External HD went from 500GB to 30GB

Any of your pictures?

 

I really don't know what is on the external, it appears to be some music, maybe some photos, but both unknown quantity, just guessing.

 

I have my complete music files backed on an iPod Classic 160GB, along with some photos.

Since there is 465GB Free, I presume that 30GB+ must be in the partition?? Since I have nearly 30GB of music in the D drive, the rest must be misc photos?

"IF" access to the "missing" 35GB's is simple, I'll be glad to look into it and delete as necessary, "IF" access is overly complex or expensive, I'll simply reformat the external and have nearly 500GB once again to fill up with songs/photos.

 

Gary,

I don’t believe that you have 30+ GB of data on that drive. In fact I believe there is nothing there. A 500 GB drive as advertised should report ~465 GB in windows. Here’s an article from Seagate that explains the numbering issue. This is true of other suppliers also:

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=Storage_Capacity_Measurement_Standards_-_Seagate_Technology&vgnextoid=9493781e73d5d010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

For the range of numbers we are working with, you can expect about a 7% reduction in the capacity reported in Windows instead of the capacity indicated on the drive itself.

 

I agree with Bruce. There is no data on the external HD.

 

Sounds right to me. Let's move on to the next step.

 

Isn't it also true that since an SZ was created on the 500Gb that everything on it will be wiped before the SZ can be created? I don't dabble with the SZ at all but it seems to me that that is how the SZ would work.

 

OK. From Disk Management, right click in that SZ partition and click Delete. You should now have Free Space.

I'd use Quick Format.

Did it work OK?

 

Clicks delete:

It now reads:

Disk 3
Basic
465.76GB Online

476938MB Capacity
476938MB Unallocated Space

This is no sign of the external on MyComputer...

 

That's OK. You need to do the part in my Quote. Then you will get a drive letter and it will be seen in My Computer.

Or if you deleted the extended partition too you will need to....

 

The drive is now called Disk 3 Basic 465.76GB Online with 476983MB Capacity and Unallocated Space.

This drive does NOT show up on MyComputer...

I tried to save a webpage to it, but it's not listed...

If I right click Disk 3, it gives me:

New Partition
Properties
HELP

Whats next?

 

It will not show in MyComputer until it is formatted. Unallocated means it is un-formatted.

 

Gary, is the Quote showing in Reply #60?

 

Perhaps he could send another screen print of the current Disk Management display.

 

Pardon the last post, I didn't fully read or understand message #60, so, now it's formatting per your detailed instructions.

The format should take a while, it's now listed as Disk(J)External...

Will report after format is complete...

Thanks again..its amazing what I can learn if it's oft repeated...

 

Out of interest you can have these partition combinations. A partition can be....

Formatted with a drive letter

Formatted without a drive letter

Unformatted with a drive letter

Unformatted without a drive letter


Easy, isn't it

 

Format complete, WD 500GB external restored and recognized in MyComputer & Disk Management.

My thanks for superb tutoring...

 

Excellent. Next, we need to address Disk 0. Wait a little longer for other opinions.

 

Gary,

Congrats on getting your drive back - the bonus is that you probably learned a lot in the process.

Now we need to help you get your windows partitions (c: and I) sorted out as well.

Paul

 

Gary,

I've received several PMs and we are in agreement that your Disk 0 is a mess and probably can't be restored to a single partition OS.

So, copy all the data files (that you want to keep) from the C: and I: drives to each of the M: and J: drives. Two drives for redundancy.

Physically disconnect your second HD and external HD, for safety. You don't want to lose your data partitions.

Using a partitioning app from a boot disc, delete both partitions from Disk 0.

Boot to your WinXP CD and install Windows. Reconnect your second HD. Copy your data files back if you need them on the C: drive.

Any questions?

 

Gary Stamey,

Because of the conflicting information and possible corruption regarding your C: and I: partitions on Disk 0, the best way to fix it would probably be to reinstall XP.

If you want to do this, make sure you copy off any important files you need to save from both the C: and I: partitions. I would also recommend you have a backup of your Music partition.

To let the new installation of XP be assigned the C: drive letter, you need to make sure that the correct partition is either the only partition visible when XP is installed or that it is the first Active Primary partition detected by XP when you boot the XP installation CD.

I would suggest that you boot to the XP CD and get to the step of the installation where it's asking where you want to install Windows. At this point, delete both the partitions on Disk 0 (both the C: and I: partitions --- Note: these partitions may have different drive letter assignments when booted to the XP installation CD). IMPORTANT: Make sure you delete the partitions from the correct disk.

Then create a new partition using the entire disk. If the partition is assigned the C: drive letter, continue with the installation. If not, abort the installation and reboot the computer back into the XP installation. The new partition should now be recognized as C:. Proceed to install Windows normally, selecting NTFS for the partition's format.

 

This is an option and a good one. One note that I would make is that when the drive is reconnected it will be assigned the next available drive letter (after all CD/DVD drives, media drives, etc.). This can be fixed by shuffling drive letter assignments around in Disk Management after Windows is installed.

If you don't care about the hard drive's letter assignment or don't mind changing the letters, then it's not a problem. However, if you don't want to have to deal with it, you can leave the drive connected during the installation of XP. Just make sure you don't accidentally delete the wrong partition.

In either case, having a good backup of your Music partition is a good idea. That way you're covered either way.

 

Thanks for the info, will post when assignments are completed and WinXP is re-installed in Drive C.

Just wondering, isn't it possible to just drag and drop programs from one drive to another?

 

You can drag and drop files and folders but not drag and drop programs.

 

As I understand, I can simply drag and drop needed files[mainly my music, which is about all thats left worth saving]to my external HD, then disconnect it and reformat the two internal HD's? and then re-install Windows XP?