RE: Hard drives

["Paul Gordon" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Keith.=20

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx]=20
> On Behalf Of Keith Doxey
> Sent: 29 November 2005 22:47
> To: UKHA_D Group
> Subject: [ukha_d] Hard drives
>=20
> Hi All,
>=20
> Forgive what may be a stupid question but I am confused by the current
> selection of hard drives available.
>=20
> Drives >120gb seem to be very cheap now but what are the=20
> limitations on
> using these?

Err... You won't be able to store more than 120GB... :-)

However, I think the "sweet spot" at the moment is still with the
250GB dri=
ves, many of which seem to be available for around =A370...

>=20
> If the machine BIOS cant support a vey big drive, would=20
> fitting a PCI IDE
> controller card overcome the problem?
>=20

Almost definitely, unless it's a very old card.

> I seem to remember something about Windows not recognising=20
> large drives as
> well until something or other was done. What ?

I think you are referring to 48-bit LBA addressing prior to which a
maximum=
of 137GB could be accessed in a single partition. Larger drives could be u=
sed, but would have to partitioned into sub 137GB partitions in order to
al=
l all the available capacity.

This limitation went away with XP SP1 I believe....


>=20
> Tha machine I want to build will have a motherboard that is a=20
> few years old
> so I am not sure what maximum size it can support.
>=20
> In the past I have hit limits twice :-(
>=20
> I bought a 13.5Gb drive and the mobo would only see it as 8.4Gb
> A while later I got a new motherboard and could then use all=20
> 13.5Gb Then I
> bought a 40Gb drive and it refused to boot unless I fitted=20
> the 32Gb limit
> jumper on the drive.
>=20
> I would hate to buy a big drive and find that I couldnt use it all.
>=20

Unlikely, - even if the m/board was unable to access more than 137GB, that
=
limitation should be per partition, so splitting the drive into smaller
par=
titions almost always gets roundthe problem.


> BTW, I am referring to ATA drives here.
>=20
> The only machine I have with SATA is the Dell =A399 Server. Do=20
> the same large
> disk problems also occur with SATA ?

Absolutely not. All SATA hardware supports 48-bit addressing.


>=20
> Regards
>=20
> Keith
>=20
>


HTH

Paul G.

PS - I believe I may well have some PCI IDE controller cards available in
m=
y spares bin if you need one... - would b more than happy to swap for some
=
of your expert knowledge, or some help with some upcoming projects next
yea=
r... :-)