P2B-F with >160G ATA HD?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ( aka iCefoX )
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A

( aka iCefoX )

Hi,

Wanting to make a move on this kind of big ATA disk. Before that would
like to confirm it is doable with +ve experience.

In case I need to upgrade my BIOS to gain visibility to this kind of BIG
disk, would appreciate a not on the release.

Thanks
 
Hi,

Wanting to make a move on this kind of big ATA disk. Before that would
like to confirm it is doable with +ve experience.

In case I need to upgrade my BIOS to gain visibility to this kind of BIG
disk, would appreciate a not on the release.

Thanks
Click to expand...

There is a FAQ here:

http://www.asuscom.de/support/FAQ/faq076_32gb_ide_hdd.htm

The P2B series is covered by the "P2..." in the second group of
motherboards. It says "bis einschl. 128 GB", whereas the others
say "Uber 128GB", so I would say a 120GB drive is the largest
you could use. The middle column says "Aktuelle Beta", meaning
you would need the latest (beta) BIOS to make it work with up to
a 120GB drive. FAQ076 mentions some other limits, like 32GB/64GB,
and I don't know if some older version of BIOS for your board
would have had those limits or not. In any case, using the latest
(beta) BIOS should give you the ability to use a 120GB drive.

If you want a larger drive, or perhaps a bit more performance,
find an Ultra133 controller card that accepts ATA or ATAPI
devices. I have one from Promise, and a Promise clone that
Maxtor was selling at one time. Handy to have, when you have
an older motherboard. Generally Ultra133 PCI cards are associated
with 48bit IDE capability (features came out in the same version
of standard, so I'm told), so you don't really need to check the
status of big disk support - it should just work, with WinXP SP1
for example. If you find an Ultra100 PCI card, then you'll need
to search the BIOS/driver download web page for the product, to
see which release of BIOS+driver is needed to handle disks larger
than 128GB (binary gigabytes) / 137GB (decimal, disk manufacturer
gigabytes). Don't buy an old Ultra100 PCI card until you've
researched it first.

HTH,
Paul
 
( aka iCefoX ) said:
Hi,

Wanting to make a move on this kind of big ATA disk. Before that would
like to confirm it is doable with +ve experience.
Click to expand...

You havw two choices:
a) IF (drive_bootable = no & performance_reqd = low): Attach drive to
onboard IDE controller, set respective position to NONE in BIOS
setup. Make sure OS can handle 48 bit LBA (Win2k: SP4 plus a registry
entry, see 48bitlba.com or somesuch).
b) IF (drive_bootable = yes OR performance_reqd = high): Buy decent
reliable UDMA100/133 controller with 48 bit LBA support. I recommend
the Promise Ultra100 TX2, which is a solid choice if shipped with at
least BIOS 2.20.0.14 (if older, update) and used with current
Windows drivers (such as 2.00 b42).
In case I need to upgrade my BIOS to gain visibility to this kind of BIG
disk, would appreciate a not on the release.
Click to expand...

It never hurts to have 1014 beta 3, which is the last BIOS version.

Stephan
 
( aka iCefoX ) said:
Hi,

Wanting to make a move on this kind of big ATA disk. Before that would
like to confirm it is doable with +ve experience.

In case I need to upgrade my BIOS to gain visibility to this kind of BIG
disk, would appreciate a not on the release.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I don't think you can do this directly. You could use a seperate
controller with it's own BIOS, but if my memory is correct, the actual
chipset on the P2B, has an upper limit on it's own IDE controller, of
128MB.

Best Wishes
 
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