48-bit active.

I have not tried GParted yet. I guess I need to do that tonight if I can just find a blank CD. lol

Partition Magic saw the unallocated space when I first loaded it. I tried to change the partitions around to use the space and when I rebooted it said that it oculdn't do it. Now, nothing can see the unallocated space.