Spare HDD can't get back 65.6MB

[Hector's House]

I have a spare HDD which originally had win2k on it, which I wanted to add to my pc running xp pro. I used the xp disk to delete the partitions on it and added it to the pc. When I look at the hdd in my computer/properties it says that 65.6 of the disk is used. Any ideas as to how I can get it back?

[DrAwesome]

Originally Posted by Hector's House

I have a spare HDD which originally had win2k on it, which I wanted to add to my pc running xp pro. I used the xp disk to delete the partitions on it and added it to the pc. When I look at the hdd in my computer/properties it says that 65.6 of the disk is used. Any ideas as to how I can get it back?

a full format of the whole spare hd with fdisk should give you the 65.5 amount back

[Sociable]

Try going to folder options under tools in "My Computer" then look at the view options and select to view hidden files and folders and also uncheck the special "Hide Protected Operating System Files" one.

My guess is you will then see the explanation for the space used which may well be the "Restore" folder. As the system is saying something is there not just that usual thing whereby you always lose a fraction of what the HD says it is on the label and what you actually get to use once it is formatted.

Other option could be to use a tool like Partition Magic to completely remove all partitions again and this time set up a new one which is not set up as bootable drive. That may give you a better use of the HD in terms of usable space (but I doubt it).

Anyways a couple of things to try, hope one or other helps.

EDIT: As DrA says you can also use Fdisk to reset the HD if you boot to a win98 or ME boot floppy and delete the new partion and reformat.
(NB make sure you delete the right partition though LOL)

[Jon T]

how big is the HDD? there is an update to fdisk to fix a bug where on drive larger than a certain figure it will report the drive size minus just around the figure that you are qouting.

Jon

[havana]

If you go to the manufactures website they normally have a small program you can download which restores the HDD to its original state wiping everything and all partitions

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by Hector's House

I have a spare HDD which originally had win2k on it, which I wanted to add to my pc running xp pro. I used the xp disk to delete the partitions on it and added it to the pc. When I look at the hdd in my computer/properties it says that 65.6 of the disk is used. Any ideas as to how I can get it back?

The file system will use a percentage of the disk for the tables ect. It may be as simple as that. Have you formated the disk ntfs or fat32 ?