80 GB image restored to 320 GB drive; now 320 GB drive showing as 80 GB
I recently attempted to move my Dell E1405 laptop data from the stock 80 GB drive to a new 320 GB drive using True Image Home 2009 (latest build). I imaged the 80 GB drive, and then restored all partitions onto the new drive. This worked. However, the 320 GB drive (which was showing as a blank 320 GB drive on the laptop before writing the image to it) is now showing as being an 80 GB drive ... and remaining 240 GB of capacity appears to just be gone.
Now, I have since read what my mistake was. I should have restored each partition individually, and this would have given me the option to resize them to better fit the capacity of the new drive. I intend to do this correctly on any future attempts. But, the issue I am having right now is my new 320 GB drive is still showing as only having 80 GB of capacity. I have plugged it into 3 different computers, and run it through Partition Magic 8. I expected to see the remaining 240 GB as unallocated space. However ... I don't. So, reallocating the unused space isn't an option, nor is the "trick" of creating a Secure Zone out of the unused space and then deleting the SZ.
It is as if this 320 GB drive *is* now only 80 GB in size. Clearly True Image Home 2009 wrote something to this drive during the placement of the image. So, there should be a way to remove this in order to get my full 320 GB back. But, I cannot find the solution. I have read references, in these forums and others, of how people corrected it. But, they are vague and do not give specifics. For example, in one thread, someone indicated they fixed this issue by wiping the boot sector. When asked for clarification, they merely said "I 'ERASED' the boot sector." I am left asking, "Well ... HOW?" But, I digress.
So, any help in how I can "reset" this 320 GB drive would be much appreciated. Among the things I have, unsuccessfully, tried deleting the partitions, booting with an XP install CD and used fixboot and fixmbr in the Recovery section. I have also tried DBAN to wipe the drive, but it still is showing as only 80 GB (74881 MB) afterward.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Here's a couple of links that may help:http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1044452&postcount=2
Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, both those scenarios were showing the difference in capacity as unallocated space ... which can then be manipulated. In my case, the extra capacity is just not there any more ... well, as far as programs like Acronis, Partition Magic, and Windows own install CDs are concerned. My 230 GB drive was an 80 GB as far as they could tell. So, the SZ "trick" was not an option, nor was re-allocating any unallocated space using other software. But, the good news is, I found out why ...
I did a little further digging, and came up with a solution. It appears that Dell writes data to the MBR that sets a HPA (Host Protected Area) which locks the size of the installed drive. If you restore this to a new, larger drive it will be locked at the lower size as well ... and any additional capacity will effectively be hidden completely.
I found a post at the link below with discusses a program called HDAT2. I booted with that, and reset the HPA per the instructions, and the full 320 GB capacity was returned. It took longer to find this solution than it did to affect it. I am formatting the partition now to its full capacity, and will attempt, again, to restore my image from the 80 GB drive without messing it up again.
Though, I am wondering if the information in the links below could be used simply to unlock the capacity hidden by the HPA, and then the SZ "trick" and/or Partition Magic options would then be available? Since I have a viable exit strategy for the issue now, I may just try that and post back with results.
Here are the relevant links for anyone having similar problems. The information here will allow you to get back the capacity lost during the application of the image:
Original thread: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/320gb-hdd-sho…
-- If you have a Dell, note the last post in this thread.
HDAT2 Download (free): http://www.hdat2.com/download.html
HDAT2 FAQ: http://www.hdat2.com/hdat2_faq.html#q6
-- If that doesn't auto place, scroll to "Q6: Host Protected Area (HPA) vs. 28/48-bit LBA mode" and follow the instructions there to get your capacity back to what it should be.
I took some time to play with this. So, I thought I would put my results in here for others who have this problem. Having gotten the full capacity of the drive back using HDAT2, I went ahead and restored the previous 80GB image to the 230GB drive again using TI Home 2009. I also selected the imaged MBR (important fact, as will become clear later). If you have a Dell, keep reading. If you have another brand, HDAT2 will probably be all you need to know.
This left me with a new, bootable 230GB drive that only showed as 80GB (which was my original problem). In Partition Magic there was no unallocated space showing other than the tiny bit that is always left over when you partition a drive. I was showing 3 partitions:
1. FAT called DELLUTILITY ... very small
2. NTFS which was my OS and shows as C:
3. FAT32 called DOS, CTOS, etc ... small but slightly larger than DELLUTILITY
As there was no significant unallocated space to add to partition 2, I booted using HDAT2 and proceeded to repeat the HPA correction steps discussed in my previous post above. All went well, and I rebooted. However, the drive was still not showing my unallocated space. So, I booted with the WinXP CD, went to Repair Console, and issued a FIXMBR. I then booted to HDAT2 again, and repeated the steps. Once done, I booted back into Windows successfully, and Partition Magic finally showed my 240GB of remaining capacity as unallocated space!!! So, it's Dell's MBR that is setting the HPA to "lock" the capacity of the drive. But, there was still a problem.
When Dell sets partitions 1 and 3 in place, they are not movable ... and they flank the main data partition ... making it non re-sizable!! Therefore, the unallocated space could not be added to partition 2 where the OS is. So, my solution was to delete partition 3 entirely. This allowed me to re-allocate the unused space to the OS partition. Likely the Security Zone "trick" mentioned by Bruce earlier would then work here as well ... assuming you had a way to delete that 3rd partition.
As a bit of an epilogue, from what I have read, with Dell's drives, the OS is expecting to be on the second partition on the drive. So, if you just backup and restore the OS partition, your comp probably won't boot correctly. So, I suspect you could image the entire drive, and then just restore partitions 1 and 2, making sure that the small FAT "DELLUTILITY" partition is the first one on the disk, don't restore the original MBR from your image, and everything would be fine ... without the issue of losing capacity on your drive since it appears Dell's "special" MBR is what is setting the HPA flag to hide that capacity from you. But, I don't have time to test that theory.
Anyway ... I hope someone finds some of this useful.
Kevin,
For the future: Your restore procedures would have been to checkmark all 3 partitions but not to check the mbr.
You should have been able to create the first partition in its desired size with the rest of the unallocated space in the "free space after".
Continuing: Then create the second large partition and apply all the space to it except for the little you need for the 3rd partition. This little bit should be left in the "free space after" when creating the second partition.
Complete the 3rd partition with just the same small size and then shutdown and remove the old drive before first bootup.
Also, after completion of the restore but prior to shutdown, you could have made a second pass and selected the disk Id and selected the Track0/mbr and restored both before shutdown..
Yes, my last paragraph basically states that. The main goal of my post, though, was to provide a reference so others may "find their way back" from making the same mistake I did. Knowing the way you should have done it doesn't always help get you back on track after having done it the wrong way.