HD size limit

MJOMJO Denmark New
edited July 2003 in Hardware
I have a friend with a ECS K7S5A.

He has recently puchased a WD2000JB a 200GB harddrive.

Now his OS (Windows XP Prof.) can only see 128 GB.

What can he do?

Is there a BIOS update available?

Can he partition it into smaller units
for example 2 100GB?

Should he buy another controller card instead of the onboard?

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Buy another controller, and make sure he has SP1. If he installs SP1, he should be able to see it.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    whoa whoa whoa....there should be one that came with the wd...
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited July 2003
    He bought it OEM so he only got the drive.

    I will see into the XP SP1
    I do not think he has installed it yet.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    it wont work unless u buy the controller :(
    im like 80% sure about that
  • MJOMJO Denmark New
    edited July 2003
    Problem solved
    he upgraded to SP1 and then he could see the whole drive.

    Thank you for all the help
  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited July 2003
    I wasn't aware that WindowsXP had a limit on the size of a drive, unless it is formatted with FAT32, or is it the same way with NTFS?
  • NixxerNixxer Nottingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    I think Windows XP just can't read the size of it above 120 or something, so it was patched.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    Windows XP has always been able to see my 240GIG partition, before and after any updates. I think that probably answers your questions.

    With Windows XP, as far as I am aware, any problems people will have with regard to seeing large partitions will more than likely be a result of inadequate hardware support rather than an inability by XP not to view very large partitions. I was also under the impression XP and the NTFS file system itself in theory are capable of supporting partitions up in the terrabytes.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    then why does western digital's manual talk smack about xp not being able to read anything above 137gigs
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    Okay, I've just been doing a bit more research into this, I stand corrected though, as there was some problems with XP and hard drive sizes above 137gig.

    I'm pretty sure it has something to do with 48 bit LBA support. I think the patch everyone is talking about which was released for XP, was a patch for 48 bit LBA support. However an explanation of why say for example my 240GIG RAID partition was detected and formatted without any trouble (without the need for a patch or SP1) could be because technically my 240GIG partition is made up of two 120GIG drives, and therefore doesn't require the 48 bit LBA patch to support larger drives. Which in turn might stop XP having any problems with my partition.

    So essentially what I think the problem is, is that with single hard drives above 137GIG you need the support patch installed under XP so it can detect the drive properly. So, the problem lies with Windows XPs support for the 48 bit LBA, (which is an attribute that drives above 137GIG have) and not actually partitions above 137GIG. Which is why I can view and format my 240GIG RAID 0 partition (which is made up of two 120GIG drives) without the patch.

    Is that a bit more informative?
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    i thought u just had one big HD...not just a bunch of diks :)
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2003
    From Abit:

    http://www.abit-usa.com/faq/mb/2001121901.php
    How to Enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing Support for ATAPI Disk Drives in Windows XP
    Explanation

    http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q303/0/13.ASP

    This article describes the Windows XP 48-bit Logical Block Addressing (LBA) support for ATA Packet Interface (ATAPI) disk drives that can enable the capacity of your hard disk to exceed the current 137 gigabyte (GB) limit. This patch will also included in WindowsXP SP1 in the future.

    Note
    2002/04/20. Microsoft has remove the page on their English site but still keep it on Chinese page here:
    http://www.microsoft.com/Taiwan/support/xmlkb/CHT303013.ASP.

    The key point is, download 48bitLba.inf and right click on it and select "Install".


    Prof

    PS: If you haven't done so already, please give us your input in the “Utilities Discussion – Week2” thread under General Software!!! This week we are asking for your recommended programs in these categories: HD Speed benchmark, CD Drive Speed Benchmark, Video Performance benchmark:nudge:
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    *claps* nice find bro
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    WuGgaRoO said
    i thought u just had one big HD...not just a bunch of diks :)

    That's okay, it was my mistake, my point was though that it's not a problem with XP's support for large partition sizes, just its support for large hard drives. (there is a difference).

    However this conversation is getting a bit moot, considering the problem was fixed by Microsoft ages ago. So everyone should be happy.:D ;)

    So to sum up the thread :

    If you know your motherboard supports hard drives above 137GIG, as most modern boards do (i.e your motherboards BIOS is 48-bit LBA compatible), and you are still experiencing problems under Windows XP NTFS detecting the full capacity of a hard drive/s, then the easiest way to sort it out is to install SP1 which includes a patch to fix the problem.

    Cheers
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited July 2003
    My friend had to do this with his 200gb Maxtor as well. Updated BIOS and SP1 and all 200gb showed up.
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