Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (
More info?)
Anna,
Thank you for taking the time to give such a detailed response. I will
struggle no more.
Philip
"Anna" <myname@myisp.net> wrote in message
news:%23pajnkvLFHA.3812@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> "Philip Roberts" <roberts@16rw.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:d1pdle$hcf$1@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
>> The reason for my original post was this particular piece of information
>> in the Knowledge Base on the Maxtor website:
>>
>> "Maxtor's Big Drive Enabler is a one step executable that enables support
>> for drives larger than 137 Gigabytes in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and
>> XP Service Pack 1. This utility takes the guess work out of editing the
>> Windows registry. The Big Drive Enabler fixes an operating system
>> limitation. This utility is needed anytime a Hard Disk Drive larger than
>> 137 GB is connected to the motherboard's ATA bus, regardless of any
>> system BIOS that supports 48-bit LBA."
>>
>> I am still struggling to get a definitive answer.
>>
>> Philip
>
>
> Philip:
> Struggle no more.
>
> There are two basic requirements for the XP operating system to recognize
> the full capacity of hard disks greater than 137 GB
>
> 1. The motherboard's BIOS must support large-capacity disks, i.e., disks
> whose capacity is greater than 137 GB; and
> 2. SP1 and/or SP2 has been installed as an upgrade to the XP OS.
>
> That's it. Nothing too terribly complicated about the basic requirements.
> Some additional points...
> a. Virtually all motherboards that have been manufactured during the last
> four years or so have this capability based upon my experience with a
> fairly
> large number of them. Many of the older boards that didn't originally have
> this capability have BIOS upgrades to include this capability.
> b. If the user installed a large-capacity disk at the time his XP OS did
> *not*
> contain SP1 and/or SP2, then the system would recognize *only* 137 GB
> (approx.) of that disk (we'll assume in this situation the BIOS recognizes
> large-capacity disks). When he or she subsequently installs SP1 and/or
> SP2, the full
> capacity of that disk will be recognized, *but*, the remaining capacity
> beyond 137 GB (approx) will be "unallocated space" which, of course, the
> user can partition/format. So that at a minimum the disk will have at
> least
> two partitions. Probably not an important consideration for most users who
> will be multi-partitioning those large disks, but something to keep in
> mind.
> c. I *strongly* advise you *not* to install Maxtor's Big Drive Enabler or,
> for that matter, any HD manufacturer's "drive overlay" program for the
> purpose of "enabling" large-capacity disk support. As most computer repair
> technicians will tell you, these drive overlay programs are curses. They
> modify the hard drive in proprietary non-standard ways that by & by will
> one day rise up and bite you. If your BIOS does not support large-capacity
> drives and no BIOS upgrade for your motherboard exists to achieve this
> capability, there's only one tried & true way to gain this capability --
> purchase a controller card such as the Promise Ultra133 TX2 and install it
> in your machine. They're simple to install and they do their job.
> Controller cards such as these are reasonably priced -- the last time I
> looked online vendors were selling them for about $35 or so.
> Anna
>