Help! Hard Disk Partition/space Problem. Windows Sucks.

[Iguana]

So here's my problem.

Last week my 40gb hard disk died. So yesterday I bought a new hard disk of 160gb. I installed it correctly.

So here is what I did:

1) I inserted the Windows XP Professionall installation disk and run the installation program. At the very begginning it asks me where to install Windows, and it tells me I have a 130gb hard disk and I must make a partition. So I was like....wtf? 130gb??

2) Worried about it, I exit the installation and reboot the computer with a Linux installation cd. I run cfdisk and it tells me I have 160gb and let me do partitions and s***. So I was like "phew, at least it is not the disk".

3) So I run Windows installation again, make a 20gb partition just for Windows and applications installations, and call it Midgar. Everything goes fine and Windows install sucessfully.

4) So at that moment, it only displays Midgar C:, a 20gb hard disk. So I reboot and make 3 partitions more with the cfdisk that comes with Linux. One 80gb just for metal called Hell. A 50gb one called Nibelheim (for other stuff). And an auxiliary 10gb partition called Agit. I didn't know what type of partiton I was supposed to choose, and since there wasn't a NTFS option (just NTFS volume set and other NTFS I don't remember), I choose w95 FAT32 (LBA).

5) I reboot, Windows recognize the partitions, and then I format them from Windows with the NTFS. I was crying of happiness at that moment.

6) So I start downloading tons of programs like Firefox, Azureus, Java, Limewire, MSN Messenger, etc etc and save all the .exe's at Nibelheim in a folder called Programs.

7) I access a porn site and a f***ing spyware installs (called SpySheriff, a spyware pretending to be an anti-spyware program). I f***s up everything and I google spy sheriff and there shows some steps to remove it, however I was too lazy so I decide to just install windows again.

8) I reboot, delete Midgar partition (C:, the one where I install everything), I leave other partitions intact, and then install Windows again on a new partition which I rename Midgar again. Windows install successfully. I reboot.

9) Now I try to access the programs I downloaded to Nibelheim to the folder Programs and it doesn't even let me open the folder! It says "Access denied". WTF??

10) I reboot, install windows AGAIN (formatting Midgar of course).

11) I access Nibelheim and now it doesn't even show the folder Programs!! I right click Nibelheim and it says I have 37gb left of 50gb. 37gb?? I didn't even download 1 gb of software, it was like 7 applications.

WTF is going on?? Why isn't Windows properly recognizing my partitions and hard disk space?? What happened to the folder Programs and why it first said access denied and now it doesn't appear at all???

I can't write to Nibelheim, not even a .txt file. However I can do it on the other partitions. Nibelheim was the last partition I created. The problem seems to be like Windows isn't recognizing the whole hard disk, only 130gb or something. Very weird.

But it did work the first time!! I did have 160gb at one moment, now it's gone! lol, help!

WTF.

[Scarecrow Man]

First and foremost. If your BIOS does not support LBA greater than 137GB, you bought a drive you cannot use.

First, upgrade to SP2. Windows XP will not support a drive larger than 137gb without at least SP1.

SP2 can be downloaded here

Also, see here for more information about the 137GB limit in XP.