OT: Need bigger HDD

[soni]

I know you guys are much faster to respond than peripherals..

I need a BIG hdd for my server, but since its only a 8KHA+, KT266A chipset, with ATA100 support, I'm not quite sure how big a drive it supports.
Normally you need ATA133 for HDD support above 137GB (I believe), but is this correct, and if not how big does it support?

I have been checking Epox homepage, Via Technologies and the forum, but not much talk about size (of harddisks)

Also, if I was to buy a SATA drive (for the future server board), can I get a SATA->ATA converter? I have only seen some the other way ATA-SATA, or do I need to invest in a SATA controller..

Thanks
Soni

 

[PeterN]

Here is a first result which sheds some light on how big a HDU can be on a ATA100.
It also gives some clues what limits a HDU size. Here they are talking about a 200Gb HDU.

Will continue to look for more answers.

 

[soni]

Thanks Peter..

I knew this forum was much faster

As I understand your link, if the BIOS doesnt support larger than 137GB, which is the old limit, then you can just partition the drive?
That will work for me, even if i would prefer NOT to..

 

[PeterN]

This taken from another website:

7) ATA100 vs ATA133 Hard Drives

ripper asks - Can anyone advise on the difference between an ATA100 HDD and an ATA133 HDD. Also, if I have an ATA100 HDD installed in my PC and want to install a second HDD, would I have any problems installing an ATA133.

Thor answers:
ATA-100: This means that the interface is capable of reaching a theoretical 100MB/sec burst transfer rate.

ATA-133: same as above but 133MB/sec.

In order to take advantage of the increased throughput of one ATA speed over another, the harddrive, controller, and BIOS must all support the spec. If you use an ATA-133 drive on a motherboard that only has ATA-100 support, then the drive will work fine, but can only reach ATA-100 speeds.

Same thing goes for using an ATA-100 drive on a board that supports up to ATA-133. Keep in mind that there is little or no real-world difference in performance between an ATA-100, and ATA-133 drive. So it's not something to be really concerned about if you are limited to ATA-100 for some reason.

So you should not have any problems using an ATA-133 drive on your board, even if it only supports up to ATA-100. The drive will just be limited to ATA-100 top speeds. No drive regardless of ATA-100 or ATA-133 interface, even comes close to reaching 100MB/sec in sustained transfer rates anyway. And furthermore, mixing the two drives should have no ill effect.

As I read this, I vaguely can remember, the ATA speed has not much to do with the size of the HDU. As far as I can tell, with 'modern' machines it all boils down to the proper BIOS. There, the specs for larger HDU's must be incorporated. I remember trying to put a 60Gb HDU into a machine with an old BIOS. It only recognized the old-BIOS max of 40Gb. When upgrading the BIOS it did recognize the full 60 Gb.


They say, partitioning will work, but I'm hesitant to believe that. I don't think partitioning will work properly, since the BIOS will recognize the HDU to the max of its capabilities. BIOS recognizes real hardware, and IMO partitioning a HDU doesn't make it two physical HDU's . Don't know if I'm correct with this, because I don't have hands-on experience with this.

 

[Confused]

You need a controller card that supports 48bit LBA, all ATA133 do, but many ATA100 will do too.

I have only seen adapters to attach a SATA hdd to a PATA controller, not the other way round.

Check out this thread, reply by bigshooter. Also by bigshooter in this thread


Just looks like you'll need the latest BIOS update

Here is the link from Epox USA


Hope this helps


Garry

 

[Confused]

Wow, quick replies from yourself and Peter...

 

[PeterN]

hehe, finally I beat you with a response, Garry.

But you have the link to EPOX-BIOS update. So you beat me again.

 

[soni]

Thanks Garry, and Peter

That was what I was looking for, but like sunner Epox doesnt mention anything about it..

I was also afraid about the SATA controller

 

[aberant]

Hey guys, just to clarify, you're talking about two different issues there. The BIOS issue is valid when it comes to recognising the full physical size of the hd. You're right, partitioning won't fix that. However, there is the other issue with regards to the max size that FAT can support. There was a problem with FAT16 partitions in that the max they can be is 2 gig, so indeed partitiong an 8 gig drive would fix that. Then FAT32 was brought in and fixed all that. Anyways, just wanted to point out there were 2 different issues being discussed

 

[IsOs]

Soni,

Since you are talking about a server, you'll probably want to consider buying a Big Harddrive that comes with ATA 133 controller. Both WD and Maxtor have a bundled version of their ATA133 controller and 160GB or bigger harddrive.

 

[soni]

Thanks IsOS..

Didnt know that

 

[Evadman]

I have an ATA 133 RAID controller that came with my Maxtor drive that I do not need. (It is baised on a promise chip) I would be happy to give it to ya. Just PM me with your mailing addy if you want it.

 

[soni]

Thanks Evadman, but Im living in Denmark (Europe) so I dont think the shipping cost would be worh it.

But thanks for the offer..
Thats why this is such a great forum

 

[Evadman]

PM me with your addy and I will look into cost. Let me worry about that

 

[SlangNRox]

I just got a western digital 200gb 8mb buffer hard drive from fedex yesterday. It has a ata100 card in it. I'll tell you it my dell 3.2ghz p4 picks it up w/o using the card once I install it. I just realized that I am up to 680 gb between 2 computers now. Its scary that I need the 200gb hd that I just bought.

 

[IsOs]

Originally posted by: SlangNRox
I just got a western digital 200gb 8mb buffer hard drive from fedex yesterday. It has a ata100 card in it. I'll tell you it my dell 3.2ghz p4 picks it up w/o using the card once I install it. I just realized that I am up to 680 gb between 2 computers now. Its scary that I need the 200gb hd that I just bought.

What do you have on those big drives, The Library Of Congress?