Harddrive capacity not properly detected

[masterc]

I am wanting to install a 30 gig Maxtor ATA133 harddrive on an old machine... a p200 to be exact.
(I know it's old) I flashed the mobo bios but the drive is only detected as an 8 gig drive.
I d/l'd the Disk manager software and ran it, but it still gives me the drive max capacity as 8 gig???
I threw the drive in my current machine and it detects it as 30 gig (both in the bios and in the Disk mgr software).
How can I get the old machine to see the 30 gig drive properly?
Do I need to install a controller card because it's an ATA133 drive?
Do I need a special IDE cable because it's an ATA133 drive??

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: masterc
I am wanting to install a 30 gig Maxtor ATA133 harddrive on an old machine... a p200 to be exact.
(I know it's old) I flashed the mobo bios but the drive is only detected as an 8 gig drive.
I d/l'd the Disk manager software and ran it, but it still gives me the drive max capacity as 8 gig???
I threw the drive in my current machine and it detects it as 30 gig (both in the bios and in the Disk mgr software).
How can I get the old machine to see the 30 gig drive properly?
Do I need to install a controller card because it's an ATA133 drive?
Do I need a special IDE cable because it's an ATA133 drive??

OK, let's see if I can get through all your questions. First, it should have been detected properly if you used the Disk Manager software. I would really suggest that you double check that you have the right cable and jumper settings (just as a precaution) and reinstall the software again. Second, I suppose it is entirely possible that, if you do the previously mentioned suggestion and it doesn't work) that your MB is just too damned old. (Speaking in a semi-joking fashion), Get real and spend under a $100 for a new MB/CPU combo to get closer to the 21st Century. Ok, enough of that.
Next, yes, a controller card should work but it doesn't have to be an ATA133 card. In reality, you are not going to see any benifit of using an ATA 133 controller card in that system anyway. Later on, if you upgrade you will, but not in this situation. You could get either an ATA66 or ATA100 card.
You would need an ATA133 cable IF you were using an ATA133 card and/or a system that would be able to take advantage of it. Other than that, you should have at least an ATA100 cable for this in any of the situations mentioned above. Confused yet? I am because it is getting late and I am still amazed that you are trying to install this drive in that system. You should have saved the money and gotten a better MB/cpu combo. But hey, it's your system and you can damned well do with it whatever you want. I respect that but I am "snickering" a bit. Good Luck!

 

[Iron Woode]

See if you can get a copy of the original MaxBlast floppy. It will partition, format and install EZBios for you. I have installed 30 gig drives on p120 systems with no problems using this software.

 

[Buz2b]

After thinking it over again this AM, I am convinced that, if you use the MaxBlast/EZBIOS, (whatever they call it now) properly, there should be no reason for the drive not to be recognized properly; cables, connections, etc should really have no effect unless defective. Try again.

 

[tcsenter]

I have seen instances where the ATA100/133 mode was causing the problem, and it was cured by using the ATA mode-changing utility from Maxtor to change the HDD mode to ATA66 or 33.

 

[Kartajan]

this may have nothing to do with it, but sometimes problems arise from sharing the same controller. (2 drives on one controller). This should only bother you if there are DRASTIC differences in the technology of each- say an ancient CD- Rom on the same controller. All of the other thing i've seen cause complete lack of functionality instead of a loss of capacity.

**IDE cable- only affects the max data rate. AKA- ATA-66 vice ATA 133. ATA 100 on up need the extra wires to reduce signal noise/ loss.

**Disk manager software- I assume that this is the type that formats a floppy that you boot from. That would be the only chance for it to "override" the BIOS to set the proper settings. If you have some other kind of disk manager software, it won't be able to get past what the BIOS sees.

- hope this helps.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: Kartajan
this may have nothing to do with it, but sometimes problems arise from sharing the same controller. (2 drives on one controller). This should only bother you if there are DRASTIC differences in the technology of each- say an ancient CD- Rom on the same controller. All of the other thing i've seen cause complete lack of functionality instead of a loss of capacity.

**IDE cable- only affects the max data rate. AKA- ATA-66 vice ATA 133. ATA 100 on up need the extra wires to reduce signal noise/ loss.

**Disk manager software- I assume that this is the type that formats a floppy that you boot from. That would be the only chance for it to "override" the BIOS to set the proper settings. If you have some other kind of disk manager software, it won't be able to get past what the BIOS sees.

- hope this helps.

1. ATA66 and up requires the 80 wire cable.

2. Disk manager software like EZBios alters the boot sector and the bios to override the hdd size limits. It does not require a floppy to boot.

 

[masterc]

Thanks for all the help folks!
I was able to find a original version of the Maxblast software. It set up the drive perfectly.
Maxblast II, the current version on the Maxtor website, won't work properly. It only found an 8 gig drive???
Anyways thanks a lot for all the feedback.

By the way, will Win XP run on a p200 machine with 64 megs? I've got to check the minumum requirements...

 

[Buz2b]

By the way, will Win XP run on a p200 machine with 64 megs? I've got to check the minumum requirements

Not according to MS's minimums it won't. If it does, you can bet it will be slooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww! I think the recommended minimums are 333 MHz and 128 MB RAM. But don't quote me on that.

 

[Jeff7]

I personally wouldn't recommend WinXP on less than a 750MHz Proc with 256MB RAM!

As for the hard drive, there might be a jumper on the drive that limits the number of cylinders or one of the parameters for compatibility. What is the model number of the drive?

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: masterc
Thanks for all the help folks!
I was able to find a original version of the Maxblast software. It set up the drive perfectly.
Maxblast II, the current version on the Maxtor website, won't work properly. It only found an 8 gig drive???
Anyways thanks a lot for all the feedback.

By the way, will Win XP run on a p200 machine with 64 megs? I've got to check the minumum requirements...

Does this mean that the drive and the PC are working fine together?

Forget WinXP, try win98se.

 

[Kartajan]

please excuse the error (ata66 vice ata100);
and the poor explanation (you have to boot to the floppy for FIRST INITIALIZATION of the management software)

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: Kartajan
please excuse the error (ata66 vice ata100);
and the poor explanation (you have to boot to the floppy for FIRST INITIALIZATION of the management software)

Error understood.

No need to boot to any floppy once EZBios is installed. Its just that simple. That is why I use it.