WD Hard Drive Size Issue

Windows XP with Service Pack 1 has the 48 bit addressing.

"Grinder" wrote in message
news:ck9zg.866512$084.32494@attbi_s22...
Carl Lucas wrote:
Have a Dell Dimension 8300 desktop. Just installed a Western Digital 160
gig hard drive without any problems. An issue is that the set up shows
the drive as 160 gig. However in Windows it shows it as a 126 gig.
What's with that?

After I installed it I went to "Control Panel", "Administrative Tools",
"Computer Management", "Disk Management". There it showed the drive as
126 gig. Of course I had to format it so I did.

So why is it shown as 126 and not 160?

To fully use drives larger than 127GB, you need 48-bit addressing. This
may not be implemented by your PC's BIOS. If you go into your BIOS setup,
can it see the full capacity of the drive?

It also must be enabled within windows. That comes with Windows 2000 SP4
and higher, or Windows XP SP2 and higher.

"VWWall" wrote in message
.net...
Carl Lucas wrote:

Drive manufacturers consider 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes, but Windows
thinks that 1GB = 1024^3 bytes. So 152,625MB (in Windows) =
160,038,912,000 bytes



Thanks!

There's a class action under way now, claiming WD uses misleading size
figures. You can join if you've bought a WD drive recently. Only the
lawyers get any money! :-)

--
Virg Wall

Only the
lawyers get any money! :-)

Been that way for years!

As for the OP;

You still need to run their software to change registry settings in windows.

datalifeguard for windows 11.2
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1

Lawsuit;

http://www.wdc.com/settlement/login.asp?bhcp=1

C.

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage wrote:

wrote:
Carl Lucas wrote:
Grinder wrote:
Carl Lucas wrote:
Have a Dell Dimension 8300 desktop. Just installed a Western Digital 160
gig hard drive without any problems. An issue is that the set up shows
the drive as 160 gig. However in Windows it shows it as a 126 gig.
What's with that?

After I installed it I went to "Control Panel", "Administrative Tools",
"Computer Management", "Disk Management". There it showed the drive as
126 gig. Of course I had to format it so I did.

So why is it shown as 126 and not 160?

To fully use drives larger than 127GB, you need 48-bit addressing. This
may not be implemented by your PC's BIOS. If you go into your BIOS
setup, can it see the full capacity of the drive?

It also must be enabled within windows. That comes with Windows 2000
SP4 and higher, or Windows XP SP2 and higher.

The Bios does see it as a Western Digital 160. How do I enable it in
Windows? I suppose I'll have to reformat it also.

If you're using Windows XP, just install the Service Pack like
Grinder said. Either SP1 or SP2 will do. You don't have to
enable 48-bit addressing yourself - at least I don't have to on
my machine.

Just installed SP1. (Different topic but my son says he's heard some
not too good things about SP2.) Now I get 149.05 gig. It said, as I
reformatted it, that the size was 152,625. Just confused why it's not
closer to 160 gig. Any input?

That size is correct. Microsoft uses the wrong units:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

Side note: If you do not install SP2, Windows will destroy your
data at some point, unless you only use the first 128GB of the
drive. It is a knowen issue.

Arno

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Frodo wrote:
Windows XP with Service Pack 1 has the 48 bit addressing.

Not completely. MS screwed it up. You will get data loss
if you use more than the first 128GB of the driove.

Arno


"Grinder" wrote in message
news:ck9zg.866512$084.32494@attbi_s22...
Carl Lucas wrote:
Have a Dell Dimension 8300 desktop. Just installed a Western Digital 160
gig hard drive without any problems. An issue is that the set up shows
the drive as 160 gig. However in Windows it shows it as a 126 gig.
What's with that?

After I installed it I went to "Control Panel", "Administrative Tools",
"Computer Management", "Disk Management". There it showed the drive as
126 gig. Of course I had to format it so I did.

So why is it shown as 126 and not 160?

To fully use drives larger than 127GB, you need 48-bit addressing. This
may not be implemented by your PC's BIOS. If you go into your BIOS setup,
can it see the full capacity of the drive?

It also must be enabled within windows. That comes with Windows 2000 SP4
and higher, or Windows XP SP2 and higher.

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Tom wrote:

On Jul 31 2006, Arno Wagner wrote:

Just installed SP1. (Different topic but my son says he's heard some
not too good things about SP2.) Now I get 149.05 gig. It said, as I
reformatted it, that the size was 152,625. Just confused why it's not
closer to 160 gig. Any input?

That size is correct. Microsoft uses the wrong units:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

I would suggest you re-read the article. Microsoft is not using the
"wrong units", it is the drive manufactures that are presenting drives
sizes which are technically wrong for the purpose of making the capacity
look larger.

Acftually they are required to use SI units and prefixes
by law in the civilised world (not the US, it seems).

Arno


Microsoft on the other hand, is showing you the correct
actual values in Giga-Bytes and Bytes.

