Maximum Size Of Hard Drive

[tb]

I have a desktop with an Intel DQ965GF motherboard, a Pentium D 820
microprocessor,and an 80 GB hard drive. These components are probably
over five years old.

I would like to install a larger hard drive.

It is my understanding that a BIOS that is so old might not be able to
handle modern large-capacity hard drives (such as those that are 500 GB
and over in size).

How do I find out for sure the maximum size of hard drive that the
motherboard's BIOS can handle?

 

[Paul]

I have a desktop with an Intel DQ965GF motherboard, a Pentium D 820
microprocessor,and an 80 GB hard drive. These components are probably
over five years old.

I would like to install a larger hard drive.

It is my understanding that a BIOS that is so old might not be able to
handle modern large-capacity hard drives (such as those that are 500 GB
and over in size).

How do I find out for sure the maximum size of hard drive that the
motherboard's BIOS can handle?

The simplified answer is, the BIOS doesn't have to worry about
drives it is not booting from. If the drive is purely for holding
data, you can do whatever you like.

See "Details of GPT Support" tables, near the bottom of this article.
It addresses booting from >2.2TB hard drives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

For other information concerning large drives, go to the manufacturer
web page and look for a FAQ. They provide some information now,
of value to end users. If you're buying a 3TB drive, look on the
web page for the 3TB product. There'll be a FAQ there for you.
As well as possibly a driver you can use. A driver is not absolutely
necessary, but under some circumstances, can have a bit of usefulness
with an older OS like WinXP.

Paul