BH6 and Drive Size

[Jonduc]

Hi was wondering, if someone could tell me if with the board I have, with the latest bios installed, what size hard drive I could go to?
This site I found http://www.anomaly.org.au/bh6faq/FAQ/faq.html states I should be OK up to 120 Gb.
Also I have read the reviews, and it seems that Western Digital 120Gb with 8Mb cache is better than the Seagate Barracuda 120Gb the same cache and drive speed?
The Western Digital 120Gb is only $20 dearer here in NZ than the Seagate Barracuda.
Most interested in any views on this, thanks Jon

 

[Crashman]

It should be fine. Most BIOS updates made to eliminate the ~33GB limitation allowed drives up to ~126GB. (I could be a couple GB off)

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[NickM]

(Don't kill me, please. - The BH6 is still alive.)
Tried a 120 GB Maxtor and I was able to format to NTFS, so far, - no problem with WinXP SP2, Win2K Server SP4, and Ghost 2002.
The Abit's site stated that 75 GB is the limit for my v.1.01 mobo with the latest BIOS update (ss).
But you were right. Thank you very much.

Just curious, - the ~126 MB, - is it a dead end for this mobo? Is it a BIOS/hardware-related or OS-related limitation?

 

[Crashman]

I believe the limits are 127 or 128GB for BIOS and ~137GB for XP prior to Service Pack 1, as well as 98, etc.

You could use a drive controller card or hacked motherboard BIOS to enable support of larger partitions in XP SP1 or SP2.

Motherboard manufacturers publish a lot of bad info, I've never seen a 75GB limit. And my BH6 supported a Tualatin Celeron 1100@1466, in spite of what Abit says. Natively it supported a PIII 1000E Slot-1, again in spite of what Abit says. All goes to bad info.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[NickM]

quote :... a drive controller card ...

Wasn't able to find a confirmation that Adaptec 1205 or 1210 would work on the oldy. Adaptec is needed for compatibility with Solaris. The www shows some former incompatibility with old adapters, - that's what I only found.

As for Abit's info, actually Abit doesn't list my mobo (v.1.01) above 75 GB (didn't bother to test? ) in their <A HREF="http://www.abit-usa.com/faq/" target="_new">FAQs, "Does ABIT motherboard support ... GB harddisk?"</A>. The next and last generation (v.1.1) is ended at 80 GB . In their "How to upgrade BIOS?" they don't even mention a hacked BIOS possibility . What a support!
Thank you for the help.

 

[Crashman]

Well...what the companies do is test a part, then list it compatable, which is why most older boards never got the full range of CPU's listed, and in your case, never got a drive larger than 80GB listed.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>