Hard Drive Capacity Question

[Carbo]

I have a Dell Dimension 4600. Latest BIOS revision. Running XP Pro SP2.
I presently have an 80GB master drive, and a 40GB slave. I want to upgrade and get myself two new SATA disks. I'm thinking a 74GB Raptor as my boot drive, and a 120GB disk for storage and backup. I figured before I do I'd contact Dell and see if the system supports this.
Well, three agents have quoted me three different amounts of GB's are manageable: 160GB, 200GB, and unlimited. So, which is it? Door number 1? Door number 2? Or Door number 3? 😕

 

[jackschmittusa]

SP2 will support any drive size currently made for a home computer.

 

[Carbo]

Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
SP2 will support any drive size currently made for a home computer.

Really? I didn't know that! And I guess a couple of the Dell reps didn't, either. Thanks, Jack.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

There are hardware considerations as well, but a modern computer made in the last year probably is okay. Yes pre-SP2 WinXP had a 160Gb limitation.

Here's the details on this:

Requirements for support of 48-bit LBA (Exceeding 137Gb HDD size limit):

Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 or better or XP with Service Pack 1 or better

or

You must enable the support in the Windows registry:

Enable 48bit LBA support for ATAPI in W2K:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305098

Enable 48bit LBA for ATAPI in XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

AND

Your mobo must support 48bit LBA (Large Block Addressing) - check the manufacturer's website for BIOS updates

OR

Install latest Motherboard Chipset Driver patch (in some cases - particularly Intel P4 mobos)

OR

Install an add-on 48bit LBA capable controller card.