Hard Disk Size - BIOS Limits

[kwinsw]

Hi,

This weekend I have do the groundwork for a big upgrade involving PCs of various ages, from Win 98 systems to systems made in 2001/2002.

Can anyone remember, or recommend a link for, historical BIOS limits on hard disk size?

I'm trying to figure out what hard disks it's worth getting for which machines.

Many Thanks

KWINSW

 

[dbData]

http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/bios/size.html

Have Fun!


Rick

http://www.data-recovery-hub.com

 

[kwinsw]

Thanks! More fun than I deserve, I'm sure

 

[kwinsw]

Does anyone know, why is it that the oversize drive doesn't appear to show up in my PC's BIOS but must be detected because QTParted and (eventually) PQMagic can find and partition it.

Once it's partitioned into several smaller volumnes then Windows can see it as well.

 

[PRPhx]

More than likely it's due to
1)The age of the bios and machine. The bios was never coded to see a very large drive (Way back when very large drives where a dream?)

2) The Bios can't handle a partition containing more than 1024 cylinders (thus limiting the drive/partition to a max. size).

And when you use PQMagic, etc to partition the drive, it will probably ask you to use a max size based on the file type (FAT, FAT32, NTFS, etc).

 

[wolluf]

kwinsw

The drive doesn't appear at all on the POST screen?
When you've partitioned it - is the full capacity of the drive available (what is full capacity?) - or just a portion (like 128GB).

Is it windows XP you're using to access it?

 

[kwinsw]

wolluf

It's not listed in the BIOS itself. I'll have to check and see if it's listed during POST.

i'm using Windows 98 to access it at the moment. As long as I partition the drive into four separate partitions, Windows can see it fine.

 

[cdogg]

How small are the partitions?

I had a similar problem a long time ago on an original Pentium motherboard. I upgraded the 2GB drive to 10GB, and was forced to partition it into five 2GB partitions because of limitations in the BIOS.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
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