Hardware Forums - View Single Post - Windows XP Pro not detecting total drive capacity

Krusty · 16-11-2004, 03:03 PM

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forums and I have to say that it looks like a great place for resources :-)

I have recently purchased a new Dell Dimension 4700 P4 3.0Ghz 800FSB, 512MB RAM and a 250GB Hard drive with Windows XP Home Edition and I have to say that it works like a dream, however, due to personal computing demands I have decided to install Windows XP Pro. I put in the original XP Pro CD and boot up from it but when I reach the disk partition part of the install, it is only showing 130GB! I then removed the CD and put in the XP Home Edition and tried to run an install of that to see if the problem reoccurrs and no, it picks up a 250GB hard disk. Confused! I checked out my BIOS and it has detected a 250GB SATA drive and it is the latest BIOS version for my model.

I called the Dell support line and they advised me that the reason that this might be happening is because I need to install the 64-bit version of XP Pro on my pc for it to detect the 250GB drive - but this pc has a 32-bit architecture? What gives? Any ideas please? I just want to find out before I go out and buy the 64-bit version of XP.

Many thanks in advance everyone :-)

Krusty

16-11-2004, 03:03 PM	#1 (permalink) Top
Krusty Geek Trainee Join Date: Nov 2004 Age: 90 Posts: 3 Status: Offline	Windows XP Pro not detecting total drive capacity Hi Everyone, I'm new to the forums and I have to say that it looks like a great place for resources :-) I have recently purchased a new Dell Dimension 4700 P4 3.0Ghz 800FSB, 512MB RAM and a 250GB Hard drive with Windows XP Home Edition and I have to say that it works like a dream, however, due to personal computing demands I have decided to install Windows XP Pro. I put in the original XP Pro CD and boot up from it but when I reach the disk partition part of the install, it is only showing 130GB! I then removed the CD and put in the XP Home Edition and tried to run an install of that to see if the problem reoccurrs and no, it picks up a 250GB hard disk. Confused! I checked out my BIOS and it has detected a 250GB SATA drive and it is the latest BIOS version for my model. I called the Dell support line and they advised me that the reason that this might be happening is because I need to install the 64-bit version of XP Pro on my pc for it to detect the 250GB drive - but this pc has a 32-bit architecture? What gives? Any ideas please? I just want to find out before I go out and buy the 64-bit version of XP. Many thanks in advance everyone :-) Krusty