# IDE vs. AHCI; hard drive help



## audiophil92 (Nov 21, 2008)

Hey guys, I have a problem. I recently bought an Acer 5920G notebook, and like most ppl installing windows xp on a SATA drive i had a problem. I switched the SATA drive mode to IDE, and had no problem installing. Thing is, Im supposed to have a 320GB hard drive, and yet I only have a 150gb drive. When I was installing XP, 2 drives popped up, and I was asked which one to format in order to install xp on. Since then I have seen no sign whatsoever of the other 150gbs. As far as I understand, my hard drive is partitioned. How do I un-partition it? Does this have anything to do with the fact that im running in IDE mode? and would switching to AHCI improve general performance of my computer? last slightly different question: I have Windows XP SP2 on my comp, and I have 4gbram on my comp. Only 2 are recognised, as far as I understand. Ive heard something about 32 and 64 bit systems, whats the difference, advantages/disadvantages? any compatibility issues when running 64? and is it worth the extra ram (im using my comp mostly for gaming)?
thanks in advance,
Philip, a bit of a noob with hardcore computing


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## PC eye (Nov 21, 2008)

The first way to find out if you ended up splitting the drive into two partitions is to take a look in the Disk Management tool since that will show all drives installed on the system. The two drive designation would be the second logical drive being seen by the Windows installer. The second partition is using up the remaining drive space.

To get into the Disk Management tool or DM for short first go to the Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management section and click the plus sign next to the last item. The MS instruction page for using the DM tool included in Windows can be reviewed at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309000

The drive mode is a totally separate item when the installer won't detect the drive at first while the bios is set to the sata/RAID mode not ide or AHCI. The missing 150gb is simply being seen now as unallocated drive space on the second partition you created without realization of that.

In order to see one single large primary for XP now you would have to use a 3rd party drive tool(recommended) over the DM to first remove the second primary unless you decide to have a second storage partition. Once removed you would then expand the OS primary out to fill in the then empty drive space.

Meanwhile a good blog about changing drive modes can seen at http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives...-hard-disk-drives-installed-in-your-computer/ 

With most custom builders the use of a driver disk and the F6 option seen when first booting from the XP cd and the first screen comes up is where the installer then copies and loads them from disk. With older Sata I  type drives the second option was to use the press S for special devices option seen on the screen that follows.


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## Geoff (Nov 23, 2008)

I've found that AHCI only worked for Vista (for me at least).  For the extra 150GB, you should be able to get it by going to the computer management utility (under administrative tools in the control panel), from there you can format it so it's usable.


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## PC eye (Nov 23, 2008)

Again that depends on whether or not you want a second partition for storage and backup of files or plan to simply see one large primary for the portable there. With a dual boot of XP with Vista here on two separate drives being in a desktop I leave the XP with one single large primary for video captures/editing and the Vista drive presently sees a second for temp storage there.

For a laptop and not wanting to split a drive many will go for an external usb drive in order to backup and store things there. That would be an extra item to consider if you simply want one single primary by itself. 

The free drive tool GParted can easily remove the second and expand the OS primary or simply right click on the second while booted live with that to see it formatted and ready for use just as you would in the Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management tool just so you can find your way there.

As far as going over 2gb of memory even with the 64bit editions of Vista installation problems come up where MS advises reducing the amount down to 2gb until Windows is up and running normally for then adding the additional memory back in. For the most the limitation however is seen with the 32bit kernel mapping memory addresses out to hardwares for any amount of memory installed over 3-3.12gb. 

That's all Windows will see as available ram(random access memory) and usable for programs. Vista's SP1 now allows Windows to report the actual total amount installed while still not seeing that available for general use. As far as 64bit Vista is only the second version of Windows seeing any 64bit editions and still sees some problems.


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## tyttebøvs (Nov 24, 2008)

> Vista's SP1 now allows Windows to report the actual total amount installed while still not seeing that available for general use.



"general use". Is there some special way it can use the rest of it?



