HDD size limits and WinXP

[Stu Wyneken]

Does anyone know if a computer with WinXP Pro can utilize large HDD (160GB)
with out the HDD being partitioned, if the Bios supports HDD larger than
137GB? I have been receiving conflicting information about this and want to
install a 160GB drive but I don't want to partition it.

 

[Rock]

Does anyone know if a computer with WinXP Pro can utilize large HDD (160GB)
with out the HDD being partitioned, if the Bios supports HDD larger than
137GB? I have been receiving conflicting information about this and want to
install a 160GB drive but I don't want to partition it.

Yes, as long as the BIOS supports LBA and XP has at least SP1 installed.

 

[Guest]

Windows xp 32 bit (home & pro etc) can handle yout 160GB drive but only using
NTFS. the 32 bit version can handle 4GBs of RAM. Windows 64 bit can handle
terabytes (1000 GB = 1 terabyte) of hard disk space aswell as terabytes of
RAM.

Hope it helped

Tom. U.K

 

[Tim Slattery]

Does anyone know if a computer with WinXP Pro can utilize large HDD (160GB)
with out the HDD being partitioned, if the Bios supports HDD larger than
137GB? I have been receiving conflicting information about this and want to
install a 160GB drive but I don't want to partition it.

If the BIOS can handle it, the OS will not have a problem. You will
certainly want to use NTFS for a partition that large.

 

[Plato]

Does anyone know if a computer with WinXP Pro can utilize large HDD (160GB)

Yes, as long as you motherboard supports it also and you have SP1 on.

 

[Jerry]

NTFS is not a requirement.

If the BIOS can handle it, the OS will not have a problem. You will
certainly want to use NTFS for a partition that large.

 

[Plato]

NTFS is not a requirement.

True, the below was just a suggesstion.

 

[SlowJet]

Hi Stu,

Humor me. Why don't you want to partition the drive?

SJ

 

[R. McCarty]

I think your confused about terminology. A disk must be
partitioned - even if the full space is used as a single drive.
If you examine Disk Management in the MMC you'll see
drives defined as Basic type with Layout as Partition. A
drive can have up to four primary partitions. However a
drive can have an Extended partition that can contain a
number of "Logical" drives within it.
XP also supports Dynamic drives which are handled by
XP and cannot be seen outside the Operating system.

 

[Ken Blake]

In

Does anyone know if a computer with WinXP Pro can utilize
large HDD
(160GB) with out the HDD being partitioned, if the Bios
supports HDD
larger than 137GB? I have been receiving conflicting
information
about this and want to install a 160GB drive but I don't want
to
partition it.

First, a word about the terminology: in order to use a drive of
*any* size, it must be partitioned. You have to create at least a
single partition on the drive, and the process of doing that is
called "partitioning.".

What you mean, I assume, is that you don't want to have more than
one partition. The answer is that you don't have to, and your
160GB drive will be fine, as long as your Windows XP version is
at least at SP1.

 

[SlowJet]

No, I'm not confused about technology but I this the op may be. It's just
one of those words that have an implied 1 as 0, as in C: is the 0 partion.
What I meant was why would anyone want to have a hugh system / Boot
partition? Especially in the repir / re-install semi-anual life cycle of
Windows.
I think the op is thinking bigger is better and chances are the op has no
valid reason for making one big partition.
But it's his data.

That's my story and sticking to it.

SJ

 

[Alex Nichol]

Does anyone know if a computer with WinXP Pro can utilize large HDD (160GB)
with out the HDD being partitioned, if the Bios supports HDD larger than
137GB? I have been receiving conflicting information about this and want to
install a 160GB drive but I don't want to partition it.

You need to have XP with either SP1 or SP2 installed. Then do it from
Control Panel - Admin Tools - Computer Management, select Disk
Management and look lower right for the graphic of the drive. Right
click in the Unallocated space and Create Partition

If installing XP in the first instance to such a drive, I think you
might be constrained to a smaller partition, making a second one of the
rest of the drive later. But then I would regard having the system in a
single 160 GB partition as foolish anyway; more like 16 for system and
programs and keep data separate

 

[Guest]

Hi,

How would you keep one partition of 160G in the first time of installing
Window XP, without SP1 or SP2? The BIOS does support or sees 160GB of
physical size. But, when you first install Window XP on the new drive, it
only recognizes or sees 130 GB of size.

Please help me out, if you guys can.

 

[Kelly]

How would you keep one partition of 160G...

Why would you want to?

--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Alex Nichol]

How would you keep one partition of 160G in the first time of installing
Window XP, without SP1 or SP2? The BIOS does support or sees 160GB of
physical size. But, when you first install Window XP on the new drive, it
only recognizes or sees 130 GB of size.

You have to have a XP with SP1 or SP2 slipstreamed in, but it may still
be that the initial setup does not handle making a 48 bit LBA partition.
In any case it would be foolish to make the entire disk a single
partition unless it were a data disk. Not so much all eggs in one
basket as the entire farmyard. Make an initial one of say 20 MB, which
is plenty for system and programs. Then install the system, install SP2
and in that Control Panel - Admin Tools - Computer Management, select
Disk Management and look lower right for the graphic of the drive.
R-click the Unallocated space and make a partition to use the rest of
the drive

 

[Plato]

How would you keep one partition of 160G in the first time of installing
Window XP, without SP1 or SP2? The BIOS does support or sees 160GB of

Use a dos disk and format it in fat32. Convert to ntfs later.

 

[Ron Sommer]

Use a dos disk and format it in fat32. Convert to ntfs later.

http://www.48bitlba.com/overview.htm
A dos disk cannot format beyond 137 GB.

 

[Plato]

http://www.48bitlba.com/overview.htm
A dos disk cannot format beyond 137 GB.

Grin. Please dont let that info out to the many folks who have done it