Quick question on 815 chipset HDD size limitation

[MulLa]

Hi all

Just wanted to know what's the largest size HDD I can use on the 815 chipset?

More specifically I have an intel 815DEEA and wanted to upgrade the HDD to 160GB and not having the BIOS picking up a smaller size.


Thanks

 

[ethebubbeth]

Should not reach your theoretical limit for quite some time. LBA mode for hard drives has a lot of headroom when it comes to drive size.

 

[MulLa]

Thanks ethebubbeth for confirming that. Now I can go and find that new Maxtor 80G/platter HDD.

 

[Jeff7]

Just check for anything about the 137GB limit at the FAQ for your motherboard; not all onboard controllers support the 48-bit LBA.

 

[MulLa]

Jeff7, actually that's what I'm worried about. Hm... Ok will go and check FAQ now.


Thanks


Edit:
Doesn't seemed to be in the Anandtech Faq?? Probably go and search through the Intel website again.

 

[thraxes]

Won't a drive manager work if the Bios can't recognize the drive correctly? You can get the software at the HDD makers webpage. At least it used to help when i wanted to run a 20GB drive on a P200 that only saw 8GB.

But I really doubt that should be a problem, even the 4 year old BX board that I had could see over 130GBs with the latest Bios release.

 

[MulLa]

thraxes, Don't really want to get into those drive managers. What size HDD have you got hooked up to your BX board??

 

[thraxes]

don't have the board anymore and only had 2 60GB drives on it. IIRC though the Readme to the BIOS update mentioned that the 130GB limit had been fixed. I could be wrong though since I sold the board (Asus P2B-F)

 

[MulLa]

thraxes, I don't think the limit will kick in when you have 2 smaller drives that add up to over 137GB.

Hmm.... can't seemed to find the info on Inte's site. Maybe I should try e-mailing them.

 

[redbeard1]

It depends on what 815 chipset you have. Checkout this link to intel that talks about what chipsets support big drives.

Intel

 

[MulLa]

Thanks redbeard1 I have the 815E chipset which is supported by IAA and currently in use too. Guess I'm looking too hard in the 815 chipset documentation and didn't think too check out the IAA docs

 

[robcy]

Correct me if I am wrong. I think it has to do with the ATA version that will be the limiting factor. the 815 has a ATA100 which will support upto 137gb. Anything larger than that will require an addon card that supports ATA133. At least that is the way I had to setup my 160gb HD on a K7S5A in my tivo puter.

 

[MulLa]

robcy, as far as I understand. ATA133 is not necessary to get past the 137GB limit, it's the 48-bit addressing as mentioned by jeff7 is the key to get past the 137GB limit.

Otherwise all ATA100 WD HDDs past the 137GB mark would be useless.