Using the articles value of 30,064,771,072 Bytes, it could also be
binary converted to read as:

29,360,128 Mega-Bytes
28,672 Kilo-Bytes
28 Giga-Bytes

All of these equal the same amount. The article talks about this, and
how the drive manufactures try to confuse some people. And, it
absolutely doesn't do anyone any good to display only one converted
value for everything.

Side note: If you do not install SP2, Windows will destroy your data
at some point, unless you only use the first 128GB of the drive. It is
a knowen issue.

That's a load of crap.

--

Tom

"Arno Wagner" wrote in message
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage wrote:

wrote:
Carl Lucas wrote:
Grinder wrote:
Carl Lucas wrote:
Have a Dell Dimension 8300 desktop. Just installed a Western Digital 160
gig hard drive without any problems. An issue is that the set up shows
the drive as 160 gig. However in Windows it shows it as a 126 gig.
What's with that?

After I installed it I went to "Control Panel", "Administrative Tools",
"Computer Management", "Disk Management". There it showed the drive as
126 gig. Of course I had to format it so I did.

So why is it shown as 126 and not 160?

To fully use drives larger than 127GB, you need 48-bit addressing. This
may not be implemented by your PC's BIOS. If you go into your BIOS
setup, can it see the full capacity of the drive?

It also must be enabled within windows. That comes with Windows 2000
SP4 and higher, or Windows XP SP2 and higher.

The Bios does see it as a Western Digital 160. How do I enable it in
Windows? I suppose I'll have to reformat it also.

If you're using Windows XP, just install the Service Pack like
Grinder said. Either SP1 or SP2 will do. You don't have to
enable 48-bit addressing yourself - at least I don't have to on
my machine.

Just installed SP1. (Different topic but my son says he's heard some
not too good things about SP2.) Now I get 149.05 gig. It said, as I
reformatted it, that the size was 152,625. Just confused why it's not
closer to 160 gig. Any input?

That size is correct. Microsoft uses the wrong units:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

Side note: If you do not install SP2, Windows will destroy your
data at some point, unless you only use the first 128GB of the drive.

Hey babblebot, how can you use diskspace over 128GiB if Windows shows
only 128GiB.

And it's quite stupid of you to mock Microsoft and then use the same wrong
units yourself.

It is a knowen issue.

Of which you obviously only have half a clue.


Arno

Tom wrote:
On Jul 31 2006, Arno Wagner wrote:

Just installed SP1. (Different topic but my son says he's heard some
not too good things about SP2.) Now I get 149.05 gig. It said, as I
reformatted it, that the size was 152,625. Just confused why it's
not closer to 160 gig. Any input?

That size is correct. Microsoft uses the wrong units:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

I would suggest you re-read the article.

No need.

Microsoft is not using the "wrong units",

Fraid so.

it is the drive manufactures that are presenting
drives sizes which are technically wrong for the
purpose of making the capacity look larger.

Nope, the SI standard is the decimal GBs,
so the hard drive manufacturers are correct.

Microsoft on the other hand, is showing you the
correct actual values in Giga-Bytes and Bytes.

Nope, the SI standard GB is the decimal form.

Using the articles value of 30,064,771,072 Bytes,
it could also be binary converted to read as:

29,360,128 Mega-Bytes
28,672 Kilo-Bytes
28 Giga-Bytes

All of these equal the same amount. The article talks about this,
and how the drive manufactures try to confuse some people.

The article is just plain wrong on that.

And, it absolutely doesn't do anyone any good
to display only one converted value for everything.

That is the SI standard and the hard drive manufactures
make it VERY clear that they are using decimal GBs.

Side note: If you do not install SP2, Windows will
destroy your data at some point, unless you only use
the first 128GB of the drive. It is a knowen issue.

That's a load of crap.

What is ? If 48LBA support is not provided, you will get corruption.

c wrote:
"VWWall" wrote in message
.net...
Carl Lucas wrote:

Drive manufacturers consider 1GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes, but Windows
thinks that 1GB = 1024^3 bytes. So 152,625MB (in Windows) =
160,038,912,000 bytes



Thanks!

There's a class action under way now, claiming WD uses misleading
size figures. You can join if you've bought a WD drive recently. Only the lawyers get
any money! :-)

--
Virg Wall

Only the
lawyers get any money! :-)

Been that way for years!

As for the OP;

You still need to run their software to change registry settings in windows.

Not with XP he doesnt.

datalifeguard for windows 11.2
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=1

Lawsuit;

http://www.wdc.com/settlement/login.asp?bhcp=1

C.

Michael Cecil wrote:

Class action is over, settled. If you've bought a WD drive you can
download some backup software for free. Whoop. (Not that WD was guilty
of anything.)

Why was WD sued and not other HDD manufacturers? They all use the same
measurement for HDD capacity.

Previously Garrot wrote:
Michael Cecil wrote:

Class action is over, settled. If you've bought a WD drive you can
download some backup software for free. Whoop. (Not that WD was guilty
of anything.)

Why was WD sued and not other HDD manufacturers? They all use the same
measurement for HDD capacity.

I think WD actually diod something worse than SI. SI is clearly
correct. But, say, 159'000'000'000 bytes sold as 160GB would
be fraud.

Arno