Large drive with aged BIOS

[ChrisRChamberlain]

Hi all

Have been promised an 80 gig drive which I would like to install as a second hard drive on an ancient but still fully working networked PC c/w 233 mhz processor!

From memory the BIOS does not support drives greater than 32 gig.

Assuming the 80 gig drive was partitioned into say 4 x 20 gig drives before adding it to the PC, would all the drives be available to Windows 2K?

TIA

FAQ184-2483 - answering getting answered.​

Chris
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[rvnguy]

ChrisRChamberlain.

NO, if the BIOS does not see the full drive you are limited to the BIOS size.

YES if
There are 3rd party drivers/format apps that "might" allow using the capacity that you can try. i.e. Partition Magic and others

Have you looked at a BIOS update? This could also allow the full capacity.

rvnguy

"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

rvnguy

Thanks for your reply.

How could Partition Magic be used to access full capacity?

TIA

FAQ184-2483 - answering getting answered.​

Chris
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[rvnguy]

ChrisRChamberlain,

I am not a programmer, deciding long time ago that this was not for me, but there are Software workarounds to allow large hard drives to be enabled even when not supported by BIOS. I just know that they are there, work sometimes, and not how the programming works. I remember that it is called something like "Drive Overlay" software or close.

Most of the Partitioning apps include this type of large drive enabling software. I only mentioned Partition Magic but there are many others.

You didn't state and you may not know at this time who the drive manufacturer is but most of the drive makers also have this software available for their drives for free. See the links for more information.


Hard Drive Size Limitations and Barriers

http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_drives/hard_drive_size_barriers.htm

Segate Dymanic Drive Overlay

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/howto/use_dwse_maint.html

drive enabler

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/M...tware Downloads/ATA Hard Drives&downloadID=11

Hope that this helps clarify

rvnguy

"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

rvnguy

Thanks for the links - will use them on receipt of the drive.

FAQ184-2483 - answering getting answered.​

Chris
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[micker377]

Don't use a "drive overlay". They quit using them years ago for a reason: they mess up the hard drive. Much more efficient to use a PCI IDE card. It has it's own bios, so you can run any size drive you want (also adds four more IDE connections).

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

micker377

Thanks for the suggestion.

Any manufacturers, please?

TIA

FAQ184-2483 - answering getting answered.​

Chris
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[rvnguy]

ChrisRChamberlain,

micker377 makes a good point and backups my initial post to it "might" work. The drive mfg's still offer and use "overlays" it is just questionable if it will work. When it does work, I have not experienced complications.

The "BIOS" upgrade if available is the best option, but care in upgrading must be used.

If the "BIOS" is not available, the recommended add on card controller is a good option at a price.

rvnguy

"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[micker377]

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_...d=pci+ide+card/rd=1/skd=1/ut=42512d2d7704edfd

Compare prices on IDE cards.

 

[micker377]

On the subject of "overlays". They do work OK for normal use. However, if you ever have problems with files (or the drive itself), you're out of luck. Also, if you plan to use the drive in another computer (upgrade) later - too bad. Normally, you have to reformat the drive to do anything with it. To accomplish this, you have to "low level" format (KIllDisk), as the "overlay" stays even after you partition and format.

 

[G0AOZ]

I've used Promise Ultra IDE PCI cards to good effect for some time - not had any problems. Also useful for migrating a W2K install from one mobo to another...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[ChrisRChamberlain]

Thanks all for the input - the promised gift of an 80 gig drive turned out to be 1 x 80 gig, 2 x 40 gig and 2 x 30 gig drives.

The 2 x 30 gig drives will be put into a couple of old boxes as described, thus side stepping the problem, and the rest dispersed over other machines without the BIOS problem.

FAQ184-2483 - answering getting answered.​

Chris
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[rvnguy]

ChrisRChamberlain,

THAT IS ANOTHER SOLUTION!!!

rvnguy

"I know everything..I just can't remember it all