Anyone using a 160G or 200G HD attached to the KT333 chipset controller?

[KF]

Anyone using a 160G or 200G HD attached to the KT333 chipset controller? Does it handle over 137G drives or not? Since my next mobo is liable to be around for several years, I'd like to know if it will handle the big drives that will be normal by then.

 

[Adul]

i think it should work just fine. You can read your mb documentation to be sure.

 

[ViRGE]

Just as a note, I have a KT266A mobo that handles ATA133 correctly(Abit KR7A-133; it uses a newer southbridge than the original KT266A). Most KT333 mobos I've seen do support ATA133, but Adul is right, it's best to check the documentation. The VIA 8233 Southbridge is the first compatible one, I believe.

 

[KF]

Thanks for the responses, Adul, ViRGE. I checked (downloaded) the manual for one mobo I'm considering buying (Epox 8K5a2). It doesn't mention anything about drive sizes, or I didn't see it. It says it supports DMA66/100/133, but that is speed, not size. The manual for my current mobo (ABIT KT7) does not mention drive sizes. It says it supports Ultra DMA66.

I did not find anything about drive sizes for this mobo, or any mobo, on the EPOX site. And not for VIA chipsets on the VIA site.

>Most KT333 mobos I've seen do support ATA133...

I don't know what all is in the ATA133 spec. I thought it was a faster transfer speed. That's all they mention in any review I've run across. They say ATA133 is pointless because no IDE drive yet can overrun DMA66 in sustained transfers. But if ATA133 means drives over 137G will work, it is not so pointless really.

I assume from what you say that the ATA133 spec provides for drives over 137G. But assuming things has got me into trouble before. If some one had a 160G drive working with these controllers, I could be sure. No one?

 

[Pariah]

The fix for the 137GB limit was introduced with ATA133 by Maxtor. If it is ATA133 it is supposed to have support for large drives. From what I have seen if you buy any retail hard drive over 120GB it comes with a bundled ATA controller card that supports large drives making MB support not particularly crucial.

 

[KF]

From what people have said, I think I'm putting this together.

Over 137G
At the WD site, they list the steps to go from 28 bit to 48 bit addressing:

>Hard drive manufacturers
> Change in the system ASIC and/or development of new interface chips on drives
> or PCI add-in cards that allow deployment of 48-bit addressing.

>OS vendors
> The increase of storage device addressing from 28 or 32 bits up to 48 bits or more.

>BIOS companies
> Reworking of software to recognize increased device capacity and enable the
> passing of 48-bit commands to the devices.

Notice they did NOT list chipset manufacturers such as VIA. In other words the old controllers are evidently capable of sending 48 bit
addresses. All that is required is a BIOS revision. So regardless of how hold the chipset is, you will be able to use HDs > 137G provided your mobo manufacturer gives you the appropriate BIOS. I would be able to use super-sized HDs with a five year old mobo, except they will never do another BIOS revision for it.


I haven't checked for a new BIOS for my old ABIT KT7 in quite a while. (Hey, it works great.) So guess what? In the second from the newest, they mention this:

kt77n.exe Bios Issue Date: 2002/01/31
BIOS ID: 7N

Support up to 137GB HDD and above.

"and above"

Oh, adding 20 bits means the HDs can be a million times larger.

It still seems odd that not even one person out 10000 is using a HD over 137G.