Does anyone know the limit size of hard drive windows xp can support?

niceneasy · 09-01-2004, 10:45 PM

Does anyone know the limit size of hard drive windows xp can support?
The reason I ask is that I recently bought a new 160 gb hard drive and when I fitted it it only showed up as 127gb.
The retailer told me that it was because windows xp only supports a max of about 120gb (without the xp service packs)
I just wondered if this was true as I'd never heard it before?
Thanks
Matt

nomav6 · 09-01-2004, 10:51 PM

I seen on techtv where they raided a bunch of drives together to read it as 1tb but I dont know if they had the service packs althought this was about 2 years ago.

4W4K3 · 09-01-2004, 10:52 PM

i know theres a limit, but im not sure what it is. its more likely your mobo has a limit to how many GB it can have on one channel, but that all depends on your board. might be XP though.

nomav6 · 09-01-2004, 10:56 PM

I think the problem might be with your BIOS but you might want to wait until someone else tells you something but it is something that you should look into.

Lorand · 09-01-2004, 11:07 PM

The limit is 9 TB, but only after boot, when XP is loaded.
If the BIOS doesn't support such a large drive then the computer must be booted from a smaller partition.

4W4K3 · 09-01-2004, 11:09 PM

ah well i was close with MOBO lol. BIOS is where you check that out i guess. you can probably gt a BIOS revision that allows it to read more, if not then partition it.

agent-k · 09-01-2004, 11:12 PM

Why doesn't my hard drive show the correct size?

The short answer to there's two different measurement formats used. Decimal (GB) and binary (GiB) formats. Binary is used by Windows and decimal is used by the manufacturers. Both the manufacturer and Windows are giving you the "correct" number.

Binary numbers are numbers that are a power of 2.
Decimal numbers are numbers that are a power of 10.

2^10 is 1,024 the closest Decimal number is 10^3 or 1,000
2^20 is 1,048,576 The closest Decimal number is 10^6 or 1,000,000
2^30 is 1,073,741,824 The closest Decimal number is 10^9 or 1,000,000,000

Now lets look at common terms:
Kilo means 1 thousand
Mega means 1 million
Giga means 1 billion
Tera means 1 Trillion

1000/1024 = .9765625
1,000,000/1,048,576 = .9536743
1,000,000,000/1,073,741,824 = .93132257

Noticing a trend yet?

At the Kilobyte size the difference is about 2.34% While at the Gigabyte stage the difference is 6.86% Since we're living in the day where it's relatively easy to put a full terrabyte of storage in your computer that "close enough" is becoming further and further from "close enough" At the Terrabyte level the difference is getting very close to 10%

Would you want to buy a hard drive that is labeled as 2^35 byte hard drive? Or would you rather see a 500Gb drive? I don't want anybody ever having to pull out a calculator to figure out how big their hard drive is!

Windows is the one reporting things wrong! Not your manufacturer. Windows does the binary calculations and then displays GB next to it. When GB is technically wrong due to it's definition. What it is actually displaying is the GiB size.

Since the GB number will always be so much higher than the GiB number it's a safe bet to assume that the hard drive manufacturers won't convert to using the GiB format. Memory manufacturers on the other hand are doing things right. You don't see then selling 1Gb of RAM as 1,073Mb do ya? It gets VERY confusing in the hardware world due to some people using 1 standard while they other group using the other one.

Lorand · 09-01-2004, 11:21 PM

At least 1k$ = 1000$ and not 1024$...

4W4K3 · 09-01-2004, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agent-k

It gets VERY confusing in the hardware world due to some people using 1 standard while they other group using the other one.

kinda like metric and the other system...they both convert to weird numbers when you try to switch numbers. i liek metric better but use the other...poopers. at least im good with Celcius.

**Praetor** · 09-02-2004, 01:53 PM

Quote:

The limit is 9 TB, but only after boot, when XP is loaded.

You sure its not 8TB??

Quote:

Would you want to buy a hard drive that is labeled as 2^35 byte hard drive? Or would you rather see a 500Gb drive? I don't want anybody ever having to pull out a calculator to figure out how big their hard drive is!

Ah crap what happens if you're one of them wierdo peeps that just happens to kno 2^35 off the top of ur head??

Quote:

Windows is the one reporting things wrong! Not your manufacturer. Windows does the binary calculations and then displays GB next to it. When GB is technically wrong due to it's definition. What it is actually displaying is the GiB size.

