80 GB HDD, BIOS recognizes 65GB

[alkanenigma]

I upgraded my harddisk in my old DELL pc (motherboard uses an Intel
440BX chipset), with an 80 GB HD, while the BIOS clips it to 65 GB,
Partition Magic considers the disk as 78 GB.
I wonder if the extra 13 GB are reliable to use or should I format the
last 13 GB as an hidden partition or so?
Would a BIOS upgrade (where do I find it?) be possible in order to
fully recognize the size of the harddisk?
Thanks for your advice!

Kristian

 

[pen]

I upgraded my harddisk in my old DELL pc (motherboard uses an Intel
440BX chipset), with an 80 GB HD, while the BIOS clips it to 65 GB,
Partition Magic considers the disk as 78 GB.
I wonder if the extra 13 GB are reliable to use or should I format the
last 13 GB as an hidden partition or so?
Would a BIOS upgrade (where do I find it?) be possible in order to
fully recognize the size of the harddisk?
Thanks for your advice!

Kristian

If there is aBIOS update go here, enter your service code;

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

 

[Phlexor]

I upgraded my harddisk in my old DELL pc (motherboard uses an Intel
440BX chipset), with an 80 GB HD, while the BIOS clips it to 65 GB,
Partition Magic considers the disk as 78 GB.
I wonder if the extra 13 GB are reliable to use or should I format the
last 13 GB as an hidden partition or so?
Would a BIOS upgrade (where do I find it?) be possible in order to
fully recognize the size of the harddisk?
Thanks for your advice!

Kristian

I had the same thing happen with an Intel SE440BX-2 Motherboard, which
from the name of it, also uses a Intel 440BX chipset. It was also
upgraded to the latest Pheonix BIOS (P-17 i think) and only showed my
80GB drive as 65GB. I was also worried that it migth crap out because
Windows XP saw the full drive yet the bios didn't. I used it for just
over a year even to the point of it only having a few gig free at times
and suffered no problems. This isnt to say that you aren't going to have
any, but this is just my experience.

Maybe do a test install of the OS and try to fill it up and do various
operations such as copy, delete and defrag. If all goes well it SHOULD
be okay.

If you are still feeling unsure, get a PCI ATA-100/133 add in card and
run it from that, just dont get some cheap crappy one.

HTH

 

[kony]

If you are still feeling unsure, get a PCI ATA-100/133 add in card and
run it from that, just dont get some cheap crappy one.

While "crappy" seems to rule out the obvious, I've had no
problem with the cheap ones, for most uses paying more than
$20 is a bit of a waste. I've put various generic Silicon
Image 0680 based cards in several old systems and they did
fine, can be found at many vendors for about $15.

Dell should have a bios update though, at least supporting
up to 128GB. While that would resolve the capacity issue,
it won't overcome the 440BX chipset's ATA33 IDE controller
which bottlenecks any semi-modern hard drive. Adding the
ATA133 or ATA100, PCI HDD controller card would be the
better option though a slight expense.

 

[Rod Speed]

I upgraded my harddisk in my old DELL pc
(motherboard uses an Intel 440BX chipset), with
an 80 GB HD, while the BIOS clips it to 65 GB,

What have you done with the drive type entry in the bios ?

You should be using AUTO. Its likely got
CHS values specified and they are wrong.

Partition Magic considers the disk as 78 GB.

You previously said elsewhere that XP sees it as the full 80G.

I wonder if the extra 13 GB are reliable to use

Yes, they should be.

or should I format the last 13 GB as an hidden partition or so?

Shouldnt need to.

Would a BIOS upgrade (where do I find it?)

On the Dell site.

be possible in order to fully recognize the size of the harddisk?

Yes, definitely worth trying.