What is HDD size limit?

  • Thread starter Thread starter geezer
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G

geezer

I have two machines - a K8V SE and a P4B533VM, both ASUS.

I think I will buy a new large hard drive, say 200-250GB.

I can't find anything as to size limits in the manuals for the MOBOs.
Does anyone know if I should worry that a 250GB drive might not be
acceptable on either MOBO?

Thanks\\Geezer
 
I have two machines - a K8V SE and a P4B533VM, both ASUS.

I think I will buy a new large hard drive, say 200-250GB.

I can't find anything as to size limits in the manuals for the MOBOs.
Does anyone know if I should worry that a 250GB drive might not be
acceptable on either MOBO?

Thanks\\Geezer
Click to expand...


Asus website, read their bios notes and upgrade if it's
mentioned. Generally any board supporting ATA133 should
already support 48bit LBA and have no "realistic" drive size
limit, meaning 250GB is no problem.
 
Asus website, read their bios notes and upgrade if it's
mentioned. Generally any board supporting ATA133 should
already support 48bit LBA and have no "realistic" drive size
limit, meaning 250GB is no problem.
Click to expand...

This page tells you about older boards like P4B533VM.
Boards introduced after 1st January, 2003 are OK.

http://support.asus.com/technicaldocuments/technicaldocuments_content.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&NO=501

This one is for boards not on the above page.

http://rma.asus.de/support/FAQ/faq076_32gb_ide_hdd.htm

For hardware even older than that, this site has patched
BIOS that enables slightly larger drives to be used, than
were available when the board was introduced. The comments
section may give a user some idea as to what limit to
expect, on the listed boards.

http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/k6plus.htm

HTH,
Paul
 
This page tells you about older boards like P4B533VM.
Boards introduced after 1st January, 2003 are OK.

http://support.asus.com/technicaldocuments/technicaldocuments_content.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&NO=501
Click to expand...

I see the P4B533-VM here but not the K8V SE. Says the former supports
48bit LBA (since BIOS 1001). I'll have to determine if my BIOS is
1001 or later.
This one is for boards not on the above page.

http://rma.asus.de/support/FAQ/faq076_32gb_ide_hdd.htm
Click to expand...

This page is in German, which I do not read. I see the P4B I think,
but not the K8V. It says 'uber 120GB*'. I assume that translates
over 128GB. I guess that means the K8V supports over 128GB?
For hardware even older than that, this site has patched
BIOS that enables slightly larger drives to be used, than
were available when the board was introduced. The comments
section may give a user some idea as to what limit to
expect, on the listed boards.

http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/k6plus.htm
Click to expand...

I don't see either MOBO in the tables on this site. I am reluctant to
patch the BIOS anyhow.

Your reply did wake me up to the fact that I can Google max hard drive
capacities. I have started to do that, but have not found the MOBOs
there either as yet.

Thanks Paul

Geezer
 
geezer said:
http://support.asus.com/technicaldocuments/technicaldocuments_content.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&NO=501

I see the P4B533-VM here but not the K8V SE. Says the former supports
48bit LBA (since BIOS 1001). I'll have to determine if my BIOS is
1001 or later.


This page is in German, which I do not read. I see the P4B I think,
but not the K8V. It says 'uber 120GB*'. I assume that translates
over 128GB. I guess that means the K8V supports over 128GB?


I don't see either MOBO in the tables on this site. I am reluctant to
patch the BIOS anyhow.

Your reply did wake me up to the fact that I can Google max hard drive
capacities. I have started to do that, but have not found the MOBOs
there either as yet.

Thanks Paul

Geezer
Click to expand...

Did you see the sentence:

"Boards introduced after 1st January, 2003 are OK."

That means the K8V SE can handle anything, and the BIOS 1001
requirement for the P4B533-VM means it is OK to use anything
as well. (I guess I should qualify that a bit. Approval from
Asus means "definitely the Southbridge works". We're not sure
about any add-on controllers also being in the same catagory,
so you may need further evidence that those are OK as well.)

FAQ076 is for boards introduced well before 2003. They abbreviate
the name, so only as many suffix letters as necessary in the
model name, have to match. That saves them making huge lists
of motherboard names.

P2... = P2B, P2B-S, etc.

I think for you, it is clear sailing. If you have WinXP SP1,
it'll be ready to go.

If you need some reading material, visit this site:

http://www.48bitlba.com/faq.htm

Just don't buy a BIOS from them - your motherboard manufacturer
provides those for free. If you have money to burn, it is
better spent on a separate PCI controller card that can also
handle disks larger than 137GB. A separate PCI controller card,
like the Promise Ultra133 TX2, is the solution for older
motherboards needing large IDE disks. Adding a SATA controller
card, might also work for older boards (it depends on whether
the BIOS is in the right mood to "see" the card).

I'm not aware of any issues with SATA. This doc says SATA
incorporates the ATA-6 spec, which is the same spec that
introduced UATA 133 operation and 48 bit LBA. That is why
I can recommend the Promise Ultra133 TX2 card. Maybe if
the PDC20378 also supports 133 operation, that would make
it OK as well. I suppose the fact that it has SATA ports,
helps :-) There are some Ultra100 products that also support
large disks, as long as they run a recent enough version
of their firmware. (So, you can buy Ultra100 PCI controllers
for the job, but you need to do some Googling first, to
see what firmware is needed.)

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/tp/137gb.pdf

Paul
 
Did you see the sentence:

"Boards introduced after 1st January, 2003 are OK."

That means the K8V SE can handle anything, and the BIOS 1001
requirement for the P4B533-VM means it is OK to use anything
as well. (I guess I should qualify that a bit. Approval from
Asus means "definitely the Southbridge works". We're not sure
about any add-on controllers also being in the same catagory,
so you may need further evidence that those are OK as well.)

FAQ076 is for boards introduced well before 2003. They abbreviate
the name, so only as many suffix letters as necessary in the
model name, have to match. That saves them making huge lists
of motherboard names.

P2... = P2B, P2B-S, etc.

I think for you, it is clear sailing. If you have WinXP SP1,
it'll be ready to go.

If you need some reading material, visit this site:

http://www.48bitlba.com/faq.htm

Just don't buy a BIOS from them - your motherboard manufacturer
provides those for free. If you have money to burn, it is
better spent on a separate PCI controller card that can also
handle disks larger than 137GB. A separate PCI controller card,
like the Promise Ultra133 TX2, is the solution for older
motherboards needing large IDE disks. Adding a SATA controller
card, might also work for older boards (it depends on whether
the BIOS is in the right mood to "see" the card).

I'm not aware of any issues with SATA. This doc says SATA
incorporates the ATA-6 spec, which is the same spec that
introduced UATA 133 operation and 48 bit LBA. That is why
I can recommend the Promise Ultra133 TX2 card. Maybe if
the PDC20378 also supports 133 operation, that would make
it OK as well. I suppose the fact that it has SATA ports,
helps :-) There are some Ultra100 products that also support
large disks, as long as they run a recent enough version
of their firmware. (So, you can buy Ultra100 PCI controllers
for the job, but you need to do some Googling first, to
see what firmware is needed.)

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/tp/137gb.pdf

Paul
Click to expand...


Thanks Paul. Your informative response is appreciated.

Geezer
 
because many computers run correctly with all windows >= WIN98SE exist only
a problem at startup pure DOS7

i search all infos or a dos driver for emulate the same functionnality ( 48
BIT LBA ) as ESDI506 modified or others drivers for IDE / RAID cards

Pierre
 
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