when is 137GB-really 137GB?

[Jeff W]

We all know that disk manufacturers underquote sizes (160GB drive is
really 152GB). But, if my BIOS has a 137GB limitation, and I format my
disk to 136GB AS MEASURED BY XP DISK MANAGEMENT, OR PARTITION MAGIC, am
I inside the 137GB limitation, or is the limitation REALLY something
smaller?

thanks
/j

Note; I'm talking about BIOS limitation on disk size, not O/S
limitation on partition size

 

[Jerry]

Why care?

If your BIOS is maxed out at 137Gb then when setting up the drive use the
largest size available so that you can at least use as much of the drive as
possible.

 

[Jeff W]

It's XP home SP2 - IT tells me 160GB is available....

 

[Sharon F]

We all know that disk manufacturers underquote sizes (160GB drive is
really 152GB). But, if my BIOS has a 137GB limitation, and I format my
disk to 136GB AS MEASURED BY XP DISK MANAGEMENT, OR PARTITION MAGIC, am
I inside the 137GB limitation, or is the limitation REALLY something
smaller?

thanks
/j

Note; I'm talking about BIOS limitation on disk size, not O/S
limitation on partition size

The 160 GB hard drive is the same size as the one that Windows shows as 152
GB. The difference is in how the space is calculated.

 

[Jeff W]

Right - so if i format it to 136GB it's still under the 137GB bios
limitation right?

/j

 

[Sharon F]

Right - so if i format it to 136GB it's still under the 137GB bios
limitation right?

Sounds good to me.

 

[Jerry]

Did you check to see if there was an update for the BIOS?

 

[Andy]

Don't worry about the BIOS. It's a non-issue. Once Windows XP is
running, it does not use the BIOS to access the hard drives.

 

[Jeff W]

no update for the bis

Did you check to see if there was an update for the BIOS?

 

[Jeff W]

I have talked to multiple people at microsoft, multiple people at
maxtor, and even the place that built my PC. the 'pros' are evenly
divided on whether what you say below is correct, and they're all quite
sure....

 

[Jeff W]

bis= bios

no update for the bis

 

[Sharon F]

I have talked to multiple people at microsoft, multiple people at
maxtor, and even the place that built my PC. the 'pros' are evenly
divided on whether what you say below is correct, and they're all quite
sure....

I'm going to recant. The first step is to get BIOS to recognize the drive.
You're dealing with a BIOS limitation. If BIOS cannot mount the drive, you
won't be able to do anything with it at all - Windows or no Windows.

To overcome BIOS limitations, you have limited options:

1) a jumper position on the physical drive that limits the amount of disk
space that BIOS will see.
2) update your BIOS (not possible in this case)
3) Software from the drive manufacturer (overlay software): this software,
in a sense, lies to the system about the size of the drive. Upside: You get
to use the full drive. Downside: It doesn't always work well with XP. When
this kind of setup goes fubar, it can be more complicated to recover.

I try very hard to avoid using overly software size of the drive. Used it
once on a drive that I knew would be migrated in a short matter of time to
another system that could utilize its full size. Before migrating the
drive, I uninstalled the overlay software and prepared it with the disk
tools provided by the new operating system.

 

[Jeff W]

HI Sharon - I want to avoid overlay software and ATA cards AND
overruning the 137GB limitation. Despite what some people say, I
believe that SOME application or utility SOMEwhere will be tripped up by
it. Unfortunately, as noted in my first response to Vangard, I
accidently ran over it, and, frighteningly - XP booted and ran fine.
The BIOS recognized it at 137GB, and the XP saw the entire 141GB that I
had formatted. Still, I deleted and rename the partition to be just
under the limit, even though I'm giving up 38GB of space on my disk.

I suspect XP (SP2) CAN override the BIOS limitation for most
applications, and that's why some people say it's fine. Still, better
safe than sorry...

thanks as always - always a pleasure to trade email with you
/j

 

[Jeff W]

oh - sorry - the Vanguard response i mentioned was in response to a
different thread.

his comments were quite enlightening...

Hi

 

[Sharon F]

HI Sharon - I want to avoid overlay software and ATA cards AND
overruning the 137GB limitation. Despite what some people say, I
believe that SOME application or utility SOMEwhere will be tripped up by
it. Unfortunately, as noted in my first response to Vangard, I
accidently ran over it, and, frighteningly - XP booted and ran fine.
The BIOS recognized it at 137GB, and the XP saw the entire 141GB that I
had formatted. Still, I deleted and rename the partition to be just
under the limit, even though I'm giving up 38GB of space on my disk.

I suspect XP (SP2) CAN override the BIOS limitation for most
applications, and that's why some people say it's fine. Still, better
safe than sorry...

thanks as always - always a pleasure to trade email with you
/j

I think your approach is wise - staying under the limit. It's an unexpected
boon that the system accepted the drive at 137 GB. No reason to push your
luck. Staying conservative with formatting choices is a choice I would make
under the circumstances as well.

Enjoyed the "chat" about this issue as well. Good luck with this.