Metropol

Yesterday, I acquired a new and unused 20GB HDD from an eBay seller, who runs this eBay store, selling
assorted computer components. My original intention was to install it in a Blue and White PowerMac G3
that I've also acquired via eBay, alongside an existing 10GB HDD that already has Mac OS X on it.

The HDD in question is a Seagate Barracuda ST320011A, which should have a 20GB capacity, but on two
of my other computers (one being a PC and the other one being a beige Power Macintosh G3) it shows
up as no more than 10GB. On the PC (my "testbed" machine) it shows up as 10005MB, and the Mac
sees it as only 9.5GB. I contacted the seller via eBay as soon as I could, but I have yet to
receive any reply. The seller has an eBay feedback rating of 99.8%.

The mainboard inside the PC I tested the HDD on, supports HDD's with a 20GB capacity, as I've had a
different 20GB HDD installed on it. That one currently has two OSes installed, the evaluation version
of Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, plus Xandros Desktop (a Linux distro) 3.01.

Are there any specific reasons why this new, and previously unused 20GB HDD only shows up
as having no more than 10GB, on not one, but two seperate (and very different) computers?

DJGM wrote:Yesterday, I acquired a new and unused 20GB HDD from an eBay seller, who runs this eBay store, selling
assorted computer components. My original intention was to install it in a Blue and White PowerMac G3
that I've also acquired via eBay, alongside an existing 10GB HDD that already has Mac OS X on it.

The HDD in question is a Seagate Barracuda ST320011A, which should have a 20GB capacity, but on two
of my other computers (one being a PC and the other one being a beige Power Macintosh G3) it shows
up as no more than 10GB. On the PC (my "testbed" machine) it shows up as 10005MB, and the Mac
sees it as only 9.5GB. I contacted the seller via eBay as soon as I could, but I have yet to
receive any reply. The seller has an eBay feedback rating of 99.8%.

The mainboard inside the PC I tested the HDD on, supports HDD's with a 20GB capacity, as I've had a
different 20GB HDD installed on it. That one currently has two OSes installed, the evaluation version
of Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, plus Xandros Desktop (a Linux distro) 3.01.

Are there any specific reasons why this new, and previously unused 20GB HDD only shows up
as having no more than 10GB, on not one, but two seperate (and very different) computers?

Hard as it may be to believe, I hate to point out the obvious - but is it possible you've been erroneously supplied with a 10GB hard drive?

That's what I originally thought. But having looked on Google, and the HDD manufacturer's website,
the Seagate Barracuda ST320011A HDD should indeed have a 20GB capacity, not just under 10GB.

i did a search on google, and that model number seems to refeer to both a 10 and 20gb model:

http://www.ultratec.co.uk/stocklists/Se ... =ST320011A

Indeed, if you search google for ST320011A 10gb (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&lr ... a=N&tab=gw)

you also seem to get some possitive results.

i admit it's strange for two different capacity drives to have the same part code.

Apologies if I'm insulting your intelligence here, but when you say it 'shows up' as 10GB, does that mean you received it, plugged it in and only see 10GB, or does that mean that upon partitioning it you can't create a partition bigger than 10GB?

If it's the latter, then the drive may have been previously partitioned into 2 logical drives of 10GB each, and one of them deleted/hidden before being delivered to you.

To check this, go to Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management. Then click on 'Storage', and then 'Disk Management (Local'). Then you'll be able to see if there's any unallocated space on the drive.