Are external HDD subject to 137GB limit? 1

[pnrenton]

My motherboard IDE has the 137Gb limit. Is an external HDD (USB/Firewire) subject to the MoBo's 137Gb limit? My guess is that it is not.

 

[Snickle]

The external hard drives I use are not subject to the BIOS but to the software that is needed to install/run them.

 

[pnrenton]

Thanks for the info!!

 

[cdogg]

Yeah, as long as the external hard drive is connected over USB 2.0 / Firewire, then you're fine. I'm not positive that USB 1.1 can get around this barrier, but USB & Firewire are both Serial interfaces that don't share the same problems of Parallel ATA devices (hence, the 137GB barrier of 28-bit).

Now, there are other options for you. You don't have to invest in a more expensive external hard drive. Instead, you can buy an add-on PCI IDE controller card that uses 48-bit addressing. Unlike the standard 28-bit addressing your motherboard is limited to, the PCI card has an upper limit of 144 Petabytes - that's almost 151 million Gigabytes!!

Promise I hear is a reputable company to deal with. Be weary of buying a generic card; you might get stuck with generic support!!!! ~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[cdogg]

At

http://www.pricewatch.com,

it's listed under I/O and "Controller Cards". Promise and Highpoint are good-quality brands. Expect to pay at least $30 before shipping and handling for a retail version - and I wouldn't buy generic.


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein