Hard Drive Size Limitations

[Buddha]

I'm getting a new computer with an Intel Core I7 920 Socket LGA 1366
Quad-Core CPU. The system comes with a 640 GB SATA hard drive. I want to
install a copy of Windows XP Pro SP1. Is there a hard drive limit with SP1
like there was with the original Windows XP not being able to recognize hard
drive space beyond 137 GB? In other words, will XP Pro SP1 install on this
computer with a 640 GB drive??

Thanks!

 

[Brent]

Once you have Windows XP SP1 or higher, then you will be fine.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm getting a new computer with an Intel Core I7 920 Socket LGA 1366
Quad-Core CPU. The system comes with a 640 GB SATA hard drive. I want to
install a copy of Windows XP Pro SP1. Is there a hard drive limit with SP1
like there was with the original Windows XP not being able to recognize hard
drive space beyond 137 GB? In other words, will XP Pro SP1 install on this
computer with a 640 GB drive??

Yes. You need two things to support a drive that large:

1. A motherboard with a BIOS and controller that supports 48-bit LBA
(or alternatively, an add-in controller card that does).

2. At least SP1 of Windows XP.

The computer being new will take care of point 1, and SP1 will take
care of point 2.

 

[JS]

No problem.

 

[Twayne]

I'm getting a new computer with an Intel Core I7 920 Socket LGA 1366
Quad-Core CPU. The system comes with a 640 GB SATA hard drive. I
want to install a copy of Windows XP Pro SP1. Is there a hard drive
limit with SP1 like there was with the original Windows XP not being
able to recognize hard drive space beyond 137 GB? In other words,
will XP Pro SP1 install on this computer with a 640 GB drive??

Thanks!

If it's a new computer it will be already set up for LBA (Large Block
Access) et al will already be i place for you. XP/SP1 should also work
fine. You should have no problems with the drive.
You are going to update to SP3 for XP, right? You really need to.
See the MS website for install instructions for SP3; there are a couple
of gotcha's in it.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Buddha]

Thanks to all!

Yes. You need two things to support a drive that large:

1. A motherboard with a BIOS and controller that supports 48-bit LBA
(or alternatively, an add-in controller card that does).

2. At least SP1 of Windows XP.

The computer being new will take care of point 1, and SP1 will take
care of point 2.

 

[LVTravel]

I'm getting a new computer with an Intel Core I7 920 Socket LGA 1366
Quad-Core CPU. The system comes with a 640 GB SATA hard drive. I want to
install a copy of Windows XP Pro SP1. Is there a hard drive limit with
SP1
like there was with the original Windows XP not being able to recognize
hard
drive space beyond 137 GB? In other words, will XP Pro SP1 install on
this
computer with a 640 GB drive??

Thanks!

No problems except that you will possibly need to do one of two things to
get it to recognize an SATA drive.

1. Have a floppy disk that will have the SATA drivers on it and when
installing the OS, at the beginning, hit the F6 key to install those SATA
drivers. They are NOT included with Windows XP in any flavor.

or

2. In the bios of the computer set the SATA hard drive controller to the
IDE setting, install Windows, install the SATA drivers and then change the
bios setting back for the drive to SATA.

From a post in another newsgroup by Paul:
"The BIOS will show several options for SATA ports. The first two are
supported in WinXP.

Compatible mode - SATA drive made to emulated IDE in I/O space.
Enhanced mode - SATA controller shows up in PCI space. May also be
referred to as native mode.

AHCI mode - Needs F6 and floppy with driver.
Supports hot swap for SATA (or ESATA) drives. (Vista
has support for AHCI built in, but WinXP does not.)"

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thanks to all!

You're welcome. Glad to help.

 

[JS]

You're welcome.