Win 2000Pro partition limit?

Discussion in 'Windows & Other OS Discussion & Support' started by HMS-Dreadnought, Jul 18, 2005.

  1. HMS-Dreadnought

    HMS-Dreadnought New Member

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    Well I just got my brand new Maxtor max10 250GB hard disk.

    My bios seems to see it's 251GB's, But when I put the windows 2000pro CD in to set up partition's and install windows, etc,..

    Windows said there was only 130 GB's of un-partitioned space. :sigh: :confused: .

    Dose this mean that Win2000Pro dosn't reconise more than 130 GB's? :tears: .


    anybody here know if win2000pro only suports hard disks up to 130 GB's?

    Plz help. i really am feeling like,.. >:tears:
     
  2. swimtech

    swimtech Well-Known Member

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    I'm not MCSA certified, but got this chart to explain cluster sizes which limit your volume size in a Fat32 partition. Seems that Win2000 only supports partition sizes of 130Gb (give or take...) when the cluster size is set to 512 bytes. The chart available here:

    http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/sampchap/6119b.asp


    This is a sample page from MCSA training materials - scroll to nearly the bottom of the page for the chart that shows the volume limitations by cluster size...
     
  3. The_Neon_Cowboy

    The_Neon_Cowboy Well-Known Member

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    If its ATA133 use the mator to set up the drive it sond like you need to use the easy
    bios program maxtor setup will install it if it's needed... Check for a bios update...

    Make sure your useing NTFS and not FAT32

    Makre sure you installing windows 2000 Service pack 4, Not any earlier!
    If you don't have one make a slipsteam install anbd use that CD instead.

    Hopefully that helps I think 2000 is limited to 137GB max partition size
    by defult But I'm pretty sure that limitation was adressed / removed in
    2000 service Pack 4.
     
  4. HMS-Dreadnought

    HMS-Dreadnought New Member

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    Whats that? are you saying that the hard drive will/can set it's self up?

    How do I get it to do that?

    Oh,.. and Can I get SP4 as an update from online? or somthing?
     
  5. The_Neon_Cowboy

    The_Neon_Cowboy Well-Known Member

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    or.com
    Yes&yes, but you need to make a spliptream install fot windows 200

    Windows 2000 SP4
    http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE

    Slipstream instuctions take you pick
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=2000+sp4+slipstream+instructions&btnG=Search



    Se up the drive useinh the maxtor utillity
    Maxblast 4 Bootable CD...
    http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=/en_us/Support/Software%20Downloads/ATA%20Hard%20Drives&downloadID=19

    There a floppy version on there website
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2005
  6. HMS-Dreadnought

    HMS-Dreadnought New Member

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    one little thing,...


    With the exception of the 'sci-fi' slipstream,.. , I have NO idea what one of them is.
     
  7. The_Neon_Cowboy

    The_Neon_Cowboy Well-Known Member

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    Windows 2000 sp3 and below cannot use a partion larger then 137GB
    Windows 2000 Sp4 Can use a partion larger then 137GB

    Some bioses will not properly be able to read a large drive even on some
    newer boards like my old asus nforce2 utlra had that problem with a drive..
    That had been zero filled...

    The maxtor tool wil let you set up the drive but it will also let you see if its being
    read properly and will load ez bios or a "DDO" dynamic disk overlay if the system
    needs it...If it does then you can't boot drictly from a CD or boot disk, you boot to the
    hard driveand it will ask for a short time if you'd like to boot from floppy or CD rom... then go back to booting from the hard drive. Becouse the DDO has to loaded first..

    A sip steam install is just intergating the service pack into the CD so it installs 2000 Sp4
    Vs you old CD winn install what ever version it is. Then haveing to load the service pack
    But at that point you will have screwd the puch becouse you could be goinng corrpted files etc... Becouse windows 2000 pre sp4 doesnt support a partion that large...
    .....

    If you want just create a 137GB partion and then create partitons after that
    and forget about it, But this isn't hard
     
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2005
  8. HMS-Dreadnought

    HMS-Dreadnought New Member

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    I created the partition, but all it said was there afterwards was only 8mb's of unpartitioned disk space??????