> As far as 64bit Vista is only the second version of Windows seeing any 64bit editions and still sees some problems.



Does a 64bit edition always solve that missing ram-problem?


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## PC eye (Nov 24, 2008)

As you already know the 32bit kernel simply maps out any memory over a certain amount to hardwares making it nonavailable for use. As far as the second comment there you should ask MS why people have problems installing Ultimate 64 with more then 2gb installed.


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## tyttebøvs (Nov 24, 2008)

The problem with too much ram and intallation of vista is tied to certain motherboards.

My question was about the 3.x problem. Does a 64bit edition always solve that?


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## PC eye (Nov 24, 2008)

Each edition has it's own maximum while running a 64bit edition of anything is never any sure fire solution. And it isn't always tied to certain boards but what combinations of hardwares are in use as well as whatelse besides Windows goes on.


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## Geoff (Nov 24, 2008)

tyttebøvs said:


> The problem with too much ram and intallation of vista is tied to certain motherboards.
> 
> My question was about the 3.x problem. Does a 64bit edition always solve that?


Yes, Vista x64 doesn't cap out on available RAM at 3-4GB like the 32 bit version does.


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## StrangleHold (Nov 24, 2008)

Well if the motherboard/chipset doesnt support more than 4gb. It wont matter what OS you have installed.


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## Cromewell (Nov 24, 2008)

StrangleHold said:


> Well if the motherboard/chipset doesnt support more than 4gb. It wont matter what OS you have installed.



We talked about this in another thread but it went over their heads. I'm fairly confident in saying that tyttebøvs and 0mega understand that the OS wont solve hardware limitations. 

I've never tried but will a 64bit OS even run on 32bit hardware?


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## StrangleHold (Nov 24, 2008)

Cromewell said:


> I've never tried but will a 64bit OS even run on 32bit hardware?


 
You know I havent tried. Not for sure but with Windows, I think it might stop you in the install process.

I still have a old Duron 1.6ghz setup that I could give it a try with but it doesnt have any memory. Sold it with the last 754 board I had. Dont have any DDR memory.lol


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## tyttebøvs (Nov 24, 2008)

Yes, you just set the divisor to 2 (found in bios). 64/2 = 32


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## StrangleHold (Nov 24, 2008)

tyttebøvs said:


> Yes, you just set the divisor to 2 (found in bios). 64/2 = 32


 
I see what your getting at, but isnt that the opposite of what were talking about? 

Or are you saying you could try, by taking a 64bit setup using the bios to disable it. Then try installing Vista 64 on it.


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## tyttebøvs (Nov 24, 2008)

Yes, that might work.

On some older models, you might need to flash a new instruction set into the cpu. But it all depends on the model.


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## StrangleHold (Nov 24, 2008)

Looked in the bios of the three I have running and they dont have the settings. Dont know, maybe AMD boards dont give you the option.


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## Geoff (Nov 24, 2008)

Cromewell said:


> We talked about this in another thread but it went over their heads. I'm fairly confident in saying that tyttebøvs and 0mega understand that the OS wont solve hardware limitations.
> 
> I've never tried but will a 64bit OS even run on 32bit hardware?


Of course, I was assuming that the OP knew the hardware wasn't an issue, and if it was that's not usually referred to as causing the 3.X GB when having 4GB of RAM issue.

I tried installing the 64 bit version of Vista on my 32 bit laptop, it doesn't work.   It's been a while since I've tried, but I think it just says something along the lines of "your hardware is incompatible with this version of Vista"


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## tyttebøvs (Nov 24, 2008)

Pc Eye, do you have that option in yours?


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## StrangleHold (Nov 24, 2008)

[-0MEGA-];1122575 said:
			
		

> I tried installing the 64 bit version of Vista on my 32 bit laptop, it doesn't work.  It's been a while since I've tried, but I think it just says something along the lines of "your hardware is incompatible with this version of Vista"


 
I kinda thought it would hang up on the install.



tyttebøvs said:


> Pc Eye, do you have that option in yours?


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