Maxtor HD 20 GB squeezed to 10 GB by OEM, how to unsqueeze?
 

Hi,

A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't get more as 10 GB out of it.

When I asked Maxtor they replied:

"Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as a
smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the correct capacity and can not be exchanged."

I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
know a trick?

Thanks in Advance.

Ron

first time I have seen this one.....I'm not sure how you would go about doing that...interesting. What does the label say the
capacity is?

"Ron" wrote in message ...
Hi,

A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't get more as 10 GB out of it.

When I asked Maxtor they replied:

"Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as
a
smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the correct capacity and can not be exchanged."

I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
know a trick?

Thanks in Advance.

Ron

What size does the bios think it is?
"Ron" wrote in message
...
Hi,

A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't
get more as 10 GB out of it.

When I asked Maxtor they replied:

"Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity
of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up
with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as a
smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the
correct capacity and can not be exchanged."

I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I
would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
know a trick?

Thanks in Advance.

Ron

The model number is: 2B020H1, a Fireball 541 DX.

Officially LBA is 39102336 but MaxBlast reports only half of that. Which makes 10 GB. I can manually enter BIOS-settings whatever I
want but I won't get more than 10 GB.

When auto-detecting the BIOS always reports 10 GB. I can manually enter whatever I want but I never get more than 10 GB.

Some Maxtor drives have a set of pins that you can jumper together to limit
the drive to a certain size,
These jumpers are usually in the same place where you set the
Master/Slave/CableSelect settings
(on the end of the drive between the power and data connectors)
--jmnugent





"Ron" wrote in message
...
Hi,

A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't
get more as 10 GB out of it.

When I asked Maxtor they replied:

"Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity
of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up
with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as a
smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the
correct capacity and can not be exchanged."

I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I
would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
know a trick?

Thanks in Advance.

Ron

Ron, if you have it installed as a slave (no jumpers) and the bios says it's
10 gb then it would appear that it is a 10gb drive and you got screwed.
I've installed 3 20gb Maxtors and quite a few larger ones, never had any
problems with them. I can't imagine anything that you could do that would
change what the bios sees it as and that is what really matters.

"Ron" wrote in message
...
When auto-detecting the BIOS always reports 10 GB. I can manually enter
whatever I want but I never get more than 10 GB.

Norm wrote:
Ron, if you have it installed as a slave (no jumpers) and the bios says it's
10 gb then it would appear that it is a 10gb drive and you got screwed.

Unless the BIOS cannot detect larger drives. In which case he needs a
BIOS update or a drive overlay. Your comment about jumpers is a good
one and he should check that the drive does not permit jumpering to a
smaller size which could be (however unlikely) contributing to the problem.


I've installed 3 20gb Maxtors and quite a few larger ones, never had any
problems with them. I can't imagine anything that you could do that would
change what the bios sees it as and that is what really matters.

"Ron" wrote in message
...

When auto-detecting the BIOS always reports 10 GB. I can manually enter

whatever I want but I never get more than 10 GB.







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Ron, that drive does in fact have a CLS (Cylinder Limitation Jumper) jumper.
Just go to the Maxtor website, find your model number and you can look for
yourself. That might explain what is happening.
"Ron" wrote in message
...
Hi,

A while ago I bought a Maxtor HD, 20 GB. No matter what I tried I couldn't
get more as 10 GB out of it.

When I asked Maxtor they replied:

"Some OEMs (eg. Compaq, Dell, etc.) have the option to change the capacity
of drives to suit their particular needs. If an OEM has
sold you this drive as a higher capacity drive then you should take it up
with them to get it replaced. If they sold it to you as a
smaller drive or in replacement for a smaller drive, then it has the
correct capacity and can not be exchanged."

I tried low-level formatting with MaxBlast but it didn't help. Offcourse I
would like to have the higher capacity. Does somebody
know a trick?

Thanks in Advance.

Ron

Sorry I didn't tell earlier, but what Maxtor said makes perfectly sense because there were three Compaq "spare part nr ...
" -stickers on the drive.

Tried LBA, CHS, Large and all that stuff and also the cylinder-limitation jumper but nothing helped.