Windows larger hard drive barrier effecting drives larger than 137 GB

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Miller
  • Start date Start date
S

Steve Miller

Hello ng,

I read about the Windows larger hard drive barrier effecting drives larger than 137 GB
and would like to know what limited support for such large drive does mean and how
to, in some way, enable full support for such large drives.

Sincerely,
Steve
 
You need SP1 or SP2 for Windows XP to support drives larger than 137GB.

48Bit LBA Info:
http://www.48bitlba.com/winxp.htm

Also see MS article:
How to enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing support for ATAPI disk drives
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013&Product=winxp

You can verify if your PC does or does not support large drives (48Bit LBA)
by using a utility named HD Tune: http://www.hdtune.com/
Download, install and then run HD Tune, then click on the 'Info' tab.
Is there a check mark in the 48Bit-address box? If it is not checked then
your PC most likely does not support 48Bit LBA.

Also there is Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
Note: Belarc identifies the IDE/ATA controller (part number) on your
motherboard, you then need to Google this part number to find if the
controller/chipset identified by Belarc supports 48Bit LBA.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com
 
Steve said:
I read about the Windows larger hard drive barrier effecting drives
larger than 137 GB and would like to know what limited support for
such large drive does mean and how to, in some way, enable full
support for such large drives.
Click to expand...

Use an updated OS - like Windows XP with SP1 or later.
 
JS said:
You need SP1 or SP2 for Windows XP to support drives larger than 137GB.

48Bit LBA Info:
http://www.48bitlba.com/winxp.htm

Also see MS article:
How to enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing support for ATAPI disk drives in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013&Product=winxp

You can verify if your PC does or does not support large drives (48Bit LBA)
by using a utility named HD Tune: http://www.hdtune.com/
Download, install and then run HD Tune, then click on the 'Info' tab.
Is there a check mark in the 48Bit-address box? If it is not checked then
your PC most likely does not support 48Bit LBA.

Also there is Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
Note: Belarc identifies the IDE/ATA controller (part number) on your
motherboard, you then need to Google this part number to find if the
controller/chipset identified by Belarc supports 48Bit LBA.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com
Click to expand...
Thanks for your replies.

I found the Atapi.sys file on my computer. It's on several locations and in
system32/drivers.

The version Nr. was 5.1.2600.5512. This was a later version than the noted
one, wasn't it. This should be ok as it was. Right?

Steve
 
Steve said:
I read about the Windows larger hard drive barrier effecting
drives larger than 137 GB and would like to know what limited
support for such large drive does mean and how to, in some way,
enable full support for such large drives.
Click to expand...

Shenan said:
Use an updated OS - like Windows XP with SP1 or later.
Click to expand...

Steve said:
I do. : )
Click to expand...

Then your software supports the larger hard disk drives natively.

Your hardware - that could be another story.
 
As long as your BIOS and Chipset supports 48Bit LBA.

Most computers made after 2004 should be OK.
2003 to 2004 was a transition period so a PC made in this
time frame may or may not support 48Bit LBA or
will at least need a BIOS update if available from the
PC manufacturer.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com
 
Shenan Stanley said:
Then your software supports the larger hard disk drives natively.

Your hardware - that could be another story.
Click to expand...

Well thank you. The matter was, I downloaded a diagnostic toll from WD
today, since the computer kept on crashing on me. I installed a larger hdd
priorly (320 gigs up from 80 gigs before ) which, seemingly, perfectly
showed up in Bios.

But this WD tool told me the hdd was not, or support for the hdd was not
fully enabled. Therefore I was eager to know what was going on.

Steve
 
JS said:
As long as your BIOS and Chipset supports 48Bit LBA.

Most computers made after 2004 should be OK.
2003 to 2004 was a transition period so a PC made in this
time frame may or may not support 48Bit LBA or
will at least need a BIOS update if available from the
PC manufacturer.

JS
Click to expand...

Please, I posted a reply already. In case you wanna have a look
at it.

Steve
 
Well, thank you everyone. The computer was running much better know. It's awkward somehow
Windows behaves with no information to the user. I again was inclined to stop using to compuer
at all. : )

Steve
 
Hello,

I have had something else in mind today as well. Could it be, the computer has to use
so many more resources to administer a larger hdd (anything else kept the same ) that
it has not sufficient resources left to run other tasks?

Could be, for some reason.I think.

Steve
 
No, drive size should not make a difference.
You can check to see if the "Indexing" service is running
as this could slow things down for a while.

You may also want to check to see if your files are badly
fragmented after moving to the new drive.

JS
http://www.pagestart.com
 
How do I stop it from running? I couldn't find something about stopping it from indexing
files.

Steve
 
Thanks a lot JS. It seems to be working. I also disbaled a S.M.A.R.T. for hard drives in
Bios.

This ffeature seems to occupy lots of resources additionally. I never really noticed what
it did.

Steve
 
Thanks again,
Steve

JS said:
Here are two utilities that are worth looking into if you want more info about S.M.A.R.T.
SpeedFan: http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
The SMART tab displays current smart info on the drive you select and at your option provides an on-line analysis of the drive.

HD Tune:
HD Tune, provides drive info and has an option to test your drive.
For S.M.A.R.T. status click on the 'Health' tab.
http://www.hdtune.com/

JS
http://www.pagestart.com
Click to expand...
 
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