ASUS A7V8X-X ...MAXIMUM HARD DRIVE SIZE?

[Paul in NC]

Hello NG! Just a quick question concerning hard drive options.

Here's the info on my mainboard:
ASUS A7V8X-X, BIOS Revision 1006 - System BIOS Date 08/06/03

My question is: What is the absolute largest size EIDE hard drive supported
by this motherboard/BIOS?

I would love to be able to drop one of those Maxtor 320GB (4A320J8, 5400RPM,
2MB cache buffer, UATA/133) drives in my box.

Thanks in advance for all assistance sent my way!

Paul

 

[Paul]

Hello NG! Just a quick question concerning hard drive options.

Here's the info on my mainboard:
ASUS A7V8X-X, BIOS Revision 1006 - System BIOS Date 08/06/03

My question is: What is the absolute largest size EIDE hard drive supported
by this motherboard/BIOS?

I would love to be able to drop one of those Maxtor 320GB (4A320J8, 5400RPM,
2MB cache buffer, UATA/133) drives in my box.

Thanks in advance for all assistance sent my way!

Paul

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/english/techref/48bithdd/index.aspx

"Note: Model manufactured after 1st January, 2003 will all support
48bit HDD (137 GB HDD)." So there is no hardware limit, except all
the issues with getting the OS to format, partition, and recognize
the drive... Search in Google for "EnableBigLBA" for more details.
You will be swearing a blue streak before you are finished, due to
the extended periods required to test the setup. I recommend copying
more than 137GB of files to the drive as a test, as otherwise you
can be fooled into thinking everything is OK. What size backup
device will you be using ?

Paul

 

[Paul in NC]

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/english/techref/48bithdd/index.aspx

"Note: Model manufactured after 1st January, 2003 will all support
48bit HDD (137 GB HDD)." So there is no hardware limit, except all
the issues with getting the OS to format, partition, and recognize
the drive... Search in Google for "EnableBigLBA" for more details.
You will be swearing a blue streak before you are finished, due to
the extended periods required to test the setup. I recommend copying
more than 137GB of files to the drive as a test, as otherwise you
can be fooled into thinking everything is OK. What size backup
device will you be using ?

Paul

I would love to be able to drop one of those Maxtor 320GB (4A320J8, 5400RPM,
2MB cache buffer, UATA/133) drives in my box.
But more realistically, Probably a 160GB to 200GB unit. It does not have to
have an enormous cache buffer, nor does it have to be a fast spinner, just
be EIDE and BIG.
What do you think? Would a 160-200GB model work? As it is, I cannot do a
test copy of files greater than 137GB because I don't own the hard drive as
of yet!
Paul

 

[Paul]

I would love to be able to drop one of those Maxtor 320GB (4A320J8, 5400RPM,
2MB cache buffer, UATA/133) drives in my box.
But more realistically, Probably a 160GB to 200GB unit. It does not have to
have an enormous cache buffer, nor does it have to be a fast spinner, just
be EIDE and BIG.
What do you think? Would a 160-200GB model work? As it is, I cannot do a
test copy of files greater than 137GB because I don't own the hard drive as
of yet!
Paul

What my answer was meant to convey, is most of your problems will be
software ones and not hardware. Buying the drive is the easy part -
getting it to work properly is the hard part. If the drive is 138GB
or is 320GB, you have to do the same amount of work and get past the
same software barriers.

Some people who try to use the large drives, end up using a third
party utility, like Partition Magic or the like, to get the disk
set up. Some people never got the large disk to work properly
with their OS and system. But as far as I know, it wasn't a hardware
problem.

For me, I'd rather buy a 120GB drive and just plug it in and use it.
At least until more people post their success stories, and how easy
it was to get working properly. That is why, when you think you've
done everything correctly, I recommend transferring enough files
to the drive, so that the 137GB boundary is crossed while writing
files. Otherwise, you'll only find out you didn't set up the drive
properly months from now, when it is full of real files.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Paul H]

surely if he has the bios support, and can format from XP SP1, there are no
s/w hurdles to overcome.....
I added a 160Gb drive to my existing XP SP1 setup and have had no tweaks or
adjustments to perform.

 

[Paul in NC]

Paul H,
As far as BIOS support:
ASUS A7V8X-X, BIOS Revision 1006 - System BIOS Date 08/06/03
To which the first Paul who offered assistance by quoting (among other
things) ASUS website on the matter "Note: Model manufactured after 1st
January, 2003 will all support 48bit HDD (137 GB HDD)."
As far as Software support, I am running XP HOME SP1

Maybe I should stick to 120GB?
Ty,
Paul_in_NC

 

[Paul]

surely if he has the bios support, and can format from XP SP1, there are no
s/w hurdles to overcome.....
I added a 160Gb drive to my existing XP SP1 setup and have had no tweaks or
adjustments to perform.

I recommend you copy more than 128GB of files to it as a test. I've read
of people who suffered corruption when they hit 128GB, just as the binary
address send to the drive passes the magic number, the device driver
dies because it cannot write any more. This can corrupt the disk. So,
before filling the disk with real files, back it up and test it. You'll
get no symptoms until you hit or pass the magic 128GB (binary) number.
Just duplicating a file over and over again would do it.

Didn't you have to add the registry entry "EnableBigLBA" ?

HTH,
Paul