HD Capacity Limit in XP

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Guest

Here's my question, plain and simple

Is it possible for me to install a copy of Windows XP Pro without SP1 on a 250GB HD and keep the full capacity? If so, how

I have BIOS that recognizes the full capacity

This shouldn't be this difficult. Up to now, XP has been awesome, but this is a total nightmare.
 
Without SP1, XP will only recognize a drive up to 137 Gig's.

JAX

MRector said:
Here's my question, plain and simple:

Is it possible for me to install a copy of Windows XP Pro without SP1
Click to expand...
on a 250GB HD and keep the full capacity? If so, how?
I have BIOS that recognizes the full capacity.

This shouldn't be this difficult. Up to now, XP has been awesome, but
Click to expand...
this is a total nightmare.
 
I have seen an MVP post that suggests if a large hd was formated prior to
enabling BigLBA, then it was enabled and unallocated space formated with a
second partition, there is a possibility of data corruption/loss

demon said:
looking on the maxtor site, they sy that you must install 'big drive
Click to expand...
support' drivers, on xp pro sp1 to prevent data loss. i haven't seen that
mentioned elsewhere, so could someone please confirm this.
 
from the maxtor site

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

Note: Failure to install the required service packs and install the Enable Big LBA patch can result in data loss when accessing the hard disk beyond 137 Gigabytes. For more information regarding Windows limitations and the 137 Gigabyte barrier please read Maxtor Knowledge Base Answer ID 960 and Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 303013

To use the Maxtor Big Drive Enabler, download big_drive_enabler.exe from this Web site then double-click on the downloaded file to begin installation
 
You need to install SP1 or SP1a

BTW, why do you so reluctant to install SP1
What is the nightmare

Pete

----- MRector wrote: ----

Here's my question, plain and simple

Is it possible for me to install a copy of Windows XP Pro without SP1 on a 250GB HD and keep the full capacity? If so, how

I have BIOS that recognizes the full capacity

This shouldn't be this difficult. Up to now, XP has been awesome, but this is a total nightmare.
 
I have been having the same problem and mine is a seagate
160 and sp1 came with my xp installation cd and I still
experience the 137 hard drive. My bios even recognized
the hard drive and capacity before the hard drive install
cd was put in and after I put it in and after the last
step on the install cd, it said xp would only use it as
137 til xp and sp1 was installed. After it was installed
and after I downloaded the hotfix microsoft indicated, I
am still at that drive limitation. But I think seagate
has a utility that can help you reclaim that space and I
don't know what part of the windows registry to go into to
make sure enable lba is set.
-----Original Message-----
You need to install SP1 or SP1a.

BTW, why do you so reluctant to install SP1?
What is the nightmare?

Peter

----- MRector wrote: -----

Here's my question, plain and simple:

Is it possible for me to install a copy of
Click to expand...
Windows XP Pro without SP1 on a 250GB HD and keep the full
capacity? If so, how?
I have BIOS that recognizes the full capacity.

This shouldn't be this difficult. Up to now, XP has
Click to expand...
been awesome, but this is a total nightmare.
 
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