Will my XP recognize 160 Gig HD?

[*rain*drops*]

I bought a new hard drive and am getting ready to install it. The machine
has XP Home SP2 on it now. Will it recognize a HD with 160 gig?

How do I find out if my motherboard will allow a HD that size?

 

[Mistoffolees]

I bought a new hard drive and am getting ready to install it. The machine
has XP Home SP2 on it now. Will it recognize a HD with 160 gig?

How do I find out if my motherboard will allow a HD that size?

Until someone knows what motherboard you have, read the manual that
came with it. Or visit the motherboard maker's website and look up
its specifications.

 

[You Know Who]

yes, winxp spII will recognize the drive.

 

[Dennis McCunney]

I bought a new hard drive and am getting ready to install it. The machine
has XP Home SP2 on it now. Will it recognize a HD with 160 gig?

Yes. I have three 120GB drives, two 160GB drives, a 200GB drive, and a
500GB SATA RAID 0 array on my XP SP2 box. XP sees them all fine.

*Win2K* requires a 48bit LBA patch to successfully use drives larger
than 137GB, but XP comes with that built in.

How do I find out if my motherboard will allow a HD that size?

What motherboard? Offhand, it shouldn't care if it's a recent MB with a
recent BIOS.
______
Dennis

 

[jorgen]

*Win2K* requires a 48bit LBA patch to successfully use drives larger
than 137GB, but XP comes with that built in.

xp was launched before sata was completed, so xp also need a little
upgrade beføre 48-bit can be used

What motherboard? Offhand, it shouldn't care if it's a recent MB with a
recent BIOS.

Windows gets some initial info from bios about the harddrive. So if bios
only speak 28-bit so will windows

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I bought a new hard drive and am getting ready to install it. The machine
has XP Home SP2 on it now. Will it recognize a HD with 160 gig?

Yes, certainly.

How do I find out if my motherboard will allow a HD that size?

Consult the computer or motherboard's manual, or check the computer or
motherboard manufacturer's web site.


--

Bruce Chambers

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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[*rain*drops*]

I appreciate the advice. I found the motherboard guide. I have an ASUS
P4BGL-VM motherboard. It's several years old. The machine is not currently
working -- HD crashed. Before I open the box for the new 160 GIG HD, I'd
like to make sure that I can use it successfully.

I looked through the guide, but could not find anything about the maximum
size of the HD.

What's "latest BIOS?" Where do I get one and what do I do with it?
Is there a site that shows the maximum size of HD that my mobio will
support?

Thank you.

 

[Anna]

I appreciate the advice. I found the motherboard guide. I have an ASUS
P4BGL-VM motherboard. It's several years old. The machine is not
currently working -- HD crashed. Before I open the box for the new 160 GIG
HD, I'd like to make sure that I can use it successfully.

I looked through the guide, but could not find anything about the maximum
size of the HD.

What's "latest BIOS?" Where do I get one and what do I do with it?
Is there a site that shows the maximum size of HD that my mobio will
support?

Thank you.

*rain* drops*:
Your motherboard supports large-capacity hard drives, i.e., disks that are
greater than 137 GB so you've no problem there.

Just one other thing...

In order for the XP operating system to recognize the full capacity of your
160 GB HDD (the actual disk capacity measured in binary terms will be about
149 GB), SP1 and/or SP2 (preferably the latter) should be installed on your
XP operating system at the time you install your new 160 GB HDD. So ensure
that SP2 is installed on the XP operating system before you install your new
hard drive.

You needn't be concerned about an upgraded BIOS for that motherboard. The
present motherboard's BIOS is just fine. I'm assuming in all this that, as
you've indicated, the only problem you were having was a defective HDD and
that your system will be completely functional when you install the new HDD
and the XP OS which contains SP2.
Anna

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:18:57 -0400, Dennis McCunney

*Win2K* requires a 48bit LBA patch to successfully use drives larger
than 137GB, but XP comes with that built in.

Dangerously false. Only XP SP2 is safe > 137G.

Original XP hadn't a clue > 137G and is utterly unsafe under those
conditions - either to install it, or let it sniff such a drive
directly. It can access such a drive via LAN because in that context
it is the other PC that is actually accessing the HD.

