Ron Sommer said:
Buy a PCI card to connect the new hard drive.
Wrong.
windows without SP1 cannot handle any hard disk.
there is a 137 barrier.. and even with SP1 or 2 you need to
enable large disks
Mikhail Zhilin writes...
"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;Q303013
<Quote>
"Windows XP SP1 includes 48-bit LBA support for ATAPI disk drives. With
this support, you can use hard disks that are larger than the current
137 GB limit. _By_default, _support_is_enabled_in_SP1_."
</Quote>
--
Mikhail Zhilin
http://www.aha.ru/~mwz
From Harry Ohrn...
The BIOS is part of the motherboard and not a part of Windows. If you are
being told that the BIOS doesn't recognize the drive then it is your
hardware not Windows that is the problem.
As an aside note that while Windows XP with SP1 or SP2 will partition and
format a drive as large as yours the original version of XP (version 2600)
has a 137 GB limit
http://york.gose.org/pipermail/yorkcc/2003-December/000075.html .
If you have an original version of XP then you should create a slipstream
with either SP1 or SP2 embedded
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/slipstream.htm
Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp
Glenn:
There's been so much distortion and out-and-out misinformation on this
subject it makes one want to cry. For reasons that I and others have never
understood, Microsoft did not provide support for large-capacity disks,
i.e., disks whose capacity exceeded 137 GB, when the original version of XP
was released. This was so even if the motherboard's BIOS supported
large-capacity disks. When SP1 and/or SP2 is installed, the operating system
will recognize large-capacity disks.
There are two basic requirements for Windows XP to recognize the full
capacity of large-capacity drives, i.e., drives having a capacity greater
than 137 GB...
1. Your mainboard's BIOS must support large-capacity disks, and,
2. SP1 and/or SP2 has been installed.
If you install your 200 GB drive in XP that has not been upgraded with
SP1/SP2, then the OS will recognize only 137 GB (approx.) of that drive.
This is so even if your motherboard's BIOS supports large-capacity disks. If
you subsequently install SP1/SP2, then the full capacity of the disk will be
recognized; however, the remaining disk capacity of the drive above 137 GB
will be reflected as "unallocated space", which of course you can format. So
in that situation two partitions will be created, the original 137 GB and
the remaining disk space. Note how this differs if you install the 200 GB
drive at a time when the XP OS includes SP1/SP2. In that situation the full
capacity of the disk will be recognized and you can have a single partition
if that's your desire.
Note that in every case your motherboard's BIOS must support large-capacity
disks. In the event your motherboard does not support large-drive
capability, you can purchase a controller card such as the Promise ULTRA133
TX2 to support this capability. They're not terribly expensive, running
about $35.
You mentioned the EZDrive program provided by Western Digital. This is a
so-called "overlay program". I strongly recommend that you do not use an
overlay program. Without going into a technical discourse on the subject, I
can assure you that by-and-by they're sure to cause problems. I'm virtually
certain that anyone who has worked on computers over the years will give you
the same advice. In your case the issue is moot since your motherboard's
BIOS does not support large-disk capability.
The Microsoft article you were referred to (303013) affects a tiny number of
cases involving an older version of the Atapi.sys file that may cause a
problem with the OS recognizing large-capacity drives. It has no relevance
to your situation.
Art
