What controls the size of the HD you can use

[rhendrix9]

I want to turn an old Shuttle SK43G into a nas server.
It has IDE as well as SATA-150 connections.

Is there a limitation on the size of the HD I can use? What governs the disk size, the BIOS or the Operating system.

So far I can't seem to get any information about disk size from the SK43G manual or from the Shuttle forums. I did (see an article about using disks over 137G)

Thanks

 

[Paperdoc]

The SATA specs were released AFTER the specs for "48-bit LBA Support" were released, so ALL systems that use SATA drives include support for 48-bit LBA in the hardware and BIOS. This is the key to large hard drives The older system (28-bit LBA) allowed drives up to 137,000,000,000 bytes or (as M$ counts it) 128 GB, but the newer system allows drives up into the petabyte region, of which there are currently none commercially available. So on the hardware side you're covered.

However, to use 48-bit LBA you also need your Operating System to support it. VISTA does. The original XP did not, but it was added with Service Pack 1 and all later packs. So if you're using a windows OS on your proposed server, ensure that what you install has at least XP with SP1 included when you install. If you're using some other OS, just make sure it supports 48-bit LBA.