HDAT2 forum

I have a 30GB drive but the BIOS shows it as only 10MB. I ran HDAT2 4.6 with the new Remove Hidden Areas and restored it to 30GB, then wiped and formatted the drive. The capacity is fine until the drive is powered down and restarted. It then reverts back to 10MB.

For question 'Remove HPA temporarily only? <Y/N> ' did you answer "N"?
You can restore capacity in SET MAX menu also.

I answered 'n'. I also tried using SET MAX also. Same thing. The setting is lost when the drive is powered down.

So it seems your BIOS or MBR (Dell) set HPA again.
I need more information about your PC and HDD.
For further information see FAQ my web.

You need to search your BIOS settings for e.g. Gigabyte's Xpress Recovery or any other
items which sets HPA on hard disk.

I don't think it's the BIOS because this happens on two different machines and 30GB seems like a large area for the motherboard to allocate as a backup partition. I suspect the problem is with the drive, a Quantum. Does a disk wipe usually wipe the MBR?

>Does a disk wipe usually wipe the MBR?
When disk wipe ovewrites LBA sector zero (MBR) then yes.

Which model of Quantum it is?

It is an LC30AT with part number QML30000LC-A

>It is an LC30AT with part number QML30000LC-A
Thanks, I am not sure if this drive supports DCO (device configuration overlay).
When yes, and if it is possible, you can try to remove HPA feature from DCO list.

Otherwise (in this remote way) I don't have any other idea,
maybe to contact any profi company near to you.
Sorry.