drive size limitation

[c44151]

I have windows xp home. If I purchased a 250gig hard drive do I need a controler card for windows to see it.

[HeadBand]

no you just need sp1

[c44151]

ok I got all that, so I guess I am ok

[thegladiatorgy]

What's your specs?

[jmichna]

Originally posted by c44151
I have windows xp home. If I purchased a 250gig hard drive do I need a controler card for windows to see it.

Depends on if your motherboard's BIOS supports 48-bit LBA addressing. If it does, then XP should have no issues. If it doesn't then you will need a controller card as well.

See the following for some background information:
XP

WinME/W9x

[rpertusio]

Originally posted by jmichna
Depends on if your motherboard's BIOS supports 48-bit LBA addressing. If it does, then XP should have no issues. If it doesn't then you will need a controller card as well. [/B]

Actually, your BIOS doesn't have to support 48-bit LBA addressing for XP to work without a controller card. Installing ServicePack1 for XP will enable 48-bit addressing, regardless of whether your BIOS supports it or not.

If you don't have SP1, then windows will only be able to allocate 137GB of the drive. (Once you install SP1, you'll see in DiskManagement that the remaining space is 'unallocated', which you can stretch out using 3rd party tools, or create another partition.)

If you're not installing windows on the drive, then it really shouldn't be an issue. After installing SP1, you'll be able to use the full size of the drive.

And just for the record, 48-bit addressing can be enabled for non-SP1 XP, but it is not supported.

Please also see Article 303013 - How to Enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing Support for ATAPI Disk Drives in Windows XP

- rp


EDIT: My info isn't entirely correct. Please read a few posts down for more info. My apologies!

[c44151]

the computer I have now I dont need to worry. In the near future am thinking of building a comuter for file storing on my network. family videos pictures and other stuff that will take up lots of space.

[Peter M]

XP SP1 _still_ needs BIOS to support 48-bit LBA in order to use it. Microsoft's support pages explicitly say so.

[Ryanoffski]

I've seen some new external hard drives that also have a LAN port, so no need for a whole computer for network storage, though external drives are expensive.

[jmichna]

Originally posted by rpertusio


Actually, your BIOS doesn't have to support 48-bit LBA addressing for XP to work without a controller card. Installing ServicePack1 for XP will enable 48-bit addressing, regardless of whether your BIOS supports it or not....Please also see Article 303013 - How to Enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing Support for ATAPI Disk Drives in Windows XP
- rp

rp...
The article you cited specifically states under "More Information":
"You must meet the following requirements to use 48-bit LBA ATAPI support:
You must have a 48-bit LBA compatible BIOS.
You must have a hard disk that has a capacity that is greater than 137 GB.
You must have Windows XP SP1 installed."