QUOTE(joe9173 @ Dec 27 2003, 12:59 AM)
Recently i have been reformatting / repartitioning/ installing system software on my 80 gb maxtor 7200 rpm hard drive which in the past has worked fine. Just a couple of minutes ago I noticed that it is showing up as a 31.5 gb hard drive. Where did the other 50 gb go? Is it time for a new hard drive?
Thanks.
This is a very common issue with hard drives.
Most hard drives have a jumper which, when set, changes the drive into a 32GB drive. This is because many PCs shipped with a BIOS limitation that prevents them from working with any drive bigger than 32 GB.
Examine the drive closely; I'll bet you'll find a jumper that is a "size limit" jumper. Change its settings.