Maximum Partition Sizes?

[X-ray Doc]

I'm building my first computer and plan on purchasing a
160 GB or 200 GB hard drive. When I boot from my Windows
XP Professional CD to partition and then format this new
hard drive, will it recognize the entire drive and allow
me to create a single partition of either 160 or 200 GB?
I've read about some partition size limit of
approximately 127 GB in Windows, but what happens with
the new, larger drives? Will my only option be to create
two partitions? Is there something I can do to allow a
single large partition? Anyone with experience with
these newer drives please respond. Thanks.

 

[LVTravel]

I am sure that someone else will probably respond to this but here is what I
know about your topic.

Windows XP will support 160-200 GB Hdd partitions when formatted as NTFS
only (FAT 32 has much smaller partition limits).

Your system bios must support the drive as well. Since you are building
your own computer you should specify support for UDMA 133 and support for
your size drives when you purchase your new Motherboard.

I just installed a WD 160 GB as slave drive without incident and formatted
to full size in one partition in Win XP Home.

 

[X-ray Doic]

Thanks for the info. I know I've read about a 32 GB size
limit with FAT32, but I also thought I've read about a
127 GB size limit in another situation. I'm quite
confused about this whole topic since my son's computer
has Windows 98 (FAT32), a single 40 GB hard drive and
also a single "C" partition. Would other knowledgeable
geeks please set me straight? What exactly are the
partition size limitations in the various Windows OSes or
various hard drive file systems and how do you get around
them? Maybe this issue isn't ever a problem now with
Windows XP, but I'd like to hear from you for sure.
Thanks again.

 

[X-ray Doc]

Thanks for the info. I remember reading that there was a
32 GB drive limitation in FAT32, but I also remember
something about a 127 GB limitation under another
situation. I am really quite confused about this whole
topic. My son's computer uses FAT32 and he has a single
partition on a 40 GB hard drive. What happened to the 32
GB limitation? Could some knowledgeable person help me
to understand the partition size limitations present with
various operating systems, hard drive file systems or
perhaps motherboards? Maybe there are no problems with
new motherboards, new hard drives and Windows XP. I'd
like to know for sure however. Please respond if you
know anything about partitioning large hard drives.
Thanks again!

 

[Paul]

The limitation is not 127GB as I have seen here and elsewhere on this NG today.

If one does the math you will see it is 137GB.

Up until recent, the IDE drives used 28 bit LBA to access data on a drive.
This works out to 137GB (2^28 sectors *512 bytes=137,438,953,500 bytes)

The latest drives are now starting to use 48 bit LBA to try and keep from
becoming outdated to early.
It will take some time before drives can expand to the 144,115,188GB limitation.

BTW...the older limitation was 24 bit LBA which was causing the 8GB limitation.
If you have heard of the Int13, this is what the controllers are using to go
from 24 to 28 bit LBA.

Paul

 

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

XP goes to 48 bit LBA in SP1. There is a KB article.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=303013

 

[Paul]

Yes, just about everyone knows this by now. Even the original poster was trying
to relay the fact he knew of the limitation. He incorrectly was quoting the
limitation as 127GB though.

The point I was simply trying to convey was the correct number is 137 not 127.
At first I thought it was a typo, but when I saw that he responded another time
or two, I thought I would help clarify the issue.

If his copy of XP is old enough, then he won't have the SP1 on the CD which
means he would not be able to get full access to a large 160 or 200 GB drive.
No one yet has mentioned to him about making a slip-stream CD (in case his XP
does not have SP1 on it already).

Paul

 

[Paul]

Thanks all who responded. Sorry I stated 127 GB instead
of 137 GB. (I knew I was in the ballpark.) Now, if
someone would please help confirm what I think I've
learned.
1. In order for Windows XP to recognize the entire drive
during partitioning and formatting I will need to boot
from a CD that contains Service Pack 1. Is this true? I
thought partitioning and formatting occurred before any
Windows OS was involved.
2. If I just boot from my old Windows XP Pro disc I will
be given the option to create a single partition of 137
GB. When I later add SP1, I could then create a second
partition of the remainder of the hard drive using disk
management tools, but there will be no way to merge these
two partitions. Is this true?

You could create the second partition later with no problems. If you wanted to
merge (expand) the original 137GB partition you would need a 3rd party program
like Partition Magic. Or you could simply create a Ghost backup and then
restore back to the drive and allow it to expand the partition for you.

3. I can create a "slip-stream" CD using my old Windows
XP Pro disc that will integrate SP1 and all a single
partition?

This would be the smartest thing for you to do as it will allow XP to format the
entire disk that way you want it from the beginning before any OS files get
written to it.

4. Is there an easy way to tell if your Windows XP disc
contains SP1? My box said version 2002 but the disc
itself has no information about containing SP1.
Hang in there with me. Thanks again.

Well, one way to check would be to actually try and install the OS onto a >137GB
drive and see if it will actually format the entire disk capacity.

Paul


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