XP SP1 was the first attempt at > 137G safety, but there are some
contexts that are not safe, especially for C: - as I recall, one such
context is writing the memory dump to disk after a crash. So it's
safe to install XP SP1 on > 137G, but best to SP2 it thereafter.

--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

Never turn your back on an installer program

 

[Dennis McCunney]

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:18:57 -0400, Dennis McCunney


Dangerously false. Only XP SP2 is safe > 137G.

I sit corrected. Thanks for the clarification. I went to XP SP2 in the
first place, so I didn't encounter the >137GB issue.
______
Dennis

 

[Dennis McCunney]

I appreciate the advice. I found the motherboard guide. I have an ASUS
P4BGL-VM motherboard. It's several years old. The machine is not currently
working -- HD crashed. Before I open the box for the new 160 GIG HD, I'd
like to make sure that I can use it successfully.

I have an ASUS P4P800E. Works fine. Note elsewhere in this thread that
you must be running XP SP2 to see the 160GB drive as one big drive. The
alternative is to partition it as two smaller logical drives.

I looked through the guide, but could not find anything about the maximum
size of the HD.

What's "latest BIOS?" Where do I get one and what do I do with it?

The BIOS is a chip on your notherboard that is active when you boot up,
scans your hardware to build a list of what it sees, and puts that list
in CMOS where Windows can see it. IF the BIOS doesn't detect it,
Windows won't know it's there.

ASUS uses BIOS firmware from Award, and makes updates available on their
site.

Is there a site that shows the maximum size of HD that my mobio will
support?

Go here:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?modelname=P4BGL-VM&SLanguage=en-us

It lists BIOS updates you can download. The BIOS firmware is stored in
non-volatile memory that can updated by "flashing" the BIOS chip. This
can be done from a specially created boot floppy, and ASUS also has a
utility that will do it from within Windows.

Other areas on the ASUS support site should provide useful information
as well, and they maintain user forums where you can post specific
questions.
______
Dennis

 

[Paul]

I appreciate the advice. I found the motherboard guide. I have an ASUS
P4BGL-VM motherboard. It's several years old. The machine is not currently
working -- HD crashed. Before I open the box for the new 160 GIG HD, I'd
like to make sure that I can use it successfully.

I looked through the guide, but could not find anything about the maximum
size of the HD.

What's "latest BIOS?" Where do I get one and what do I do with it?
Is there a site that shows the maximum size of HD that my mobio will
support?

Thank you.

The large disk support status of your motherboard is listed here:

http://support.asus.com.tw/technicaldocuments/technicaldocuments_content.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&NO=501

P4BGL-VM Yes BIOS 1002 or later

Now, on the Asus download page, the first released BIOS was in fact
1002. That means no motherboards exist in the field, with a 1001 BIOS.
The motherboards shipped with at least 1002 in them. Which means,
BIOS wise, you should be in good shape.

Any motherboard released after Jan.1, 2003 is supposed to be supported,
according to the above Asus "Technical Document" page.

HTH,
Paul

 

[*rain*drops*]

I want to thank everybody who has responded. I've learned quite a lot.
Most importantly, I am relieved that I don't have to "flash the BIOS"
(whatever that is). I do have XP SP2, and a partition program. Tomorrow
morning I will attempt to install the HD, after a good breakfast and a
relaxing walk. I have set aside 4 hours to do this.

 

[Anna]

I want to thank everybody who has responded. I've learned quite a lot.
Most importantly, I am relieved that I don't have to "flash the BIOS"
(whatever that is). I do have XP SP2, and a partition program. Tomorrow
morning I will attempt to install the HD, after a good breakfast and a
relaxing walk. I have set aside 4 hours to do this.

*rain*drops*:
Just one other thing...

Since you do have SP2 presently installed on your XP operating system (or
will have installed that SP prior to installing your 160 GB HDD) you should
have no problem installing the XP OS onto that HDD and the system
recognizing the full capacity of that disk (approx. 149 GB in binary terms).

You mention that you have a "partition program". If you want to
multi-partition your 160 GB HDD you will be able to accomplish that during
the XP installation routine. You will have the opportunity of creating
however many partitions you desire. There is no need to use any third-party
"partition program" in this case.

Your plan to have a good breakfast and take a relaxing walk before
undertaking this project is a fine plan. You probably will not need four
hours to complete the installation but it's always wise to allow an
abundance of time for these things.

Good luck.
Anna