# Hard drive size problem
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-size-problem/270960
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 25, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-size-problem/270960 "2004-10-25T00:00:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@gbrohman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gbrohman)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-size-problem/270960/1 "2004-10-25T00:00:32Z")
Last spring i sent my laptop pc back to the manufacture and they had to change out the mother board. I was told the HD was attached, so it came back clean with win XP reinstalled.
My problem is. When it was new it had a 40 gig HD .
Now my system tells me it’s only a 10 gig HD.
Before I call the manufacture and ask them, is there a posibility windows isn’t seeing something right?
I had to reformate 1 month ago because of some virus that locked windows with a password. The techs here all said “Thats easy to fix”, but they failed and we reformated to get around that.
Any help would be appreciated.
Gbro
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### Author:  [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2004, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-size-problem/270960/2 "2004-10-25T01:51:30Z")
[http://www.belarc.com/free\_download.html](http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html)
Download and run.
Then tell us what the program says about your hard drive size.
---
### Author:  [@Electronerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronerd)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-size-problem/270960/3 "2004-10-25T01:56:23Z")
It’s possible that when you formatted, only 10 gigs were formatted properly and the rest was somehow made unusable. If this is the case your only options are to try to format the remaining portion or just reformat everything.
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### Author:  [@gbrohman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gbrohman)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2004, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-size-problem/270960/4 "2004-10-25T02:18:00Z")
> [@Rico](#):
>
> [Products: Belarc Advisor](http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html)
>
> Download and run.
>
> Then tell us what the program says about your hard drive size.
About Belarc
PC Management Products
Your Privacy
In page Links:
Installed Hotfixes
Software Licenses
Software Versions
Computer Profile Summary
Computer Name: Gregor-85n6xgw9 (in MSHOME)
Profile Date: Sunday, October 24, 2004 9:19:46 PM
Advisor Version: 6.1f
Windows Logon: Gregor
Click here for Belarc’s PC Management products, for large and small companies.
Operating System System Model
Windows XP Home Edition (build 2600) SiS SiS 650 A1
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
2.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: SiS SiS 650 A1
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
BIOS: Insyde Software Version 4.03 20/02/2001
Drives Memory Modules c,d
10.40 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
6.06 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
QSI DVD/CDRW SBW-081 [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]
FUJITSU MHS2040AT D [Hard drive] (40.01 GB) – drive 0, s/n NL41T2B12USP, rev 8004, SMART Status: Healthy 224 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot ‘DRAM Slot 0’ has 256 MB
Slot ‘DRAM Slot 1’ is Empty
Slot ‘DRAM Slot 2’ is Empty
Local Drive Volumes
c: (on drive 0) 10.40 GB 6.06 GB free
Network Drives
None detected
Users Printers
local user accounts last logon
Gregor 10/24/2004 8:33:58 PM (admin)
local system accounts
Administrator never (admin)
Guest never
HelpAssistant never
SUPPORT\_388945a0 never
Marks a disabled account; Marks a locked account CAPTURE FAX BVRP on NUL:
Lexmark X74-X75 on USB001
Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Driver on Microsoft Document Imaging Writer Port:
Controllers Display
Standard floppy disk controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]
SiS PCI IDE Controller SiS 650\_651\_M650\_M652\_740 [Display adapter]
Default Monitor
Bus Adapters Multimedia
Texas Instruments PCI-1410 CardBus Controller
SiS 7001 PCI to USB Open Host Controller
SiS 7001 PCI to USB Open Host Controller SiS 7012 Audio Driver
Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device
Communications Other Devices
Smart Link 56K Modem
RAS Async Adapter
SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Network Card MAC Address: 00:B5:40:50:03:21 Microsoft AC Adapter
Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
HID-compliant consumer control device
USB Human Interface Device
Lexmark X74-X75
Built-in Infrared Device
Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
HID-compliant mouse
Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
Generic USB Hub
USB Printing Support
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
---
### Author:  [@cstamets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cstamets)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-size-problem/270960/5 "2004-10-25T02:38:16Z")
> [@gbrohman](#):
>
> Drives Memory Modules c,d
> 10.40 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
> 6.06 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
>
> FUJITSU MHS2040AT D [Hard drive] (40.01 GB) – drive 0, s/n NL41T2B12USP, rev 8004, SMART Status: Healthy 224 Megabytes Installed Memory
It looks like they didn’t use all of the hard drive space for your C: drive. You have a 10.40 gig partition, that is seen as your C: drive, on a 40 gig Fujitsu physical hard drive. There’s about 30 gig of unpartioned space on your hard drive.
When you install Windows XP, there is an option to tell the installer to expand the C: partition to use all available space. I don’t think Windows XP has anything natively that will let you expand the partition after the install has been completed.
There are third-party tools, like Partiton Magic, that will do the job, but I’d hate to see you pay for something like that when it was a screwup by the laptop repair people. Contact them and see if they have something they can send you.
Other options would be to reformat and reinstall, making sure to change the partition size, or the simplest fix would be to create a second partition using the remaining 30 gigs. It will then appear as if you have two hard drives installed. Some people don’t like that and would prefer to have it all as one drive. To do this, right click on My Computer, go to Manage, then go to Disk Managment.
---
### Author:  [@gbrohman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gbrohman)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2004, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-size-problem/270960/6 "2004-10-25T02:57:27Z")
[QUOTE=cstamets]
It looks like they didn’t use all of the hard drive space for your C: drive. You have a 10.40 gig partition, that is seen as your C: drive, on a 40 gig Fujitsu physical hard drive. There’s about 30 gig of unpartioned space on your hard drive.
Thank you all. \
I knew there would be usefull info on this board. I know nothing about what make these things work, So Thanks Again. I will go with the reinstall.