Detecting H-D

[elitehak]

Hi,

Installed a new hardrive, Western Digital, 10 GB
I have an old BIOS, the system only detects 8.4GB.

What are the different options for my system to view the whole 10 GB (apart from flashing the BIOS) ? I have heard there is some program that does this ?

Any ideas would be appreciated

Elitehak

[diurnal]

Updating your bios can be complicated and you will have some hardships in doing so, i would recommend a motherboard upgrade. You can manually put the numbers in the bios and that might recognize it, but it probably will not recognize the whole drive. Check the manufacturer of the hard drives website, they might have some bios you can add to your own and it might work, but i would go with the upgrade.

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Sledgehammer will save the day!

[Rick]

Here is a link to the WD site for there EZ Install program that will/should help you .
http://www.westerndigital.com/service/ftp/drives.html#dlgtools

However Before using this program I would recommend checking your mother board
And finding an update for the Bios.

Flashing a bios isn’t really that hard to do.
If you take the needed precautions and follow the directions.
****** Check the Mother Board manual for Flash Jumpers********
******Some require you to set a jumper to allow flash to work*****

Most ( if not all ) flash programs allow you to make a backup of the current bios.
They require you to create a Boot disk ( Floppy) and copy the flash program and the bios update to that disk.

You should make a written note of the new bios file name before starting.
When prompted to save the OLD bios allow the program to do so.
You will be asked to supply a file name. ( I always use the old bios date as the name (101298))
then just allow the program to perform the flash.

Do NOT do this if you have an unreliable power source. ( Wall Out let) or brown outs.
Allow the flash program to finish completely and when it finishes it’s error checking
You should have an updated bios

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To ERR is HUMAN
To REALLY screw things UP, YOU NEED a COMPUTER !

[elitehak]

Hi,

Thanks for the additional info.
The system is a clone, i have no documentation. Made up from scratch.
I heard though there is a program, Ontrack software to create an overlay of the drive ?

Could this be an easier option since i have no documentation ?

Any feedback is welcomed

Thanks

Elitehak

[Rick]

Ontrack is basically the same program as what is available at the WD site,

To get the info needed to update your Bios.
You can open up the case and look at the Mother board for the Manufacturers name and model number .
With that info you can obtain an updated bios IF available

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To ERR is HUMAN
To REALLY screw things UP, YOU NEED a COMPUTER !

[BigBlue66]

Hey,

Western Digital's disk management software is called Data Life Guard tools. If you bought that harddrive retail, there should have been a bootable floppy drive included with it, labeled Data Life Guard. If no disk, then you can download it from their site and make a bootable disk yourself.

You can use that disk to boot up the computer and run the EZ-BIOS setup, or whatever it's called, if you're uncomfortable with flashing the motherboard BIOS. Just follow the directions. Like OnGuard, the WD tools will install Disk Drive Overlay software on the harddrive, so that the system will recognize the full capacity of the harddrive.

Good luck.

Big Blue 66


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Life = Karma, or is it, Karma = Life?