buying a new hdd

X

Xpire

New Member
ive got a pretty old motherboard.. only supports like.. p4 1.6-2.4ghz. its a... epox 4G4A? or something like that.. im planning on buying a 300 gb ide hdd and just taking out one of my cd drives. ive read somewhere on this forum that old motherboards dont support hdd over 150 gb or something.. does anyone know if my motherboard supports 300 gb, havent found anywhere in the manual that says anything about it though. thanks =]
 
Nope i don`t think you will be limited at 150GB. I have ran P3 servers with 2x200Gb HDD`s and has never been an issue with me.
 
The old limit you're thinking of is 137GB. To make sure you can use a drive larger than this, make sure you have three updated items:
1. BIOS which supports this
2. OS (xp of course)
3. Chipset drivers
If you can get all three of these to work with the motherboard, you should be good to go. If you cannot, then an IDE controller card in a PCI slot will work.
Tom
 
OvenMaster said:
The old limit you're thinking of is 137GB. To make sure you can use a drive larger than this, make sure you have three updated items:
1. BIOS which supports this
2. OS (xp of course)
3. Chipset drivers
If you can get all three of these to work with the motherboard, you should be good to go. If you cannot, then an IDE controller card in a PCI slot will work.
Tom
Click to expand...
when he says XP he means XP SP2... it originally came out with only 137gb compatibility, tops.
 
fade2green514 said:
when he says XP he means XP SP2... it originally came out with only 137gb compatibility, tops.
Click to expand...
Nope. I have an old (2001) Maximum PC magazine back issue with reports on how well XP (pre-SP1) worked, and breaking the 137GB barrier was clearly mentioned as being offered with that release. It's right in my pile of back issues, so I'll go look to see which specific issue it is and report back later.
Respectfully, Tom

EDIT: I do stand corrected! Minimum of SP1 is required!!
http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/...HNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD03MTgmcF9wYWdlPTE*&p_li=
 
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ahh thanks for the reply guys. well since i havent bought the hdd yet i dont wouldnt know anything. i'll buy the hdd first then see if i have any problems. just one question ovenmaster, what do you mean by chipset drivers? sorry im still newb with computers :D cheers
 
This one's easy. On your motherboard is a set of chips that control what goes on. For instance, an Intel 845 set, or a VIA KM400 set like I have. There is a set of drivers (software) that enables these collections of motherboard chips to operate at maximum efficiency, as compared to the drivers that are automatically loaded when Windows is installed. It is to your benefit to install the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard.
Don't worry about being a newb. Everyone was new at one point in time, even the pros.
Go here: http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/support.php for support on your motherboard. You WILL need to know the exact model in order to get the right updates to your drivers.
Tom
 
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ahh thanks for that =] such detailed response. pro =) i found the drivers for my motherboard..i got a 4G4A epox motherboard.. would you happen to know what the intel application accelerator is? it's on the downloads page.. wonder if i need it... =)
 
ahh i bought the hdd. 300g maxtor ide 16m cache. it doesnt read as 300gigs =\ dammit. it only reads as 127 gigs.. not 137.. not sure why. ive upgraded my chipset drivers.. bios upgraded... my os is still pre-sp1 windows xp. hopefully after i upgrade to sp2 it'll read as 300 gigs.. if not.. im dead =(
 
ah thanks. can you tell me how to upgrade my bios? i downloaded the file.. its a bin file.. dont have a clue what to do with it.. got some.. awdflash thing as well ..
 
Xpire said:
ahh thanks for that =] such detailed response. pro =) i found the drivers for my motherboard..i got a 4G4A epox motherboard.. would you happen to know what the intel application accelerator is? it's on the downloads page.. wonder if i need it... =)
Click to expand...
The Intel Application Accelerator is a piece of software that makes supported Intel chipsets work great! (I wish they had something similar for VIA chipsets:P ) Make SURE your chipset is supported by checking with Intel.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/sb/cs-009312.htm
should get you started.

Everything has to work just right to get the 137GB ATA barrier broken. If it's not working for you then there's at least one puzzle piece missing.

Tom
 
Xpire said:
ah thanks. can you tell me how to upgrade my bios? i downloaded the file.. its a bin file.. dont have a clue what to do with it.. got some.. awdflash thing as well ..
Click to expand...
Instructions for this should be in your downloaded manual for your mobo. I've done it on my PCs with never a problem. Just make sure you connect your PC to a battery backup unit when you do this! In the rare chance the power goes out you would otherwise render your motherboard useless!
Tom
 
thanks for that ovenmaster =] i think i got everything.. besides sp1. just one more thing..when i format hdds.. there's always 8mb of unpartitioned space.. whats this for? is it the cache? well the 300g hdd i just bought is a 16m cache.. i was thinking the unpartitioned space should be 16m...
 
That's probably something called "slack space". It has to do with cluster size vs. the size of saved files. 8MB of it on a drive is nothing compared to some other peoples' formatting! Easily ignored.
Tom
 
ahh alright then. formatted my hdd =] everythings good! the hdd is registered as 279 gigs.. pretty cool =)
 
install sp2 then right click my computer and select manange on the left you will see disk management click on that you will see system healthy under that you will see the rest of your hdd right click that and format this will use the rest of the hdd as a partition you will be able to use it like a mass storage device i install games on my partition
 
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