Lacie 500GB after formatting has 300GB. How come?

[pantera]

Hi, my external hard disk Lacie 500GB now has only 300GB after formatting. How come? I bought it for 500GB and used it for 1 year. Then I deleted all files and reformatted, and now it says that it has 300GB. Where does the other 200GB go?

Anyone knows?

[c4warrior]

Hi, my external hard disk Lacie 500GB now has only 300GB after formatting. How come? I bought it for 500GB and used it for 1 year. Then I deleted all files and reformatted, and now it says that it has 300GB. Where does the other 200GB go?

Anyone knows?

Everyone "loses" 7%. This is a simple difference between binary and decimal. You seem to have lost a little more. I have some things for you to try, let me log in my comp real fast.

[c4warrior]

Ok, now go to Disk Management and take a screen shot and send it to me. This can save us a lot of back and forth guessing and trouble shooting.



I'm guessing your shrank a volume by accident. So the end solution will likely be deleting a partition and then making a new one with full capacity.

[pantera]

Ok, now go to Disk Management and take a screen shot and send it to me. This can save us a lot of back and forth guessing and trouble shooting.
I'm guessing your shrank a volume by accident. So the end solution will likely be deleting a partition and then making a new one with full capacity.

Hi c4warriror, thanks so much for offering help. Here is the screenshot

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61569718@N ... otostream/

I used to use this Lacie for Mac + PC with 200GB for Mac and 300GB for PC. After deleting all files and reformating, it goes down to 300GB or so. Previously, whenever I plugged it in it auto played. Now, nothing happens. Lacie has some software or so, and I deleted it accidentally.

By the way, I don't know how you usually upload an image on a forum like this? What is the usual way of doing the upload on this forum?

[sarbin]

^^^
if you were to boot a linux live cd/dvd, it would be interesting to see what it reports.

[pantera]

^^^
if you were to boot a linux live cd/dvd, it would be interesting to see what it reports.

I've never used linux before. To be honest, I'm ignorant in computer/IT stuffs. What else in Disk Management should I get a screenshot of?

[c4warrior]

Hi c4warriror, thanks so much for offering help. Here is the screenshot



http://www.flickr.com/photos/61569718@N ... otostream/

I used to use this Lacie for Mac + PC with 200GB for Mac and 300GB for PC. After deleting all files and reformating, it goes down to 300GB or so. Previously, whenever I plugged it in it auto played. Now, nothing happens. Lacie has some software or so, and I deleted it accidentally.

By the way, I don't know how you usually upload an image on a forum like this? What is the usual way of doing the upload on this forum?

The rule is only small embedded images and warning in the title. But linking is preffered.

Well, according to that picture your full volume is 300gb. I suggest running an xp setup disk and seeing if there is anything unpartitioned... though it should show on that picture.

Now, I'm not saying your crazy, but do you mind pulling the drive and telling the exact model and drive size? I've seen portions of drives fail... but if that were your case then you would only have 200, 100, or 250gb showing.

[sarbin]

if you were to boot a linux live cd/dvd, it would be interesting to see what it reports.

I've never used linux before. To be honest, I'm ignorant in computer/IT stuffs. What else in Disk Management should I get a screenshot of?

mint is easy, if you want to try a live cd. it won't install anything to hdd unless you explicitly tell it to. i can provide some step-by-step instructions if you're interested.

[sarbin]

...I've seen portions of drives fail... but if that were your case then you would only have 200, 100, or 250gb showing.

interesting. i don't think i've ever see a portion of a drive fail leaving some fraction available. i've had drive develop bad sectors and lose small increments over time. and i've seen drives develop a bad track 0 and become unmountable, though.

[bill bolton]

Here is the screenshot

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61569718@N ... otostream/

You appear to have a ~320GiB of raw assignable space on your drive as far as Windows is concerned.

Whatever you were using to partition it previously may be protecting the remaining space in some way (possibly as a HFS/HFS+ partition, which Windows will not recognise).

So, you should find out what it the partition utility was, then use it to remove all partitions from the drive using that software. After that, repartition it under Windows.

If you don't have the Lacie provided partition software, you may need to use something like Acronis Disk Director (or similar) to sort out the partitioning.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[c4warrior]

Just boot an OS disc and look for things you can't see while you're in your OS. If that doesn't show you anything then read the drive label.

[pantera]

Hello everyone, thank you all very, very much for taking time to help. I've just realized how stupid I had been! The story is like this. I bought 2 Lacie Rugged Hard Drive, one for me and one for my girlfriend. Hers is 320GB, and mine is 500GB. We studied in the same university, and so basically what's inside the hard drive is pretty much the same: just files, data sets, lecture notes, vv... The hard drive I thought I had a problem is actually 320GB, but I had just kept thinking that it was my 500GB . My problem in the beginning is that I thought we both had 500GB, as I recently checked out the Lacie store, and saw exactly the same Lacie (same everything from outside) that only have at least 500GB, and nowhere in the store could I see something like 320GB. I just forgot about it, and the idea of 320GB was never in my mind. Then, just minutes ago, I happened to check the Lacie invoice, and one of them reads "Lacie Rugged Hard Drive 320GB". How stupid I was!

Again, thanks so much for your help, and terribly sorry for stealing your time...

Best regards,

[c4warrior]

Hello everyone, thank you all very, very much for taking time to help. I've just realized how stupid I had been! The story is like this. I bought 2 Lacie Rugged Hard Drive, one for me and one for my girlfriend. Hers is 320GB, and mine is 500GB. We studied in the same university, and so basically what's inside the hard drive is pretty much the same: just files, data sets, lecture notes, vv... The hard drive I thought I had a problem is actually 320GB, but I had just kept thinking that it was my 500GB . My problem in the beginning is that I thought we both had 500GB, as I recently checked out the Lacie store, and saw exactly the same Lacie (same everything from outside) that only have at least 500GB, and nowhere in the store could I see something like 320GB. I just forgot about it, and the idea of 320GB was never in my mind. Then, just minutes ago, I happened to check the Lacie invoice, and one of them reads "Lacie Rugged Hard Drive 320GB". How stupid I was!

Again, thanks so much for your help, and terribly sorry for stealing your time...

Best regards,

Figured as much Don't worry, this happens to the best of us. Just remember to start by reading the drive label and you'll be alright next time.