The 137Gig limit....

[Blueacid]

Okay, I'm running fast out of space, and I am looking to upgrade my hard-drive.

My motherboard doesn't have a SATA controller on it, though, and since the new drive will be for storing things like MP3s, and other large files that I don't need all that quickly, i'm going for a cheaper PATA drive.

However, I have heard plenty of horror stories about systems having trouble with drives over 137gb (in that they only use the first 137gigs, and don't touch the rest of the drive)


So, my question is, Will my NF7-S Rev 2.0 have the problem, if so, how easy is it to solve?

[Sonny]

Its easy to solve this problem. The first thing to do is to check if your MoBo supports larger than 137G, most will actually support the larger drives & it's the OS that will be a problem. Next if your using Windows XP Pro | Home or Windows 2000 | Pro SLIP STREAM the latest service packs & use your updated CD to install the OS. This will make sure that the OS will have support for the larger drives. If your use Windows 98SE download the latest FDISK from M$ then you can partition your drive via percentage values instead of MB.

[Blueacid]

I'm running windows 2000 pro, SP4 :)

I don't get what what you mean about Slip Stream, though :confused:

Thanks, though!

[tuskenraider]

Your board BIOS will have no problem recognizing the drive, it's Windows that has the 137GB limit which you have to change by editing some things in the registry or getting a program or drivers from the HD manufacturer to let Windows recognize the drive.

[I.M.O.G.]

This is all you have to do, I had asked the exact same question that you did:

Originally posted by redduc900
You'll need to enable "Large Drive Support" by editing the Registry. Expand the following branch...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | SYSTEM | CurrentControlSet | Services | atapi | Parameters

In the RH pane, you'll need to add a new DWORD called...

EnableBigLba...with a DWORD Value of 1

The following MSKB article describes the 137GB limitation, and how to enable 48-bit LBA in XP pre-SP1...

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)

The above Registry edit enables support for drives larger than 137GB in W2K pre-SP3 and XP pre-SP1. It's needed anytime a HDD larger than 137GB is connected to the MB's ATA bus, regardless of any BIOS that supports 48-bit LBA. :)

This thread has further discussion:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=228723&highlight=137gb

[Blueacid]

The above Registry edit enables support for drives larger than 137GB in W2K pre-SP3



So does that mean that the 137gb problem was fixed in SP3 or 4?

[Sonny]

Slip Streaming is the process of updating your install CD, no more updating to SP4 after installing W2K. You can read about it HERE (http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=277). This way you dont run into any size constraints during installation.

[I.M.O.G.]

SP3

[Blueacid]

Okay, thanks guys!

Sorted :)