    Also,.. acording to one of the links you gave me,.. the drive will only go up to 127gb's if i'm using 512cliuster.

    but if i use 1kb cluster it will go up to 255GB's.

    I don't know what cluster size windows is useing, but i tyed to install anyways, and windows said my drive was exsactly 127 GB's. So maybe it's defulting to the 512 cluster size, perhaps.

    I don't really understand enough about it. but if there is a coommand line or something to tell windows to use 1kb cluster, then would it work up to a 255 GB HDD?

    If so,.. how do you make sure it uses 1kb clusters?
     
  9. mkk

    mkk Well-Known Member

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    It's possible that your Win2000 installation needs an update to support large drives, just like how a vanilla WinXP does. I guess that the update should be included in the latest service pack for Win2000.

    You can check the cluster size of a partition by running "chkdsk" in a command prompt. It will report something like "4096 bytes in each allocation unit" and unless the NTFS handling in Win2000 is that much different from WinXP it probably defaults to 4k clusters.
     
  10. The_Neon_Cowboy

    The_Neon_Cowboy Well-Known Member

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    For now load
    http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/6/A/E6A04295-D2A8-40D0-A0C5-241BFECD095E/W2KSP4_EN.EXE
    see were it gets you....




    (A tool like partiton majic will let you resize clusters)
     
  11. PangingJr

    PangingJr Member

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    48-bit LBA large-disk support in Windows 2000 and XP.


    for Windows 2000, Service Pack 3 or later must be installed, and enable the 48-bit LBA large-disk support in the Windows registry. see more info in these articles...

    List of Fixes in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3
    - Q305098. 48-bit LBA Support for ATAPI Disk Drives in Windows 2000 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305098

    - 48-bit LBA and Windows 2000
    http://www.48bitlba.com/win2k.htm


    for Windows XP...
    Windows XP SP1 includes 48-bit LBA support for ATAPI disk drives. With this support, you can use HDDs that are larger than 128 GB (in binary measure or 137 decimal).
    By default, support is enabled in XP SP1. also, by default, the original release version of Windows XP Home Edition and of Windows XP Professional do not have 48-bit LBA support. see more info in these articles

    - How to enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing support for ATAPI disk drives in Windows XP
    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en;Q303013

    - Windows and Big Hard Drives
    http://www.chrisshort.net/archives/2005/01/windows-and-big-hard-drives.php
     
  12. swimtech

    swimtech Well-Known Member

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    Uh! I remember this issue now! I have a 160Gb Maxtor (it was really cheap - post Thanksgiving day sale at Staples...) that I had to use the Maxblast software to partition and format (I did it NTFS and Fat 32 to set up for dual boot XP and 98se) in order to use all the space on the drive. When I booted with the WinXP install disk to partition/format, it didn't see all the space.

    Long story short, use the Maxblast boot CD to set up the partition/s you want (also available on the Ultimate Boot Disk - boy, sure have had to use that as a reference tool a lot lately...thanks again Ctrl-Alt-Del!), shut down and boot with the XP install disk to format and install the OS. Read the prompts in the utility and installation software as you work - you'll figure it out...
     
  13. HMS-Dreadnought

    HMS-Dreadnought New Member

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    Sounds usefull,... thanks.

    Or at least it would be, if my power suply haddn't have blowen up today.:duh:
    Muhahahahahahahahahahaha,...!!!!!!!!!

    honest to god, true story.

    I have to find it funny u see,.. otherwize :tears:
     
  14. HMS-Dreadnought

    HMS-Dreadnought New Member

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    What next?,... I can't wait to see what happenes tomorow.
    Perhaps the earth might open up, and god could take my car. or maybe the house. :(
     
  15. HMS-Dreadnought

    HMS-Dreadnought New Member

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    Oh, allmost forgot to ask..

    Where do I get these things from?
     
  16. swimtech

    swimtech Well-Known Member

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    Sorry to hear about that PSU - ouch. :sigh:

    Just browse on over to the Technology Discussion and Support forum here - it's the top stickied post - will take you to the Ultimate Boot Disk CD home page. The download link is on the left...

    Before you turn left, always be sure to yield to oncoming traffic... ;)
     

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