Macbook HD not showing right capacity

I just installed a Seagate Momentus 500gb 7200 rpm drive in my core duo macbook pro running OSX 10.6. I planned on restoring from an external drive using time machine but when I got to the disk utility to format the drive, it only showed as 120gb! I erased it and tried everything I could think of but it still shows 120 gigs. Does anyone know why? thanks. Gary

What does Disk Utility show for 'Disk Description' at the bottom of the screen?

The Disk Description says " ST9120822AS Media " .

That is a 120GB drive.

See Here.

Where did this drive come from?

I bought it at best buy. Label on the drive itself says 500 gb. Strange.

Time to take it back. They should have the cabling to hook up a bare drive and verify it for themselves. But, maybe call the tech department and make sure you shouldn't leave it in if it's going to be a hassle.

I'd have them check the next one before you walk out of the store if you're going to exchange it. Could be a whole batch with wrong labels.

gtto said:

I bought it at best buy. Label on the drive itself says 500 gb. Strange.

Click to expand...

This used to happen at Fry's Electronics all of the time.

Some low-life goes in and buys a 50MB drive (way back in the day), takes their 5MB drive out of their system and puts it in the 50MB box & returns it to Fry's - "Opps, didn't work in my system".
Fry's, without checking it, re-shinkwrapped it and puts the box back on the shelf.
You come in and buy it the next day, get home and find a old, dusty 5MB drive instead of the 50MB drive you paid for.
When you return it, they accuse you of trying to rip them off. They give you a big hassle and then MAYBE exchange it.

Hopefully, your Best Buy experience will be different.