Hard Drive 20gb but PC says its only 2gb

[pauld13]

I recently replaced the Hard drive in my daughters Compaq Presario 5080us....I started with a win98se full install..upgraded to Me..and finally to xp home..no problems up to there..when I went to install sp2 for xp I got the message there was not enough space on the Hard Drive well since I installed a 20gb as was the original and that was plenty big enough I checked the drive capacity in windows explorer and sure enough it said 2gb actually 1.99gb and it was just about full I took the drive out and checked the label just to be sure and it says 20gb. I checked the product thru Seagate (just in case the guy I bought it from switched the label, hey you never know) and it came back as a 20gb drive..there are 4 jumper position positions and I tried them all with the same result...the drive is a Seagate u series 5 20gb..somehow I don't think the brand or model matter and its probably a software issue..but since I'm not stupid enough to pay Microsoft  $59.95 to answer questions about their own software.. and HP just has no clue..I need ideas on what else to do to get the drive to know what the real numbers are...  Thank You

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[Broni]

You need to select "Large Drive Support" when you FDISK the drive, otherwise you end up with a 2GB (1.99) partitions.

[pauld13]

I did not do fdisk...just did the full install of 98se and yhen the upgrades..do I need to start from scratch..and how do I go about the fdisk part..Thank you

[Broni]

I recently replaced the Hard drive

You formatted it, before installing Windows, right?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/221829

Before you install Windows 98 on an empty hard disk, you must first create a primary partition and then format a file system on that partition. Each allocated space on the hard disk (primary partition or logical drive) is assigned a drive letter. Windows 98 supports the FAT16 and FAT32 file systems. When you run the Fdisk tool on a hard disk that is larger than 512 MB, you are prompted to choose a file system.

The FAT16 file system has a maximum of 2 gigabytes (GB) for each allocated space, or drive letter. For example, if you use the FAT16 file system and you have a 6-GB hard disk, you can have three drive letters (C, D, and E), each with 2 GB of allocated space.

The FAT32 file system supports drives up to 2 terabytes in size

[pauld13]

Nope I didn't just put the disk in and away I went...I didn't even think about it..just figured hey its a new drive it comes already formatted ...what a dope..I have new made installs before but always on a used drive..always formatted it then..though I never did fdisk..I'm going to try reformat and fdisk today..I'll let you know how it goes...Thanks

[squall_01]

You probably some how made a 2gb partiton even thought the drives are blank they dont come partitoned.  Witch is probably why your only seeing that much.

[pauld13]

well I finally got it to work right...I formatted the drive..did fdisk..large drive support..3 times before I realized I already had a partition that needed to be deleted and repartitioned before it would work..just wanted to say thanks for all the help...I'm sure I'll be back in the future..lol

Thanks you so much...Paul

[Broni]

Good job
Thanks for posting back.