Two comments:
1. Total size reported by windows is "correct" (illl get to that in a sec), the free space is somtimes "incorrect" depending on cluster size
2. Computing is a technical field and its engineers that design harddrives etc (note that 'engineer' is a protected/reserved/designated word, well it is in numerous countries) -- not a marketing field. If the engineers who designed the drive (and in some sense have a patent on it) designed it on binary then the correct way of reading it is in binary. The only reason its not in binary is because most people can count in decimal better than they can in binary (even though hex rules)

Quote:

At least 1k$ = 1000$ and not 1024$...

That only applies to money you make, not money govnt takes in the form of taxes

09-01-2004, 10:45 PM	#1 (permalink)
niceneasy New Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 3	Does anyone know the limit size of hard drive windows xp can support? Does anyone know the limit size of hard drive windows xp can support? The reason I ask is that I recently bought a new 160 gb hard drive and when I fitted it it only showed up as 127gb. The retailer told me that it was because windows xp only supports a max of about 120gb (without the xp service packs) I just wondered if this was true as I'd never heard it before? Thanks Matt

09-01-2004, 10:51 PM	#2 (permalink)
nomav6 Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Kentucky Posts: 316	I seen on techtv where they raided a bunch of drives together to read it as 1tb but I dont know if they had the service packs althought this was about 2 years ago. __________________ unset($haters)

09-01-2004, 10:52 PM	#3 (permalink)
4W4K3 VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Lewisville, TX Age: 20 Posts: 6,892	i know theres a limit, but im not sure what it is. its more likely your mobo has a limit to how many GB it can have on one channel, but that all depends on your board. might be XP though. __________________ My Computer I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe. Can I eat your brain? FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358

09-01-2004, 10:56 PM	#4 (permalink)
nomav6 Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Kentucky Posts: 316	I think the problem might be with your BIOS but you might want to wait until someone else tells you something but it is something that you should look into. __________________ unset($haters)

09-01-2004, 11:09 PM	#6 (permalink)
4W4K3 VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Lewisville, TX Age: 20 Posts: 6,892	ah well i was close with MOBO lol. BIOS is where you check that out i guess. you can probably gt a BIOS revision that allows it to read more, if not then partition it. __________________ My Computer I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe. Can I eat your brain? FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358

09-01-2004, 11:07 PM	#5 (permalink)
Lorand VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Bucharest Age: 42 Posts: 3,042	The limit is 9 TB, but only after boot, when XP is loaded. If the BIOS doesn't support such a large drive then the computer must be booted from a smaller partition.

09-01-2004, 11:12 PM	#7 (permalink)
agent-k New Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: South Wales U.K. Posts: 10	Why doesn't my hard drive show the correct size? The short answer to there's two different measurement formats used. Decimal (GB) and binary (GiB) formats. Binary is used by Windows and decimal is used by the manufacturers. Both the manufacturer and Windows are giving you the "correct" number. Binary numbers are numbers that are a power of 2. Decimal numbers are numbers that are a power of 10. 2^10 is 1,024 the closest Decimal number is 10^3 or 1,000 2^20 is 1,048,576 The closest Decimal number is 10^6 or 1,000,000 2^30 is 1,073,741,824 The closest Decimal number is 10^9 or 1,000,000,000 Now lets look at common terms: Kilo means 1 thousand Mega means 1 million Giga means 1 billion Tera means 1 Trillion 1000/1024 = .9765625 1,000,000/1,048,576 = .9536743 1,000,000,000/1,073,741,824 = .93132257 Noticing a trend yet? At the Kilobyte size the difference is about 2.34% While at the Gigabyte stage the difference is 6.86% Since we're living in the day where it's relatively easy to put a full terrabyte of storage in your computer that "close enough" is becoming further and further from "close enough" At the Terrabyte level the difference is getting very close to 10% Would you want to buy a hard drive that is labeled as 2^35 byte hard drive? Or would you rather see a 500Gb drive? I don't want anybody ever having to pull out a calculator to figure out how big their hard drive is! Windows is the one reporting things wrong! Not your manufacturer. Windows does the binary calculations and then displays GB next to it. When GB is technically wrong due to it's definition. What it is actually displaying is the GiB size. Since the GB number will always be so much higher than the GiB number it's a safe bet to assume that the hard drive manufacturers won't convert to using the GiB format. Memory manufacturers on the other hand are doing things right. You don't see then selling 1Gb of RAM as 1,073Mb do ya? It gets VERY confusing in the hardware world due to some people using 1 standard while they other group using the other one. __________________ Athlon XP2500 Barton O'Clocked to XP3200 Asus A7N8X-X 1 Gig 400 DDR Ram 160Gig Seagate Barracuda

09-01-2004, 11:21 PM	#8 (permalink)
Lorand VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Bucharest Age: 42 Posts: 3,042	At least 1k$ = 1000$ and not 1024$...

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