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Help!! WD 200GB Hdd's problem???

Discussion in 'Storage and Networking' started by darkeye, May 14, 2003.

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  1. darkeye Newcomer, in training

    Help!! WD 2000GB Hdd's problem???

    hi,
    First thankx for reading,
    I have got a Spacewalker / Shuttle AK35GTR Mainboard and have just invested in two beautiful Western digital 200GB hard drives Model numbers:
    WDC WD2000JB-00DUA0

    They have an 8 MB cash and when attached to the onboard raid (strip mode) should show a lovely 400GB of available partitioning/formatting space : )

    HOWEVER!!!
    For some dam reason I think it must be my BIOS the drives only show 137GB of available space each.

    Can anyone please help me!!!????

    I would hate to think that i just spent £320 on two drives that are going to be wasting nearly 140GB of space : (

    I appreciate your help thankx a lot.

    Bo.
    :eek: :eek:
    darkeye, May 14, 2003
    #1

  2. ---agissi--- TechSpot Paladin

    2000 GB Hard drives? :D

    Well I've heard about this problem, and read about it too...cant find the article though :(

    Though I can tell you theres a way to fix this :)
    ---agissi---, May 14, 2003
    #2

  3. Nic TechSpot Paladin

    In order to recognise hard drives greater than 137GB you need to have an ATA-133 IDE controller. That 137GB is the size limit for ATA-100 controllers.

    You must have purchased the older version of that board, with the KT266A chipset, as opposed to the newer KT333 chipset version.

    All is not lost as you can download the Data Lifeguard utility from western digital, which may allow you to use the full 200GB of your hard drive (not certain as their info is not very clear). Personally, I don't trust these software drive mapping utilities as any software error will result in complete loss of data. This has happened to me at least a couple of times in the past.

    You can find the Data Lifeguard Tool over here (plus info on the 137GB barrier) ...

    Data LifeGuard

    Your best bet is to get a new mainboard, as running those drives on an incompatable system can result in data loss.

    Quote: "There is some risk to your data if you use a drive that is larger than 137GB and your system does not support it properly. Once the operating system has used all the bits that it does support to access the drive, it may begin writing over data that already exists at the beginning of the drive. If the operating system files are overwritten, the operating system is rendered unbootable and inaccessible. Drivers or Service Packs for the operating system are necessary to overcome this issue."
    Nic, May 14, 2003
    #3

  4. ---agissi--- TechSpot Paladin

    Or - Save yourself alot of money and simply get a controller card ;) Heres one off of newegg (2nd down)...supports ATA133, and supports upto 4 drives. A mere $20 too.

    Enjoy
    ---agissi---, May 14, 2003
    #4

  5. Rick TechSpot Staff

    Controller cards are the answer here.

    Perhaps the Data lifeguard utilities can "bypass" the 137GB limit, but this may give you future problems.

    A cheap ATA-133 PCI card is going to run about $25.00 USD... Not only will it support 137GB or larger, but it will add an extra IDE port or two for you. :) So it is well worth investing in as you can hook up to 4 more drives in addition to your the IDE channels on your board.
    Rick, May 14, 2003
    #5

  6. Nic TechSpot Paladin

    Controller cards are fine, but you need to be aware of a couple of potential issues ...

    1. You may not be able to install a boot device on the controller card (you need to check the card docs, and the mainboard docs), and so may still require a smaller hard drive attached to your mainbard controller in order to boot your PC.

    2. These controllers only accept hard drives, and don't work with other IDE devices such as CDROM, despite what the documentation tells you. I have a Promise Ultra100TX2 controller and had a lot of problems intially, until a bios update was released. Now everything is fine, though CDROMs still don't work.

    Controller cards are cheap and definitly worth a go, but if your mainboard is new, then it might be worth seeing if you can swap it first.
    Nic, May 15, 2003
    #6

  7. Nodsu Newcomer, in training

    At least on some controllers the limitation can be overcome by software. For example there is a BIOS update available for my KT7 (ATA-66 controller) that allows drives bigger than 137 GB.

    I'd suggest looking at the mobo manufacturer's website for a BIOS update.
    Nodsu, May 16, 2003
    #7

  8. LNCPapa TS Special Forces

    Here is an easy way around this problem if you're not booting from them. Install the Intel Application Accelerator and reboot - they will show up.

    LNCPapa
    LNCPapa, May 16, 2003
    #8

  9. Rick TechSpot Staff

    There is also a registry key in Windows 2000/XP that will do the same thing, I believe.
    Rick, May 16, 2003
    #9

  10. illbot Newcomer, in training

    I KNOW WHAT TO DO

    hey man, i hate all the same issues as you with my friends wd200gb drive

    the solution is, after you put on all those suposed "fixes" (atapy.sys, regedit), you need to (assuming your using Xp pro) goto control panel, administrative tools, computer management, storage, disk management local.

    once there you will probably see that your drive is split into 2 partitions, the 127g and a 60 gig...

    delete the first partition, the other one should disapear, then create a new one, ntfs, max size.... should display properly after
    by the way i used "quick format" it works well and saves time....

    goodluck, hope this saves you like 6 hours.....
    WD needs to make installing drives a helluva lot easier, thats just my 2 cents
    illbot, Aug 28, 2003
    #10

  11. young&wild TechSpot Chancellor

    Re: I KNOW WHAT TO DO

    Its not WD's fault, you will encounter any problem with a 200GB from any manufacturer. Its just the limit on a ATA-100 controllers(137GB).
    young&wild, Aug 28, 2003
    #11
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