Help with large Hard Drives

[Workaholic]

By finally getting the time to set up my cousin's computer lately I realised that windows XP only recognises the 200GB SATA hard drive as a 137GB maximum. By reading up on this I found that I needed to apply windows XP Service Pack 2 that supports 48bit sized hard drives (approx 280GB.)

However the problem now is that I wish to buy a 300GB (IDE) hard drive from yourselves as an upgrade for my computer but cannot find anywhere that's tells me whether or not my motherboard supports 48bit hard drives. So what would be the way around this: buy one and see if it works?
If yes, keep it.
If no, ask for a refund/exchange for a smaller sized hard drive.

P.S. the motherboard that I have is approximately 2 years old, manufacter XFX model NF24-ALH (uses nForce 2.)

Cheers for any input at all.

[Bloggz]

It's a bit extreme but you could re-create your Windows CD with Service Pack 2 already integrated to add-in support for larger disks, I've started using a program called nLite to do it http://www.nliteos.com/ you basically stick in your original XP disk, it copies the files off (easy step-by-step process) you download SP2 it then integrates it and creates an ISO image for you to burn and use during the install. It does a load of other stuff as well, for those who are interested.

Otherwise, I'd do what I normally do and create a 30Gb partition to install Windows on, then once it;s installed and patched up, define and format a D: using the 'Disk Management' in Windows.

Dunno about the mobo support.

[Workaholic]

A friend of mine explained how that windows xp disc could be slipstreamed together, so thanks anyway.
However I still don't know whether my mobo supports large hard drives - I'll send XFX an email and hope to get a reply.

[Snakebite1969]

Some HD's manufacturers supply tools to format a HD for greater than 137 GB even if your mobo doesn't support 48-bit LBA like this example from segate

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/di...137/index.html

Another option is to format the drive in another machine running WinXP SP2 and than move it to the correct machine.

[Workaholic]

What I'm puzzled about now is that if I have the 200GB HDD formatted to 137GB with windows xp already installed, when I apply the patch / Service Pack 2 will the additional 60ish GB pop up as another drive or will it add onto the existing partition?

[Snakebite1969]

Go

Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management ->Disk Mangement and Click on "Rescan Drives" and it should show up as unpationed space and ready to format

But this is only if your mobo can support 48-bit Lba drives.

If your mobo doesn't support 48-bit lba drives even with a bios update, for eample with seagate drives you will need to reinstall windows, but first use Seagates Disk Wizard to enable Dynamic Drive Overlay (DDO)

More information here on DDO
http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/di.../use_dwse.html

[Workaholic]

Go

Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management ->Disk Mangement and Click on "Rescan Drives" and it should show up as unpationed space and ready to format

But this is only if your mobo can support 48-bit Lba drives.

If your mobo doesn't support 48-bit lba drives even with a bios update, for eample with seagate drives you will need to reinstall windows, but first use Seagates Disk Wizard to enable Dynamic Drive Overlay (DDO)

More information here on DDO
http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/di.../use_dwse.html

That clears one puzzling question that's been pestering me all week.
But the next problem is that the 300GB HDD that I want from scan is the Maxtor one that goes on todayonly fairly often.

[Steve A]

If you want it on the offers page the email themanwhocan@scan.co.uk

Regards

[Snakebite1969]

Maxtor offer MaxBlast utility to overcome bios limitations if needed - located here:

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...ndMax%20Family

[Steve A]

Hi,

I concur, this is good software.

Regards

[Workaholic]

Thanks for the software link, only question now is for the scan guys.

What's the ETA on
LN8609 - 300Gb Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 (7200rpm,16MB) "Sabre" - *NEW* Lead (Pb) Free - PATA

[Steve A]

No ETA yet, but the lead time isnt to long on these, so i would say around tuesday next week.

Regards

[Workaholic]

Would you be able to PM me when you do have a ETA on them as I'll rather place the order when I know approx what date I need to go into work to pick them up and also to stop overspending and using more than my credit limit allows on Credit Card.

[Steve A]

Hi,

If i remember yes no problem, but my memory is like a siv sometimes, so i may forget .. but i will do my best.

Regards