Can windows Xp see a 500gb hard drive?

[Alisonjaynek]

Just bought a brand new computer which should come with a 500gb hd but when installing windows Xp with SP2, it came up as 235gb. I know this means it is probably a 250gb hd as you do lose some space. I have heard that it maybe a bios problem but seeing as the computer is brand new, I just can't see it.


The info that came with it though, states that using the wrong operating system can stop the real size being detected, is this true or have I been scammed?

[Raptor]

What does the BIOS report and what motherboard are you using?

Why would you be scammed? Where did you buy it?

[Spoiler]

XP can see a 500 gig drive. I run one in my machine without any trouble. You may want to try to go the hard drive web site and see if they have a driver.

[Alisonjaynek]

I say scammed because it originally came wih a 250 hd but I paid extra to upgrade to the 500 version.

The motherboard is a Asrock K10n78. I haven't checked the bios yet as i only have one monitor and am using it on my old computer to type this

[Raptor]

Ah, I'd consider selling an Asrock mainboard reason enough to be concerned about the place you purchased it at.. You might want to return the computer and get one with an Asus or Gigabyte mainboard. (Or anything that's NOT Asrock for that matter)

Don't look surprised if the capacitors burst within a year or so. If you plan on keeping the computer around, you might want to stock up on similar mainboards so you can replace 'm without having to reinstall Windows XP.

You didn't fully answer my question:

...What does the BIOS report?

Also, what does the sticker on the hard drive say?

[ultimatum]

As already mentioned, check your BIOS and see what's the capacity of the hard drive there. I have a 500GB enternal but I think they didn't upgrade your hard drive.

Did you buy your computer without a windows?

[Kurtiskain]

You are running XP you said..pro or not this should work,

Click start, run, then type diskmgmt.msc into the run box and push enter to vring up disk manager.

I say this because it MAY be a 500GB drive, just the image the company uses may have only been set for a 250GB drive and so only made a 250GB partition, see?

see if there is any extra space and if it is format the spare space into a partition and they will = your 500GB.

(by the way, you don't really lose space

It's just that the manufacturers definition of a GB is 1000KB and windows definition is 1024KB

so you aren't really losing spae, you just never had it to begin with