Quick question about the 137GB hard drive 'visibility' issue

[Ken90630]

So I need to replace a dying EIDE hard drive, and I'm looking at drives in the 250-320GB range (also EIDE, not serial). I seem to remember an issue awhile back whereby Windows could only see 137GB, however. This is the first time I'll be buying a HD larger than 80GB :Q, so this consideration is new to me. (Stop laughing.)

A quick Google search a few minutes ago yielded something to the effect that the 137GB limitation only applies to pre-Windows XP SP1 operating systems. Is that true? Since I'll be putting the new HD in a PC (built by me) running XP Home SP2, am I good to go? Or do I need to do anything else? If it matters, the machine has an Asus A7N8X mobo with the latest BIOS. Does the BIOS come into play here in terms of having to have 48-bit LBA (whatever that is) enabled?

Pre-emptive strike: Don't bother making fun of this 'old' system. I know it's not state of the art, but it's my secondary rig and it serves its purpose well as a standalone workstation (and I'm not a gamer). It's rock solid reliable and actually pretty fast for the things I need it to do (running an Athlon XP 2600+). So no jokes! :laugh:

 

[RebateMonger]

You should be fine with your XP Home SP2 and a recent BIOS.

The big problem with "large drives" comes with trying to install a new Windows XP opeating system on a "large" drive without first slipstreaming XP to SP1 or higher. When you do that, you can only format the System partition to 137 GB, and expanding an existing System partition in XP is not a recommended procedure.

 

[Ken90630]

Great. Thanks a lot. :beer:

So as long as the Windows installation is SP1 or higher, the mobo's BIOS is irrelevant? If so, what was that "48-bit LBA" thing all about? Does that mean a pre-XP SP1 O.S. would install on a "larger" HD (and have more than 137GB 'visible' to the O.S.) if that's enabled in the mobo's BIOS? What about installing, say, Win2K on a HD larger than 137GB? Just curious.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Ken90630
So as long as the Windows installation is SP1 or higher, the mobo's BIOS is irrelevant?

I didn't say that the BIOS version is irrelevant.

A quote from the Asus forums:

"According to Asus as mentioned previously, any BIOS after 1001.c for PCB 1.03 boards and beyond have BIOS support for 48bit LBA. That is confirmed in your case because your BIOS is showing about 160GB for the capacity of the hard drive. 48bit LBA will theoretically allow for the use of petabyte hard drives. I expect that your operating system also sees the drive as about 160GB."

 

[Ken90630]

Okay, that's what I wasn't sure about. Thanks again.