Need help setting up 300 gb SATA drive

[PascalT]

Just installed all my new hardware, all is fine except

- Windows won't see my 300gb Maxtor drive (do i need sp 2?)

- Should I format it with fdisk or with something like Partition Magic?

- Can Iformat it correctly without sp2? would fdisk even see it correctly?

- Would the winXP install see it correctly if i just format it/install windows on it?


thanks

 

[ver00]

Go ahead and format about 50 gigs or so of it and install Windows on it. Once you get that done and get Windows running install SP1 or SP2 whichever, they both will show it as 300 in the disc management.

 

[PascalT]

ok, what if i want to partition it after, what's the best way to do that?

 

[ver00]

Well what you do when you do get Windows running. Go Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Computer Management - Disc Management. Once your in there it should show you a block of unformatted space something like 240 GIGs if you did the 50 gig thing I said on the install on Windows. Once your in there you can make new partitions from there. Just righ click on the block and it will say something like new partition or something along the lines of that. It will then open up a install like window and ask you how much you want the new partition to be and what you want to name it.

Once you do that it will the format it in NTSF and then it should show up under My Computers as a new drive.

 

[PascalT]

ok nice, thanks.

should i use NTFS or fat32? never had a problemwith fat32.

 

[ver00]

Ehh stick with NTFS. I honestly don't know the difference between the two but I know that NTFS is better...lol.

*EDIT*
Also note that you need to install SP1 or SP2 before you can do what I said.

 

[PascalT]

well what is a good reason to go for NTFS?

from what i've read NTFS is actually slower than fat32.

 

[ver00]

Look at this.

As you can see it states that NTFS is better for larger drives. FAT32 is meant for smaller drives.

*EDIT*
You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process. Windows XP can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB by using the Format tool during Setup. If you need to format a volume that is larger than 32 GB, use the NTFS file system to format it. Another option is to start from a Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) Startup disk and use the Format tool included on the disk.

This was found on here.

 

[ribbon13]

Does it show up in Computer Management?

 

[ver00]

If you do what I said and format about 50 gigs or so and then install windwos and then install SP1 or SP2 then yes the remaining ammount of unformatted space will show up in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disc Management.

 

[ribbon13]

umm.. or you could make it a lot easier and try this.
before you format anything
start->run->compmgmt.msc
And look in disc management and see if its listed at all.

 

[ver00]

If you read his first post he says that he has a new hard drive. That means that he can't do that unless he's just goes ahead sets up his new 200 GIG as a slave drive and then just uses his old drive as the main one. But if he's formatting new then he's gonna need to do what I said.

 

[ribbon13]

if it is, right click on it, and you can format it to the full 300gb NTFS
if it's not, and you are currently running on a IDE, its possible, though unlikely, that you don't have the drivers for your SATA controller installed.

 

[ribbon13]

And if you read his first post he said he already installed it in the machine, which means it would show up in disk management, formatted or not. Once he formats it, it will be assigned a drive letter automattically. He could then reinstall windows on it if he wanted.

 

[ver00]

Yea is your computer even capable of using SATA? Does you motherboard support it? Or do you happen to have a SATA card?

 

[ver00]

I read it as he was having problems with it not showing up when he was trying to do a fresh install of windows on it with nothing else. Also I wasn't sure if he meant that he was just hooking it up and running it seperatly with his old drive having the operating system on it.

 

[ribbon13]

Since he said windows won't see it, I presumed he meant he installed as a secondary/storage and booted up and it didn't show up in explorer. Which of course it wouldn't since it's new and unformatted, and thus lacks a drive letter.

 

[aplefka]

Ack.. this thread should've been on top earlier. I already committed to buying Partition Magic from an AT member earlier. Oh well, can't hurt to help the local AT economy

 

[ribbon13]

Too bad the results of wether we helped him solve his problem are not showing up 'asap.'

 

[PascalT]

sorry ribbon, i had to sleep, i had been working on the new comp for 5 hrs.

thank you all for your help.


yes it's a brand new drive
i do want to install windows on it
i am on an old drive right now

what i will try to do is install sp2 on this windows, and see if it sees the drive then, then i can format/partition from windows itself. if that doesn't work i;ll do it from the XP setup.

i;m a bit weary of NTFS tho..despite what you said..

 

[GTaudiophile]

WTF dude. NTFS is WAY WAY better than FAT32. When I think of FAT32, I think of Windows 98. When I think of NTFS, I think of Windows 2000. If you think the only difference between them is two years in the name, you're nutz!

Go with NTFS and never look back.

 

[lapierrem]

use fat32 for a partition if you need access to it from linux. Otherwise use NTFS. NTFS allows for >4GB files, which you will need if you ever plan to copy a DVD

 

[PascalT]

i got it set, i didn't even have to install sp2 for windows to be able to see/partition/format it.

thanks!

 

[suse920]

Originally posted by: ver00
If you read his first post he says that he has a new hard drive. That means that he can't do that unless he's just goes ahead sets up his new 200 GIG as a slave drive and then just uses his old drive as the main one. But if he's formatting new then he's gonna need to do what I said.

there is no slave in SATA.

 

[suse920]

Originally posted by: PascalT
sorry ribbon, i had to sleep, i had been working on the new comp for 5 hrs.

thank you all for your help.


yes it's a brand new drive
i do want to install windows on it
i am on an old drive right now

what i will try to do is install sp2 on this windows, and see if it sees the drive then, then i can format/partition from windows itself. if that doesn't work i;ll do it from the XP setup.

i;m a bit weary of NTFS tho..despite what you said..

don't be weary of it. Everyone uses it now