Installing New HD and having problems

[Alacazam]

Hey all,

Just got a 6.5GB 5400rpm Maxtor HD, reason being my 3GB went out on my P233. Anyways, the BIOS detects it @ 6500MB but when I enter fdisk it says there are no partitions made yet when I go to make one it tells me that the maximum is 2014MB. I enable large disk support going into fdisk, and would think everything should work fine (considering the 3.0GB was FAT32 and detected fine). I also used Partition Magic but it also reported a max partition of 2014MB.

Any ideas as to what is going on?

Thanks.

 

[Alacazam]

Bump.

 

[4824guy]

There might be a 2.1 g mobo bios limitation on your PC's mobo. If you had a 3g working in there before, did it have some special software, or bios overlay software installed? If that ends up being the problem, you will either have to get a mobo bios update, or use the Maxtor Bios Overlay software.


Here is one of the FAQ answers at the WD HD site.---"You can use Data Lifeguard Tools' EZ-BIOS to obtain full capacity if your system does not support LBA mode. If your system supports LBA, then enable LBA in your BIOS setup utility.

NOTE: Some BIOSs, despite having LBA, cannot support a drive greater than 2.1 gigs and some cannot support a drive greater than 4 gig or 8.4 gigs (click here to read more about issues with drives 8.4 gig+). In this case, you can use Data Lifeguard Tools' EZ-BIOS to overcome this limitation and gain full capacity of your drive. Another option is to check with your motherboard manufacturer to see if a BIOS upgrade is available for your system"

 

[Alacazam]

Awesome, got it working now.

Never knew those disks that come with HDs had anything useful on them

Thanks much.