<tobtoh@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1129665487.077548.217050@f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> This problem has me completely stumped. I would appreciate any advice
> people might have on how to fix this problem ...
>
> The Problem:
> -----------
> I have a Seagate 250 Gig ATA drive in an external disk enclosure
> (connects via USB to my PC). When I connect, it reports the partition
> as 2048 Gig!!! This is in WinXP SP2 and fully patched, latest BIOS
> etc
> etc
>
> What I Have Tried:
> -----------------
> I have tried many many things none of which worked. These included:
>
> 1. Formatting disk
> 2. Removing all partitions and formatting
> 3. Using 'fixmbr'
> 4. Using Seagate's DiskWizard tool and the other disk tool that you
> have to boot into (I forget what it is called)
> 5. Installing Linux on it and then reformating the disk to use it for
> XP.
>
> Comments:
> --------
> Using Seagate's disk tool, I was able to write zero's across the start
> of the disk and then re-initialise the disk. After I did this, the
> disk
> reported the correct 250 Gig capacity. I went back into XP and went to
> format the disk once more only for the format fail to complete and
> then
> the disk returned to 2048 Gig in size.
>
> Also, in Linux, the disk appears as 2048 Gig.
>
> So based on these two observations (and given everything else has
> failed), I'm thinking that the disk has a hardware fault in the area
> of
> the MBR.
>
> Does this sound correct? Anyone have any other theories?
>
> Cheers,
> Ben
>

Run chkdsk X: /r from a command prompt on the disk, where X is the
current drive letter. Then check chkdsk.log for anything it turns up.

Q