Hard Drive Size Limitations?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Wade
  • Start date Start date
S

Steve Wade

Hi Guys,

Is there any way of determining the maximum size of HDD I can use on my PC?

Is it determined by the mainboard, the bios or the OS?

Finally, if the size if a HDD exceeds the maximum, can I work around it by
having partitions equal to that limit?

Best regards,

Steve
 
Steve Wade said:
Hi Guys,

Is there any way of determining the maximum size of HDD I can use on my PC?

Is it determined by the mainboard, the bios or the OS?
Click to expand...

All 3, to some extent...

If the computer is within 2 years old, it likely is NOT limited to 135 GB as
were the previous generation. If a bit older, there may be a BIOS update
available to recognize >135 GB.

I don't know about Win 9x, but XP recognizes large HDs and partitions without
problem.

However, I have an external 3.5" HD enclosure that will not recognize >135 GB on
the HD, regardless of partitioning. I had to buy a new enclosure for my 300 GB
HD.
 
The motherboard and its BIOS determine the maximum capacityof harddrive that
they can recognize. And, NO, changing the partition size will not fool it
into accepting a larger drive capacity.
 
Steve said:
Hi Guys,

Is there any way of determining the maximum size of HDD I can use on my PC?
Click to expand...

The motherboard/BIOS documentation.
Is it determined by the mainboard, the bios or the OS?
Click to expand...

First by the BIOS. Secondly the O.S. must support it.
Finally, if the size if a HDD exceeds the maximum, can I work around it by
having partitions equal to that limit?
Click to expand...

No. You can't put a partition 'there--->' on the hard drive if the
motherboard doesn't know how to talk to the hard drive 'there--->'

Multiple partitions can be used to overcome an O.S. file system limit,
however. The limit for NTFS is large enough (2.2 terabytes) to not
currently matter on home PCs but earlier file systems had lower partition
limits. FAT16, for example, has a DOS limit of 2GB so you'd give a 4GB
drive two 2GB partitions (if the motherboard BIOS supports a drive that large).
 
If you are using Windows XP SP1 or later, the OS will recognize the full
size of the drive (any size available now) and be able to partition and
format it with no problem. This is regardless of how the bios/motherboard
recognizes it.
 
Tweek said:
If you are using Windows XP SP1 or later, the OS will recognize the full
size of the drive (any size available now) and be able to partition and
format it with no problem. This is regardless of how the bios/motherboard
recognizes it.
Click to expand...

Things may appear to work but if the motherboard doesn't support the drive
it won't work.
 
Back
Top