XP – Maximum Hard Drive Space Allowed?

[JennyW]

Hi!

I need to install a hard drive on one of my computers, but need some help!

Here’s some info:
- I have Windows 98 on one of my computers.
- I want to make this computer in to an mp3 PC.


However, I heard that 137 GBs of internal Hard Drive space is the Maximum that Windows 98 allows. Is this true?


If so, I am HIGHLY considering installing Windows XP on that PC.


Does anyone know what the max internal Hard Drive space allowed on Windows XP is?



Thanks for reading.
Jenny

 

[elmarcorulz]

my god thats alot of room for mp3's

 

[Cromewell]

provided your BIOS supports big HDDs the max HD size for XP + SP2 is rediculously big. For a windows 98 machine the size limit per HD is probably BIOS imposed to ~30GB (common to pre y2k machines).

 

[JennyW]

Hiee!


Cromewell wrote:

provided your BIOS supports big HDDs the max HD size for XP + SP2 is rediculously big.

I am looking for what XP offers…

How can I find out if my BIOS supports large HDDs?
Is there any info I can give you…or can you direct me how to find this info out?


Thanks. See ya!
Jenny

 

[dave597]

Hiee!


Cromewell wrote:


I am looking for what XP offers…

How can I find out if my BIOS supports large HDDs?
Is there any info I can give you…or can you direct me how to find this info out?


Thanks. See ya!
Jenny

give more specs on the computer you want to install the hard drive on. e.g bios version and make etc. winXP has a v. high limit, not worth looking at that as a factor for not buying a new hdd.

 

[JennyW]

Hi


dave597 wrote:

give more specs on the computer you want to install the hard drive on. e.g bios version and make etc. winXP has a v. high limit, not worth looking at that as a factor for not buying a new hdd.

Here are the specs of the PC I want to put the Hard Drive in to:
---------------
System:
Windows 98 (Second Edition) – This is the PRESENT Operating System (XP will replace it)
4.10.2222 A

Computer:
AuthenticAMD
AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
448.0MB RAM
---------------


Let me know if you need more info!
Jenny

 

[Cromewell]

Do you have a model number for your computer or a motherboard model? (failing that your BIOS version (should be displayed when your computer boots up, if not enter the BIOS you can find it there))

I am looking for what XP offers…

XP supports a bigger HDD than you need (in theory a single hard drive could be 144 petabytes (144,000,000 gigabytes)).

 

[Yeti]

in theory a single hard drive could be 144 petabytes

I thought that NTFS file systems could only support up to 2 TB. Or does volume size mean partitions?

 

[Cromewell]

thats the limit on 48bit LBA, NTFS itself has been limited to 2^32 clusters, but 2^64 is the theoretical limit.

 

[JennyW]

Hi there!

Do you have a model number for your computer or a motherboard model?

How do I find that info. out?

…(failing that your BIOS version (should be displayed when your computer boots up, if not enter the BIOS you can find it there))

I booted my PC…here’s what I found:
AMIBIOS 1999 American Megatrends Inc.


What should I do from here?


Thanks.
Jenny

 

[Cromewell]

If you have a computer from Dell/HP/etc the model should be on the case somewhere (based on the BIOS info you provided I dont think this is the case). If you have a custom built PC (basically something not from Dell/HP/etc) then open the case and look at the motherboard, the model should be written on it somewhere.

AMIBIOS 1999 American Megatrends Inc.

This isn't quite enough info, but it tells me that you BIOS isn't likely to have 48bit LBA support (for biig HDDs) but it should be relatively easy to update

 

[Praetor]

Even XP without SP2 (but with SP1), you can get a maximum capacity up pretty stupidly high (granted with RAID and some limitations tho)

 

[JennyW]

Hi guys!

Thanks for gettin’ back!

Cromewell…I went to several computer stores this week and picked some brains…one guy, (that seemed like he knew what he was talking about) told me that my Mother Board would not support large harddrives…because it’s an AMD Slot A…


Does this make sense?



Out!
Jenny

 

[Cromewell]

It does and it doesn't. With a system that old the BIOS is pretty much guranteed not to have large hard drive support 'out of the box.' However, you might be able to find a new BIOS image for your motherboard that does support large hard drives.
Even without large drive support you should be able to create several small partitions on your large drive.